Birchwood Hotel Developer Buys Historic Downtown Home

The historic Blocker home – which seemed destined to be torn down for a condominium high rise – has a new owner with decidedly different plans.

Chuck Prather, the developer of the Birchwood boutique hotel, has bought the vacant old house, at 145 Fourth Ave. NE, St. Petersburg, just a block away from his trendy new business. 

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Birchwood is so busy that Prather purchased this grande old dame of an home for restoration as an annex to his Beach Drive hotel.

The vacant house still has many of its original features plus a substantial parking lot. The home was built in 1910 by A.T. "Bert" Blocker, a St. Pete mayor and early mover-and-shaker in the city.

"There's no more dirt down here," Prather told the Times, referring to the lack of expansion space.