Here’s the first retail spot coming to St. Petersburg’s tallest tower, 400 Central
A wine shop, bar and specialty grocer will open in the downtown St. Pete space early next year.
A new specialty wine shop, gourmet grocer and wine bar is the first announced commercial tenant at 400 Central, a 46-story condo and office tower along the 400 block of Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg. [ Red Apple Group ]
A wine shop, specialty grocer and boutique wine bar will open inside St. Petersburg’s 400 Central building early next year.
Volta Wine + Market will open on the bottom floor of the Residences at 400 Central, the 46-story luxury condominium building currently under construction in downtown St. Petersburg.
Partners Zach Pace and Rachelle Tomushev are behind the new project, which when open will feature an elevated wine shop with hundreds of wines, sakes and beer from around the world, along with a gourmet grocery focusing on small-batch producers and imported pantry staples sourced from Florida and across the Southeast.
There also will be a 10- to 12-seat bar as well as a vinyl listening lounge featuring rare and classic vinyl and the occasional guest DJ.
Volta marks the first commercial tenant announced for the development. Last month, Dynasty Financial Partners, a financial services firm, announced it will move its headquarters to 400 Central and will be the sole office tenant in the building.
“We are excited to welcome Volta, an independent business founded by local residents, as our first announced commercial tenant,” John Catsimatides, founder of the building’s developer Red Apple Group, said in a statement. “Their elevated wine and market offerings will be a staple of the building and a convenience for the residents of 400 Central and all of St. Petersburg.”
Zach Pace and Rachelle Tomushev will open Volta Wine + Market at the Residences at 400 Central next year. [ Courtesy of John Apsey ]
Pace and Tomushev first spoke with the Tampa Bay Times about their plans for Volta in July 2024 and have been searching for the perfect downtown St. Pete space ever since. They toured the building at 400 Central Ave. in January, eventually locking in on a 2,000-square-foot space Pace described as being “mid-block” on the bottom floor, facing Central Avenue.
Pace, who was the chief operating officer at the since-shuttered Ybor City restaurant Ten Rooms, has an extensive background in wine. He has worked as a wine importer and sommelier and also was the beverage director at two-Michelin-star restaurant Lazy Bear and the director of operations at Aphotic, another Michelin-starred restaurant, both in San Francisco.
When Pace and Tomushev relocated to the Tampa Bay area (the couple live in St. Petersburg), they said they noticed a space in the downtown St. Pete market for wine retail and specialty foods.
“The goal is to serve the needs of (the) downtown corridor but also the whole community,” Pace said. “We’re really meant to be everyday goods and approachable options.”
Along with the extensive wine selection, patrons will be able to find things like baking supplies, Italian olive oils, tinned fish from Spain and Portugal, milled-to-order flour from the Carolinas, and local honey and cultured butter from Florida, among other amenities.
In an emailed statement, Pace added: “Everything — from the wine and grocery selection to the space we’re building — is meant to feel welcoming, personal and human. We have politely turned down out-of-town investors, in lieu of inviting a small group of values-aligned locals to be a part of Volta. It’s about shared ownership of something independent and indelible for our thriving city. We want it to feel like the opposite of a chain — a place where people know your name, your taste in wine and maybe even your dog’s name.”
Pace said he expects construction to wrap on the building in late 2025, after which his team will get to work on the interior buildout and design. He hopes to open Volta in spring 2026.
Info sourced from this Tampa Bay Times article by Helen Freund.
Here’s the first retail spot coming to St. Pete’s tallest tower
