Concierge Medicine in Downtown St. Petersburg

Downtown St. Petersburg runs along Tampa Bay from the waterfront parks and Beach Drive west along Central Avenue. Over the past two decades it has become one of the places in Pinellas County where people live, not only work and dine. A wave of condominium towers rose along Beach Drive after 1998. Ovation and Signature Place opened in 2009, and the 41-story ONE St. Petersburg, at 100 1st Avenue North, was completed in 2019. The Salvador opened in 2017. The Residences at 400 Central began welcoming residents in phases starting in late 2025.

The waterfront changed too. The St. Pete Pier District, 26 acres of park, restaurants, a playground, and an environmental education center, opened on July 6, 2020. Its approach links the Pier back to Beach Drive and the rest of downtown.

Downtown living, and what it asks of a doctor

Many downtown residents live in condo towers and walk to most of what they need. Some are year-round; others keep a second home elsewhere and come down for the season. Some are retirees, and some are professionals who would rather text their doctor than sit in a waiting room. What most have in common is that they’ve chosen a compact, walkable life, and they’d like their medical care to fit into it.

The nearest AnswersMD office

The AnswersMD St. Petersburg office is at 1201 5th Ave N, Suite 408, St. Petersburg, FL 33705, on the St. Anthony’s Hospital campus just northwest of the downtown core. Most trips run along 4th and 5th Avenues North. By road it’s about:

• 1.1 miles from Williams Park
• 1.2 miles from 400 Central Avenue
• 1.4 miles from One St. Petersburg
• 1.6 miles from the entrance to the St. Pete Pier

Visits at the St. Pete office are by appointment, so you’re expected when you arrive.

Meet Dr. Ellen Howard

Downtown members see Dr. Ellen Howard, MD, MPH, the board-certified family physician who leads the St. Petersburg office. She holds a master’s degree in public health, and her family medicine residency was here in St. Petersburg, the city she returned to when she began practicing. In the exam room, her interests run to hormone therapy, medical weight management, and prevention.

AnswersMD founder Douglas Shapiro, DO, built the practice around physicians who share his view that primary care should be personal and unhurried. Dr. Howard is one of them.

Care built around downtown schedules

The St. Petersburg office cares for whole families, seeing patients age 6 and up. For people who live in the core and walk most places, membership is meant to fit a compact life:

• Text or call your physician directly. Members have Dr. Howard’s cell and can reach the practice 24/7.
• Get in the same day or the next when something can’t wait.
• Take the time you need. An intentionally small panel means visits last as long as you need.
• Use video visits when you’re traveling or at another home.
• Plan ahead with executive physicals and advanced early-detection testing, chosen with your physician as part of a prevention and longevity focus.
• Let your physician coordinate specialists, from the referral through the follow-up.

House calls are available on a case-by-case basis.

A hub for downtown’s towers

Whether you live on Beach Drive, along Central Avenue, or near the Pier, the same office and the same physician serve you. ONE St. Petersburg, The Salvador, Signature Place, Ovation, and The Residences at 400 Central are named here only to help with geography. AnswersMD is an independent medical practice and is not affiliated with any of these buildings.

Visit before you decide

From most downtown towers, the office is a drive of 1 to 2 miles up 4th or 5th Avenue North. Call 813-333-8888 to schedule a complimentary meet & greet and office tour. Allison, the practice’s AI phone assistant, answers and can book the visit or field your questions. Details are also at AnswersMD.com.

Dr. Howard is welcoming new members who live downtown.