Two restaurants are headed to Largo’s Horizon West Bay complex, and taxpayers will help pay to finish the space.
The City Commission voted 5-1 on Aug. 18 to enter 10-year lease agreements with Bocelli Modern Italian, a Tampa-based restaurant opening its second location, and Dead Bob’s, a sports bar with two locations in St. Petersburg and one in Tampa. Commissioner Curtis Holmes cast the lone no vote on each lease. Vice Mayor Chris Johnson abstained, citing a business conflict of interest.
Both deals include city money to build out the raw space — a practice staff called routine but that drew objections from Holmes and from residents who called the spending a vanity project.
The leases should eventually provide a jolt to the entertainment district the commission created in June, when it approved a long-gestating plan to turn the stretch of West Bay Drive between Clearwater-Largo Road and Missouri Avenue into a district with open-container policies and outdoor events. City officials said the aim was to create a lively, intergenerational environment with gathering spaces for diverse experiences.
The question of who would benefit was raised immediately, as staff noted that just four establishments were licensed to sell alcohol within the district boundaries, including the American Legion post.
But the potential for growth was always factored in, thanks to Horizon West Bay, the mixed-use complex that opened in May in the 400 block of West Bay Drive with 15,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and to other nearby projects, including the Liberty Yards development across the street.
Bocelli’s will take about 6,443 square feet in the parking garage building along the development’s West Bay Drive frontage, said Charles Stanton, Horizon operations manager. The lease inside the $85 million, 87,000-square-foot development includes two five-year renewal options.
Stanton described the restaurant as a contemporary Italian concept that blends traditional cuisine with modern influences, with a menu of homemade pasta and brick-oven pizzas available for dine-in, pickup and delivery.
“Guests can expect an inviting atmosphere of craft cocktails and a full liquor bar well suited to intimate dinners, group gatherings and special occasions,” he said, adding that the Largo location will feature an open kitchen and a private dining space for parties and corporate events.
The Dead Bob’s lease also runs 10 years, with three optional five-year renewal periods. Stanton said the casual sports bar and restaurant would occupy about 2,072 square feet in the parking garage building, in the plaza next to Horizon’s outdoor stage.
That places it “directly with one of Horizon’s key outdoor gathering areas,” he said.
The Largo location would be the fourth in the Tampa Bay area for the bar, which opened in 2014. Stanton said it is known for its casual atmosphere, extensive sports viewing and an approachable American menu of burgers, seafood and daily specials, along with weekend brunch and extended evening hours.
Dead Bob’s would “bring a strong local following and a casual dining and entertainment option that complements Horizon West Bay’s growing mix of restaurants, retail and entertainment,” he said.
The buildout money proved the sticking point.
Asked by Commissioner Mike Dibrizzi about the use of tenant improvement dollars built into the project’s budget to attract tenants, Stanton said the practice is standard.
“It’s common. It’s very common,” he said.
Dibrizzi, who said he is a commercial landlord himself, agreed.
“These spaces are empty shells,” he said. “And I would imagine there are very few businesses that would want to assume the costs of unfinished space such as this and do the buildout on their own dime.”
There was always going to be tenant improvement money, Dibrizzi added, “because we would never expect any business to basically finish our work.” Still, he conceded the source — the general fund, with staff planning to issue debt or an interfund loan to cover the cost — “is shocking.”
“But we have the space,” he said. “And we have to turn it into something. We can’t leave it empty.”
Holmes was unmoved.
“So, this is going to be $3 million between these three restaurants,” he said, an apparent reference to the roughly $1.6 million for Bocelli’s, the Dead Bob’s buildout and the $300,000 the city agreed to pay Louis Pappas Fresh Greek, another Horizon tenant.
“Where is this money all coming from?” Holmes asked. “We’re cutting back everything. We’re picking up pennies from the sidewalks right now, and we’re spending $3 million? I have a problem with that.”
Resident Greg Gardner echoed those concerns.
“Largo is going to give $1.6 million of taxpayer money to an establishment in Tampa and try to conceal it. But you can’t conceal it,” Gardner said of the Bocelli’s lease.
“This is borrowed money … and this is a big hoax and wrapped around (Mayor) Woody Brown’s gimmick that we’re going to have an instant downtown. So, it’s a vanity project that we’re going to fund with taxpayer money, and I don’t think it’s going to go over very well.”
City Manager John Curp said the city would begin collecting property tax revenue once the restaurants open. Asked by Dibrizzi whether the city would recoup its investment during the lease, Stanton said it would, in year nine. The leases carry no early opt-outs, he said.
“And for the second-generation space, we’re going to gain more because we’re not going to have to do a buildout,” Stanton said.
Both restaurants are expected to open in 2027.
