Five years past the expected opening date and $20 million later, St. Petersburg’s highly anticipated food and beverage hall is finally making its grand debut.
Central Park St. Pete officially opens to the public Monday, inside the five-story building at 551 Central Ave. The sprawling 28,000-square-foot space, formerly home to the old Woolworth building, has been in the works since early 2020, and was initially slated to open in summer 2021. Construction lags, permitting setbacks and a number of other issues caused delays over the years, but now the spot is finally ready to welcome diners — that is, in stages.
On Monday, three of the hall’s 13 food and beverage concepts will open. The remaining spots will launch over the coming weeks and months. In total, the hall will include nine restaurants, four bars, a boutique, several event spaces and a members-only club.
With such an ambitious undertaking, the staggered opening will help chefs and staff get their bearings while rolling out each concept, said Robert Castellon, the director of operations at Hi Hospitality Group, the restaurant group behind the project. Part of the difficulty in opening a hall of this scale, Castellon said, is that it is coinciding with Tampa Bay’s busiest tourist season. Once all the concepts are up and running, the hall will be fully staffed by roughly 125 to 145 employees.
Hi Hospitality proprietor Natalia Levey and her husband Mark are spearheading the project. The couple, who lived in New York City, were inspired to bring a multi-concept dining destination to downtown St. Petersburg and bought the building for $3.75 million in 2018. Over the years, they invested roughly $20 million into the hall, which included upping the original floor plan from three to five stories by building out a basement cocktail lounge and a rooftop bar. Hi Hospitality Group is also behind several Sarasota-based restaurants including Kojo, Bar Hana, Palm Avenue Deli and Speaks Clam Bar, all of which will be replicated in some form in the new St. Pete hall.
The launch of the jam-packed spot signals a major reshaping of downtown St. Pete’s dining scene. The timing, though behind schedule, could have a silver lining: The opening is happening at a time when more residents are returning to office work and the downtown corridor continues to expand. Levey, a New York-trained chef, restaurateur and healthy lifestyle advocate, said she hopes the space will become a gathering place for residents as well as a destination for travelers.
The Tampa Bay Times toured the hall on Saturday ahead of the opening.
Upon entering the building, guests are met with the spot’s Central Bar, a large horseshoe-shaped bar with retractable windows that open up onto Central Avenue. Seven of the hall’s fast-casual concepts hold court on the ground floor, which also includes a sprawling 25-foot Samsung television overlooking a large dining area with seating for roughly 240 people.
Throughout the space, diners can order via kiosks or from QR codes strategically placed around the building. Individual checks can be pulled up at any station, so guests can keep a running tally of what they’ve ordered on one tab and dine and drink throughout the space without having to deal with multiple checks. Guests can also place orders online, to-go, or through one of several “hospitality ambassadors” that will be staffed throughout the building to assist with the process, Levey said.
The team tapped several designers and architecture firms when designing the space, including Ken Cowart, the spot’s principal architect; Steve Tucker and Andres Allwood of Behar Peteranecz; Natalie Frey and Stephanie Muzzey with BLOK Design Group; SSA for the kitchen design; and local building firm Barr & Barr. Local artist BASK was commissioned to create art for the project, and several murals and artworks are visible in the building.
Throughout the hall there are individualized touches from both Leveys, including multiple 3D printed pigeons designed by Natalia and custom-designed (by Mark) cup dispensers on the first floor, which also includes a Heinz Remix, a customizable sauce dispenser that allows diners to custom-mix their own condiment creations.
Seven fast-casual concepts hold court on the building’s ground floor: Palm Avenue Deli, Constellation Burger, Speaks Pasta, Kojo Wok, Don Ricardo’s Taqueria, Strawberry Fields and Park Pie Pizza. Hi Hospitality Group’s culinary director Hart Lowry and the hall’s executive chef Jessica Leung are overseeing the spot’s culinary operations, a process that’s included roughly a year of research and development.
Beverage director Silvia Fridegotto is overseeing the spot’s bar program, which includes the Central Bar, the ground level bar that includes a self-serve beer wall where dozens of rotating beers can be dispensed. In the basement, a reservation-only cocktail parlor with 28 seats will feature a more upscale drink program.
A dessert concept called The Meadows, with coffee and gelato, sits on the mezzanine level along with 27 North, a frozen cocktail concept. There’s also a boutique called Worth, several event spaces imagined for private events and pop-ups, a test kitchen and plenty of street-facing booth- and balcony-style seating.
One level up, on the third floor, sits modern Asian restaurant Kojo and Bar Hana, a tropical-themed cocktail bar with cabanas and lounge-style seating. Levey said she imagines both will open in about three to four months, once the other floors of the hall are fully staffed and running.
Central Park St. Pete’s rooftop will be home to Night Owl, a member’s-only bar and lounge where initiation fees are priced at $30,000 with a monthly membership of $500. Membership will be capped at 50 people to begin, Levey said, and members can expect a number of perks.
Starting Monday, Constellation Burger, Palm Avenue Deli and the Central Bar will be open to the public. In roughly two weeks, the team hopes to launch Strawberry Fields, Kojo Wok and Don Ricardo’s Taqueria, but the timeline could vary, depending on how quickly the team can get staffed, Lowry said.
To start, the hall will be open daily from 5-10 p.m., and will eventually open for breakfast and lunch as well.
Here are the details on what’s available now, and everything that’s yet to come at the new food hall once it opens:
Opening Feb. 23
Constellation Burger
A burger concept featuring smashburgers, chicken, shrimp and falafel sandwiches all served on housemade sesame buns. The opening menu features a classic double smashburger ($12) with two patties, onion pickle relish, American cheese and special sauce; a Korean bulgogi burger ($14) topped with Korean barbecue glaze, griddled onions, soy pickled jalapenos and ssamjang aioli; and a falafel burger ($14) featuring Shawarma sauce, spicy green chile relish, cucumbers, pickled red onions, shredded iceberg lettuce and tomatoes.
Palm Avenue Deli
A smaller, fast-casual replica of the Sarasota flagship, the opening menu features East Coast-inspired deli classics like matzo ball soup ($10); potato latkes with sour cream and apple sauce ($11) and a selection of sandwiches, including the Navel pastrami ($16) served on caraway rye bread with mustard and the Rachel ($22) featuring smoked turkey, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and pickles on toasted rye bread. The spot’s bagels are all boiled and baked in-house and can be ordered with classic combos like whitefish or cream cheese as well as some signature open-faced sandwiches.
Central Bar
The first floor bar serving wine, cocktails and an adjacent self-serve “beer wall.” Cocktails on the opening menu include the Dali Spritz ($14), made with Aperol, Cocchi Rossa, passion fruit, cava rose and club soda; the Salio el Sol ($14), featuring mezcal, bell peppers, cilantro, lemon and guava; and the Midnight on Fifth ($14) made with bourbon, brown butter, sarsaparilla root, demerara sugar and hazelnut spray.
Coming soon
Strawberry Fields
A coffee bar with smoothies, acai bowls, salads and toasts.
Kojo Wok
A fast-casual spinoff of Kojo, a modern Asian restaurant. Dishes will include gyoza and seaweed salads, and pan Asian-inspired rice and noodle bowls.
Don Ricardo’s Taqueria
A contemporary fast-casual Mexican restaurant specializing in West Coast-style burritos (no rice); classic tacos, including carnitas, al pastor and suadero; and quesadillas, all made on homemade flour tortillas (corn tortillas will be available by request).
Park Pie Pizza
A fast-casual pizza kiosk featuring a hybrid of New York and Neapolitan-style pies. Castellon described the pizzas, made with a dough that’s been fermented for 72 hours and baked in an Italian brick oven, as “super thin and crispy.” Toppings will range from traditional to the playful mashup of the Carnitas Pizza, topped with carnitas, a rajas crema, cilantro, onions and chiles.
Speaks Pasta
A pasta concept and fast-casual spinoff of Sarasota restaurant Speaks Clam Bar. Expect house-made pastas (the hall features an impressive pasta station) with classic preparations like spaghetti and meatballs, fusilli a la vodka, and a chilled linguine tossed with pesto, stracciatella, pistachios and lemon.
Meadows
A second floor (mezzanine) dessert concept will features gelato imported from New York City’s Il Laboratorio del Gelato and an assortment of vegan soft serve ice cream. Cones, from Brooklyn, New York-based The Konery, include flavors like matcha, coconut and red velvet.
Kojo
An upscale modern Asian restaurant, and a sister restaurant to Sarasota’s Kojo with seating for 118. Dishes might include torched oysters with Vietnamese chile butter; rock shrimp tempura with a spicy ponzu mayonnaise; sashimi and sushi rolls; and a roasted miso cod.
Bar Hanna
A tropical-themed cocktail bar with cabanas and lounge-style seating on a sprawling outside deck on Central Park St. Pete’s third floor, adjacent to Kojo.
The Winfield
An upscale, reservation-only 28-seat cocktail bar in the basement of the food hall.
27 North
A frozen cocktail concept, anchored by pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris with special rotating drinks, including a frozen Irish coffee, inspired by the legendary drink served at New Orleans bar Erin Rose. Beer, wine and a full liquor bar will also be available.
Worth
A boutique featuring “whimsical, inspiring lifestyle gifts,” curated by the Leveys’ daughter, with an emphasis on local designers and artists along with some globally-sourced items.
