Jeremiah's Italian Ice, Tijuana Flats coming to new development in South Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 12, 2015

South Tampa's newest retail center will offer pizza, gelati, tacos - and a gym to burn it all off.

Paradise Ventures Inc., based in Safety Harbor, will begin construction Monday on a 34,000-square-foot development across South Dale Mabry Highway from Britton Plaza in South Tampa. The developer closed on the 4.92-acre site, which is directly south of the Chase Bank branch at South Dale Mabry and West Bay Vista Avenue, in mid-2014.

The Shoppes of South Dale, as Paradise has named the development, will be anchored by a 20,000-square-foot, stand-alone Crunch Fitness on the southwest corner of the site. A 14,000-square-foot retail strip center will front South Dale Mabry, with the following tenants secured:

â–ªTijuana Flats
â–ªJeremiah's Italian Ice
â–ªHair Cuttery
â–ªPizza Hut

"The idea was to create a center where the various uses complement one another to help ensure their successes as well as an all-inclusive consumer experience," Paradise said in a statement.

The development represents a breakthrough moment in South Tampa commercial real estate. Restaurants and retailers want to be in the area, but there's a dearth of available, modern space with ample parking.

If Shoppes of South Dale is successful, it could encourage other developers to pursue retail redevelopment projects in South Tampa. There are already some other projects in the works, including the redevelopment of the Palma Ceia Liquors site, as well as TJMaxx's new South Tampa store.

Across the street from Shoppes of South Dale, Publix Super Markets Inc. is rebuilding its store in Britton Plaza, which should reopen by the end of the year.

The tenants will be open for business in early 2016. Crunch, which offers group classes, personal training, weights and cardio equipment, will begin selling memberships in November, according to Paradise.

Several spaces, ranging from 1,200 to 3,150 square feet, are unleased in the strip center. A 1-acre outparcel, between the bank branch and the strip center that will front South Dale Mabry, is also still available.

Orlando-based Jeremiah's Italian ice has a cult following in Central Florida. It serves Italian ice, soft serve ice cream and gelati (a combination of the two). Tijuana Flats, another Central Florida favorite, is known for its Tex-Mex menu and hot sauce bar. It opened another South Tampa location in 2014, at 1617 W. Platt St. in the Hyde Park area.

"Tenant lineup was crucial to continuing the redevelopment trend in this corridor of Dale Mabry," the developer said. "The retail along this stretch needed to be brought up to par to align with the drastically improved residential in the neighborhoods that surround it. We view this project as being a large-scale enough redevelopment that we could help shape the corridor with the right lineup."

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.