Tampa pizzeria joins market hall at Armature Works in The Heights
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 15, 2016

Ava, the South Tampa Italian restaurant backed by Chicago Cubs general manager Joe Maddon, will bring pizza, salad and paninis to Tampa Heights in early 2017. The Italian restaurant, which opened on the South Howard strip in late 2014, will operate a kiosk at The Heights Public Market inside the Armature Works building.

Ava will have a 500-square-foot stall in the public market. Ramen restaurant Ichicoro, bakery Chocolate Pi and Union by Commune + Co., known for its cold brew, are all slated to have a presence in the market.

The 21,000-square-foot hall is one component of the Armature Works, a historic building that once housed the city's trolleys. Armature Works will also include event space and Steelbach Ranch, a "boutique butcher" that serves artisan cheese and charcuterie.

In the market, Ava's offerings will be far more limited than its South Tampa restaurant, which serves rustic Italian fare.

Executive chef Joshua Hernandez said Tuesday that Ava co-owner Michael Stewart has a longtime relationship with Chas Bruck and Adam Harden, principles of SoHo Capital LLC, who are developing The Heights.

"The restaurant is doing very well and we're expansion minded," Hernandez said. A second Acunto pizza oven has been ordered, larger than the one that sits in Ava's South Tampa restaurant. Hernandez said he intends to handle most of the prep work at the restaurant in South Tampa, like making the pizza dough and bread. Some of the pizzas offered will be "Heights exclusives," Hernandez said, though it was too soon to talk toppings or flavors that could debut in the market. Ideally, Hernandez said, the market kiosk will drive customers to the South Tampa restaurant and vice versa.

The Heights is an $820 million, 43-acre mixed-use project on the Tampa Heights waterfront, just north of downtown Tampa. Construction is underway on the renovation of the Armature Works building as well as an apartment-and-retail building known as The Pearl.

On Friday, SoHo confirmed that it has parted ways with Tim Jarrett, an executive hired to run Armature Works.

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