Two new restaurant concepts at Tampa Marriott Waterside will open the hotel up to the street and Riverwalk
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 4, 2018

Two new restaurants will open at Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina in 2019, opening the property up to both the street and Tampa Riverwalk.

A new gastropub, Garrison Tavern, will replace Champions Sports Bar at the Tampa Marriott Waterside in early 2019, complete with patio seating and street-level access. A second restaurant will be added off the rear lobby with a new outdoor terrace and bar.

A portion of the hotel's existing patio, which is currently elevated above the Riverwalk, will be lowered to the same level as the Riverwalk with covered outdoor lounge areas.

Both concepts will be operated by restaurateur Richard Sandoval's RS Hospitality. Garrison Tavern will focus on comfort food and approachability, with 20 local draft beers.

The restaurant will also include two indoor Topgolf bays with a hockey function, Marriott said Tuesday. The Marriott Waterside is an anchor of Water Street Tampa, the $3 billion mixed-use district between downtown Tampa's Channel district and central business district.

It's also one of the few portions of Water Street that the public can experience now, other than Sparkman Wharf, which opened Nov. 30. The experience at the Marriott Waterside has the potential to set the tone for the remainder of Water Street years before the majority of the district is up and running.

Hotels are a critical piece of Water Street. The forthcoming construction in the district includes two hotels, a 157-room Edition and the 519-key JW Marriott; the JW Marriott is underway across South Florida Avenue from the Marriott Waterside.

The developer of Water Street, Strategic Property Partners, is focused on making those hotels destinations for residents as well as visitors - with restaurants, spas and rooftop bars - CEO James Nozar has said.

"That's pretty rare in Tampa," Nozar said in April. "Most of the hotels are built just for the people visiting."