Corners Pizza is expanding in Water Street, with a new restaurant on the ground floor of apartment tower Heron
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 20, 2021

The Corners Pizza, one of the original eateries in Sparkman Wharf's dining garden, is expanding with a new restaurant on the ground floor of apartment tower Heron.

The new restaurant, 3 Corners Pizza, is named for the "shape of an iconic New York slice" and will serve New York-style pizza as a complement to the thick-crust Detroit-style pizza that The Corners Pizza serves within Sparkman Wharf.

It will be 2,500 square feet with 120 seats. The restaurant is the second major retail tenant signed on the ground floor of Heron; GreenWise Market, the specialty grocery banner from Publix Super Markets Inc., will open there later this year.

The GreenWise Market is 26,000 square feet; Heron's street-level retail space totals 35,000 square feet.

Tampa chef Noel Cruz, whose other concepts include Ichicoro Ramen, Ichicoro Imoto and c.1949 Beer Garden, is the founder of The Corners.

"I worked in the New York City restaurant world for 20 years, but Tampa is my home," Cruz said in a statement. "So it's particularly exciting for me to bring those worlds together with this new dining concept."

Sparkman Wharf — formerly Channelside Bay Plaza — is an anchor of Water Street Tampa, the $3 billion-plus mixed-use district under construction in downtown Tampa. Heron, which broke ground as 815 Water Street, features two apartment towers perched on a base of structured parking and street-level retail. The first residents will move in in March.

"The Corners quickly became a beloved pizza joint at Water Street Tampa since it opened in Sparkman Wharf," said Susan Martin, vice president of retail and place management at Water Street, in a statement, "and we're proud to watch that success blossom into another dining experience for our community."