Tampa's Cass Street Deli to open in Carillon Park apartment tower
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 21, 2021

Cass Street Deli is headed to Pinellas County with a new location set to open at Carillon Park in the next few months.

Tampa entrepreneur Roberto Torres, who owns the deli and the Blind Tiger Cafe coffee shop chain, said the company has signed a 10-year lease for a 1,000-square-foot, street-level storefront at WaterView at Echelon City Center, a recently built apartment tower. It will have a large patio and is set to open this winter, between November and February 2022.

This will be the second installment of Cass Street Deli in Tampa Bay — the first is at 1331 W. Cass St. in Tampa — and it will be the first location in Pinellas County to feature Blind Tiger Café coffee.

“When it comes to craft coffee, and for this particular New York-style food, there is a big hole on that side of the bay,” Torres said.

Torres said his background in accounting led him to have strong connections to the Carillon area, which is home to several large financial services firms. When his broker, Jane Levin of Levin Investment Realty, reached out last year to discuss the possibility of bringing Cass Street Deli to Pinellas County, he immediately knew the location was ripe for potential. With the ongoing pandemic, Torres said he was hesitant initially to commit to the venture, but after speaking to WaterView developer Darryl LeClair, he realized he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

They started negotiations in July 2020. Torres said the new location represents a six-figure investment but declined to disclose a specific dollar figure. Part of the appeal of WaterView are the hundreds of residents within the building who are “searching for a gourmet sandwich shop” as well as the “thousands of commuters that come in and out of the area every single day on their way to work,” Torres said.

Levin said with the wave of development headed to the area, Cass Street Deli will be in a prime location to meet the growing need.

Torres intends to evolve the concept from its Tampa prototype and stay open later for residents and the neighboring workforce, Levin said, and the plan is to offer a happy hour for those wishing to spend an evening in the flourishing district. There will be various parking options in front of the building and at a nearby parking garage.