'Major facelift' on tap for storefronts near Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks after sale
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 5, 2021

The iconic strip of storefronts near the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks is in the hands of new ownership that’s planning to renovate the property.

The property at 735 Dodecanese Blvd. includes Mama’s Greek Cuisine and Anclote Brew. Louis J. Pappas, as a surviving co-trustee of the Jack L. Pappas and Nickoleta O. Pappas Family Sponge Exchange Trust, sold the property for $7.5 million to another Tarpon Springs group, N&Y Properties LLC.

Comprised of Nick and Patty Kokkinos, N&Y Properties plans to give the shopping village a “facelift” and will focus on the economic revitalization of the area.

Tarpon Springs is known as the “Sponge Capital of the World,” and the sponge docks and surrounding shops and restaurants are among Pinellas County’s top tourist attractions.

Nick Kokkinos is president and CEO of M&J Construction Co., which primarily specializes in bridgework — structure repair, restoration and maintenance — and also does maritime locks, spillways, pump stations and dams.

“We’re going to fix it up and make it beautiful the way it used to be,” Patty Kokkinos told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “It’s rundown. The people were fixing it up, but it needs a big-time facelift. It’s going to be beautiful.”

Patty Kokkinos said she and her husband believe it was a great investment and will aim to begin hosting various events and festivals to “liven up the atmosphere” and reemphasize Tarpon Springs’ strong community core.

She said their deep community pride led them to invest. Both Kokkinos come from Kalymnos, a Greek island in the southeastern Aegean Sea renowned for its sponge diving, and sponge diving runs in Patty’s family.

She came to Tarpon Springs as a child, and her husband came in his late 20s. She said their love of the city made them want to be the ones to breathe new life into the sponge docks and to “keep it in the Greek community.”

Though they did not reveal a complete time line, Patty Kokkinos said they have already begun purchasing things for the renovations, like new tile for the property, and said visitors will see “major changes” in the next three months.