Cappy's Pizzeria will move, then spawn St. Petersburg Times Thu, 18 May 2006 10:13 PM PDT Move, then expand. That's apparently the plan for Cappy's Pizzeria on Howard Avenue. Early next month, the SoHo pizza place moves to the former Thai House restaurant at 3200 W Bay to Bay Blvd.
"A second Cappy's is set to open in Seminole Heights at 4910 N Florida Ave., tentatively by mid to late summer.
That's next to Covivant Gallery, one of the few survivors of a late 1990s art gallery boom in Seminole Heights that sparked a small flame in the neighborhood's stagnant commercial revitalization.
But any momentum that the critically acclaimed art gallery and popular pizzeria might collectively create may never happen.
Covivant owner Carrie Mackin said she might close the gallery. "It's 50-50 right now," she said, adding that her lease on the building is up soon and she's negotiating to buy it.
If she can't buy the building, Mackin said she's packing up and moving to New York.
Covivant will close June 5 for its traditional summer break. Whether that will be the gallery's final day ever remains to be seen, but Mackin said the arrival of Cappy's next door would be good for Covivant. "If I do stay there, I look forward to the business it would bring the gallery. We don't get much pedestrian traffic on Florida Avenue, so this is definitely going to help that."
A quaint outdoor courtyard that separates the gallery and the future Cappy's will be used for outdoor restaurant seating. Cappy's co-owner Steve White, who will franchise the Seminole Heights Cappy's, said the restaurant will seat about 70 indoors and out."
Anyone want to help and invest in an Art Gallery?
This is awesome! Their pizza is great. I will be able to walk to a cool restaurant. Hopefully, they will have a little bar area. I don't think the one on SOHO had much of a bar.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Steve White who will own this Cappy's is the same Steve White who ran the TGI Fridays on Hillsborough back in 1989 and 1990. If it is the same guy, this will be a very well run restaurant.
I love Cappy's! I hope they have Trivial Persuit cards for the tables and LP album menus at the SH location! Great pizza, too. Yum. I'll have to get over to the Howard location one last time before they move to Bay-to-Bay.
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