South of Gandy's New Tables Arrived Before Its Pier Did

In September 2025, the City of Tampa said the Ballast Point Pier could be repaired, which would cut years off its reopening. A year later, the City is asking engineering firms to design a new one. Over that same stretch, the blocks around the park picked up a Sicilian restaurant, a Japanese izakaya on the water and a breakfast-at-7 spot now under construction. As of October 2026, the restaurants are running ahead of the pier.

For anyone who lives between Gandy Boulevard and MacDill Air Force Base, the change is practical. The pier, the area's best-known landmark, is still fenced off. The new places that matter this season sit on South MacDill Avenue and Bridge Street, and several of them are aimed squarely at the people who live down here.

MacDill Avenue is getting the everyday hours

The clearest sign of the shift comes from Graze. The all-day American restaurant started at Armature Works and later opened a second location near Plant High School. Now it's building a third at 5232 S. MacDill Ave. In its September announcement, That's So Tampa reported that construction had already started and that the restaurant expects to open in late 2026.

Graze described the site as "south of Gandy" and said it's meant for "neighborhood residents, service members and visitors alike." The schedule fits that audience. Breakfast will run seven days a week, starting at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends. The plans also include a patio, bar seating, a separate entrance for takeout and online orders, and a full surface parking lot. Owner Raymond Menendez told That's So Tampa, "We've had so many people tell us they'd love to have a Graze closer to home, so Ballast Point just felt like the perfect fit." As of this writing, Graze is still a project, not a place you can walk into.

L'Amorino is already open, farther south at 6102 S. MacDill Ave., Suite A. Oliviana and Serdar ran Bayshore Mediterranean Grill for 12 years before opening this Sicilian restaurant rooted in Oliviana's Palermo upbringing. That's So Tampa's July write-up singled out the Arancina, the Bucatini Carbonara and the Paccheri allo Scoglio, a seafood pasta made with clams, mussels, calamari and prawns. All of the pasta comes from Luca Artisanal Pasta, which is made in Tampa. L'Amorino's hours suit a weeknight crowd:

• Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Closed Mondays

O-Ku marks the northern end of the corridor. Indigo Road Hospitality Group, based in Charleston, opened the sushi restaurant on May 21 at 2907 W. Bay to Bay Blvd. in Bayshore Gardens, according to the Tampa Bay Times. O-Ku's own location page lists it as now open. O-Ku is a destination dinner that sits right where Bay to Bay meets MacDill. The newer arrivals further south are built for weekday lunches and mornings before work.

Bridge Street filled the space the storms emptied

The Westshore Marina District shows the same pattern. In October 2024, Vela, the Italian restaurant at 5232 Bridge St. that used to be Cru Cellars, announced it would close, and Creative Loafing Tampa reported that damage from that fall's hurricanes was one of the reasons.

The space has since been re-leased. In January, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that a Japanese restaurant, Rio Izakaya, would open in the former Vela space. Rio Izakaya's site now lists 5232 Bridge Street and takes table reservations.

Two doors down, at 5224 Bridge St., The Greene Turtle opened its first Florida restaurant in fall 2025, according to That's So Tampa. The restaurant's location page lists hours, online ordering and reservations at that address.

The district's oldest standing event is still on the calendar, too. The Sunday Market at Westshore Marina District, at 4900 Bridge St., runs on the fourth Sunday of every month, year-round. Fall and winter hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The pier went from repair job to new build

This is where the area's calendar slows down. Here is how the plans changed:

1. October 2024. Hurricane Helene destroyed the pier at 5300 Interbay Blvd., and it closed to the public. The City's later solicitation uses that exact wording, "destroyed."
2. September 4, 2025. WUSF reported that the City had decided the pier "can be restored rather than rebuilt, cutting years off the time needed to reopen." The plan called for reinforcing the pilings, replacing every pier board and upgrading the utilities and fish-cleaning stations. No cost or completion date was given.
3. September 2026. The City put out a request for qualifications seeking design services "for a new public pier." The work covers preliminary design, permitting and construction-phase services, with an estimated fee of $1.4 million to $1.7 million.
4. October 8, 2026. Qualifications were due, according to the City's RFQ list.

The $1.7 million figure is easy to misread. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth pointed out that the estimate covers engineering only. The firm the City selects will produce the construction estimate, and the RFQ gives no construction budget or completion date. Building in the bay also requires permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with seagrass protections and turbidity curtains during pile driving.

The new pier would look much like the old one. The RFQ calls for a walkway about 940 feet long and 12 feet wide, ending in a 28-by-42-foot pier head with a copy of the 14-by-25-foot gazebo. The preliminary specifications call for marine-grade concrete piles, composite decking, marine-rated LED lighting, rescue ladders and a gazebo roof rated for winds of at least 145 mph. The pier would also go back to being the loading point for the Jose Gaspar during Gasparilla.

The park itself is open, and one business there never stopped. The City lists Leon's Lobstah Shack at Ballast Point Park, open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and serving seafood, drinks and ice cream. Leon's website currently takes online orders. The City's park page still lists the pier as closed for hurricane repairs, with no reopening date.

The one departure on the list

Not every change brings something new to the area. State Flour Bakery has sold sourdough and croissants from a roughly 500-square-foot storefront on South Dale Mabry Highway, near MacDill Air Force Base, since 2022. The Tampa Bay Times reported on October 13 that the bakery is moving in January to 18450 U.S. 41 in Lutz. The new 4,000-square-foot space most recently housed Black Sheep American Pub.

The reason is space. State Flour bakes in Pro Kitchen Hub, a shared commercial kitchen next door, and co-owner Alex Flannery told the Times the business can't grow much more there. The owners told the Times they plan to keep a small retail shop in South Tampa, stocked from the Lutz bakery. Flannery described the longer-term idea this way:

"We have a ton of people asking us to come to different areas. So we're like, OK, well maybe we can sustain little storefronts out of one main location, like have a commissary that we build up there and sustain other locations."

They haven't announced an address or opening date for that South Tampa shop. For now, the current storefront is the place to buy a jalapeño cheddar loaf through the end of the year.

Where things stand

A Saturday below Gandy this fall can still include the park. Order at Leon's and eat by the water, then head to MacDill or Bridge Street for dinner. A walk out over the bay will have to wait until a design firm is chosen, a construction estimate is written and the permits are issued, and the City hasn't put a date on any of those steps.

If you live near Ballast Point or the MacDill corridor and want to know how changes like these play into the value of your home, The Pithers Group tracks this end of South Tampa closely and is glad to talk it through. Contact Us when you're ready.