Tampa high-rise may replace waterfront restaurant

The Colonnade Restaurant in Tampa (Credit: guyfieri.com)
The Colonnade Restaurant in Tampa (Credit: guyfieri.com)

Sarasota-based Ascentia Development Group and a business partner bought an 80-year-old restaurant in Tampa, and they plan to redevelop its waterfront location.

A joint venture formed by Ascentia and Batson-Cook Development Company paid an undisclosed price for the Colonnade Restaurant, a Tampa landmark on land entitled for a high-rise building.

The joint venture is planning to build luxury condos with high-rise views of Hillsborough Bay and downtown Tampa on the site at the southwest corner of Bayshore Boulevard and West Julia Street.

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Five generations of the Whiteside family in Tampa have run the Colonnade. It opened in 1935 as a waterfront restaurant serving fried chicken, hamburgers and Coca-Cola with an olive inside, and it became a popular meeting place for Tampa teenagers.

.Speaking on behalf of the sellers, Jack “Smokey” Whiteside and Richard “Dicky” Whiteside said in a statement that “although the decision to sell was an emotionally difficult one, we felt the time had arrived to move on.”

Ascentia’s Florida developments include the Beau Ciel in Sarasota, the Orchid Beach Club on Lido Key, and En Provence and Aria on Longboat Key.  Batson-Cook Development, founded in 1963, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kajima USA.