TAMPA - French, Russian, American, Irish and more French.

Those are themes of five new restaurants moving into Hyde Park Village, potentially breathing new life into the long-struggling South Tampa shopping district.

Moving into spaces across the village, the new restaurants will open in stages from now through summer 2011, the product of new management taking over the village.

"Restaurants have definitely become more important for lifestyle centers like ours," said property manager Susan Martin.

Hyde Park Village had struggled in past years, notably after a planned condo tower fell victim to the real estate downturn. More recently, national mall developer Madison Marquette took over day-to-day management of the district from co-owner Vornado Realty Trust.

Madison put new restaurants at the top of their priority list, as well as sorting out which current tenants should stay. The upper-tier Restaurant BT folded, though it has opened a new location on south MacDill Avenue in South Tampa.

Now, new restaurants have signed leases and are moving into the space. Among them, two moving into space formerly occupied by retailer Talbot's, which had moved out amid a national pullback. Those two:

•"La Crepe Nanou," a French-themed bistro with crepes, and "Rasputin Restaurant and Vodka Bar," offering upper-tier vodkas and caviar with blinis and crème fraiche, a type of small pancake and sour cream. Those restaurants could open by May, together taking about 6,600 square feet of floor space.

•An American-style burger restaurant called "Huey's Diner" will move into the village as well, to 4,800 square feet in an undisclosed location. The opening is planned later in 2011. The La Crepe Nanou, Rasputin's and Huey's are all run by the Doyle Restaurant Group, based in New Orleans.

"Amelie's, a French Bakery and Café" will move into the former Restaurant BT location, scheduled to open Feb. 1. It will feature tartines, the French open-faced sandwich, along with salads, sandwiches and other French-inspired items.

And "Irish 31, Pub House and Eatery" will move into 1,500 square feet of space near the Cine Bistro movie theater. The planned opening is March 1.

Village managers say they won't need to expand parking in the district because the movie theater had already scaled down from more than 1,500 seats to just 400, focusing on a dine-and-watch combination.

All the restaurants have either taken possession of their space or will in the next couple months, Martin said.

Restaurants had been a major focus for Madison Marquette. They can provide a regional draw for shoppers, a strategy taken up by major malls including WestShore Plaza and International Plaza.

For Hyde Park Village, the next phase will be a more intense focus on recruiting new retailers, particularly to the wedge area across from the Wine Exchange that had been left empty with the collapse of the condo plans.

One of the first new retailers will be "Artistry by Sparkes," which will move into space near Downtown Dogs.

Meanwhile, Martin said several national retailers have expressed interest in the area once envisioned as a condo tower.

Contact Richard Mullins at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/DailyDeadline.