Tarpon Springs' iconic Pappas Riverside Restaurant site on the market as potential redevelopment play
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 28, 2015

The property that was once home to the iconic Pappas Riverside Restaurant in Tarpon Springs is for sale and being marketed as a potential redevelopment opportunity.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Property Group has had the listing for about a month, said Robb Sercu, managing director of the commercial division. Sercu and associates Kim Lohry, Keith Oster and Andy Masters are listing the property for owner Tarpon Restaurant Services LLC.

The restaurant and adjacent parking lot, which total 3 acres and are at the entrance to the city's sponge docks, are listed for $7.75 million. The offering includes all furniture, fixtures and six boat docks.

The 1,000-seat Pappas Riverside Restaurant, which was founded on the site in 1925, closed in 2005. The current building was built in 1975, according to Pinellas County property records. Tarpon Restaurant Services paid $6.25 million for the site in 2006.

The restaurant reopened in 2010 as the Riverside Grille House and now only opens for special events.

City and business leaders think the site could be redeveloped into a mix of uses that include a hotel, retail and meeting space, Sercu said.

"We think there is an opportunity for a hotel component there," he said. "Access to a hotel isn't as convenient as it could be for the sponge docks."

A "large restaurant group" that Sercu declined to identify has already submitted a proposal for the property and been given a counter-offer from the seller. The group plans to present the site and the counter-offer to its real estate committee.

Potential buyers from Ohio, Georgia and Boston have toured the site, Lohry said, and there has been interest from as far away as Greece, given the city's heritage.

"We've had inquiries from all over, and quite a few conversations with people in Greece," she said. "It's a unique property."