Midtown Tampa developer confirms deal with Sunda New Asian
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 18, 2022

Chicago restaurateur and media personality Billy Dec will bring his Sunda New Asian to Midtown Tampa.

Bromley Cos., the New York-based developer of Midtown, confirmed that Sunda New Asian will occupy 6,000 square feet of retail space near The Commons, next to the Aloft and Element Hotel entrance. It will open in late 2022.

The Midtown location will be the third iteration of Sunda, which was founded in Chicago in 2009 and expanded to Nashville in 2018. Dec has posted his real estate-scouting visits to Tampa on his Instagram story since early 2021, long fueling speculation that Sunda would open a location here.

Scott Dobbins, founder and principal at Hybridge Commercial Real Estate, represented Dec in the lease transaction.

"We looked everywhere at first because I wanted the lay of the land," Dec told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "At the end of the day, there was something really cool about Midtown Tampa."

Sunda, Dec said, serves modern Southeast Asian cuisine with an energetic vibe. The Tampa restaurant will employ about 75 people.

He's traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, including his mother's native Philippines. His family travels have also brought him to Tampa, as well as St. Petersburg and Clearwater, for decades — "there's been literally decades of connectivity between the Midwest and Tampa," he said.

"I wanted to bring the culture I love, that I grew up in, to areas where it wasn’t at the highest level," Dec said. "And that was Nashville five years ago, and I thought there might be a great opportunity to do that in Tampa now."

The menu will include sushi, dim sum, noodles, salads and rice dishes. The restaurant will also offer sushi rolling classes, a traditional island-style feast, mixology classes, sake tastings and other culture and culinary offerings.

“Sunda New Asian, known for its highly successful Chicago and Nashville locations, offers a modern, world-class dining experience for those who visit, work and live at Midtown Tampa,” Nicholas Haines, CEO of Bromley Cos., said in a statement. “As Sunda begins a national expansion of its incredible concept, Midtown Tampa is pleased to be home to its only Florida location.”