"Our vision, just like the city's vision, is this could be a destination for all the locals."
That's Lucas Krillies, co-owner of Bocelli Modern Italian, standing in a bare concrete shell on West Bay Drive the day he got the keys. He wasn't describing a lease he found on the open market. He was describing a space the City of Largo built, marketed, and is actively filling seat by seat inside its own $85 million downtown complex.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. Most downtown revivals happen the slow way: a developer buys a few buildings, a coffee shop takes a chance, a restaurant follows if the coffee shop works. Largo skipped that sequence. The city built Horizon West Bay first, then went out and recruited the tenants to match a vision it had already decided on. As of late August 2026, that recruiting effort put the project at 75 percent leased, with two new restaurant leases approved by the Largo City Commission in a single meeting.
The City Built the Building Before It Had the Businesses
Horizon West Bay sits on the northern 400 block of West Bay Drive, and it was never just a restaurant play. The project bundles a new Largo City Hall with 18,000 square feet of retail space, public gathering areas, and a parking garage, all under one roof. Groundbreaking happened in the fall of 2022 with Mayor Woody Brown and City Manager Henry Schubert on hand, and the complex opened earlier this year.
That sequencing explains why the tenant mix looks curated rather than accidental. On August 18, the commission approved 10-year leases for two more restaurants, pushing the commercial side of the project past three-quarters full within months of its debut. Charles Stanton, who manages operations for Horizon West Bay, put it plainly: Parlor Doughnuts was the first business to open in the complex, and the goal from day one was to use that first opening as a catalyst that would pull in everyone after it.
The City Is Also Paying for Part of the Build-Out
Here's the part that doesn't show up in the press-release version of this story. Largo isn't just approving leases. It's helping fund the construction inside them.
Dead Bob's Bar & Restaurant, an established St. Petersburg sports bar bringing its first Largo location and its first venue built specifically around live performances, will get up to $414,400 reimbursed by the city to cover the cost of building out its raw commercial space. The money comes from the same tenant improvement dollars Largo has used elsewhere in the project to pay for floors, electrical work, and bathrooms.
The vote to approve that lease passed 5-1. Commissioner Curtis Holmes cast the lone dissenting vote on both restaurant leases, objecting specifically to using city funds for private commercial build-outs. Vice Mayor Chris Johnson abstained from both votes over a business conflict of interest. That's not a rubber stamp. It's a real disagreement, on the record, about how much taxpayer money should go toward getting a bar and a restaurant open.
Whatever side of that debate a resident lands on, the practical outcome is the same: the city has a direct financial stake in whether these specific businesses succeed, not just an interest in collecting rent.
Who's Actually Showing Up
The tenant list so far isn't a lineup of unproven concepts. Every name is already known somewhere else in Tampa Bay, and Largo is where they're extending, not starting from scratch.
| Business | Status | Where it's from |
|---|---|---|
| Parlor Doughnuts | Open | Regional chain, first Horizon West Bay tenant |
| Strachan's Ice Cream | Open | Locally founded in 1999, existing locations in Clearwater, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Pinellas Park, Safety Harbor and South Tampa |
| Louis Pappas Fresh Greek | Under construction, opening soon | Established Tampa Bay Greek concept |
| The Tox | Under construction, opening soon | New to the corridor |
| Bocelli Modern Italian | Approved lease, opening 2027 | Second location, existing restaurant on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa near MacDill Air Force Base |
| Dead Bob's Bar & Restaurant | Approved lease, opening 2027 | Fourth location overall, first in Largo, expanding from St. Petersburg |
Bocelli will anchor more than 6,400 square feet of frontage along West Bay Drive, built around an open kitchen, house-made pasta, brick-oven pizza, and a full liquor bar. Dead Bob's will take a smaller 2,072-square-foot space inside the parking garage building, but its location is the more telling detail: it sits directly next to a covered stage the city already built for outdoor performances, and the concept is branded "Live at Dead Bob's" specifically because it's designed around that stage.
Neither restaurant opens this year. Both are targeting 2027. What's actually walkable in downtown Largo right now, and through the rest of 2026, is Parlor Doughnuts, Strachan's Ice Cream, and the soon-to-open Louis Pappas Fresh Greek and The Tox.
The Calendar Was Built to Match the Building
The restaurant leases aren't the only piece of downtown Largo that got timed to land this fall.
Largo commissioners approved a "wet zone" for the downtown entertainment district earlier this year, and the city has said the boundaries will launch in October once signage is finished. That means the stretch of West Bay Drive around Horizon West Bay is set up to function as a single open container for drinks between businesses, starting the same month the rest of downtown's fall calendar kicks in.
That calendar includes the Central Park Performing Arts Center's 30th anniversary season, which opens with Largo Vibe Fest, a free three-day arts festival at Largo Central Park running October 2 through 4. The festival is headlined by the ensemble Squonk! Joy Machine, known for building giant musical sculptures and kinetic machines into its live shows, with interactive workshops after each performance. CPPAC's season manager Audrey Siegler called the festival the center's gift back to the community as it marks three decades in Largo Central Park.
None of this reads as coincidence once you put the dates next to each other. Restaurant leases approved in August. A wet zone launching in October. A 30th-anniversary arts festival opening the same week. Downtown Largo isn't filling in gradually the way most downtowns do. It's being assembled on a schedule, and the schedule points at this fall.
What This Looks Like If You Already Live Here
If you're mapping out where to eat and what to walk to in downtown Largo over the next few months, the honest picture is a partial one. Parlor Doughnuts and Strachan's Ice Cream are open now. Louis Pappas Fresh Greek and The Tox are close behind. Bocelli and Dead Bob's are real commitments with signed leases, but they're a 2027 story, not a this-fall one.
What is a this-fall story is the wet zone opening once the city finishes its signage, and Largo Vibe Fest running free at Largo Central Park the first weekend of October. Those two pieces, more than any single restaurant, are what will make downtown Largo feel different by the time the year ends.
If you're keeping an eye on how downtown Largo is changing, whether you're already living nearby or just curious about where the neighborhood is headed, the Natalie Scott Team tracks this kind of local development closely across Seminole and Largo. Reach out if you'd like a look at what else is coming to the area.
