First Watch, the popular restaurant chain known for its healthy breakfast and lunch items featuring items like power wraps, avocado toast and quinoa bowls, is coming to the Village at Hunterโs Lake plaza in New Tampa.
โThey have signed their lease,โ says Mark Elias, the leasing agent for Regency Centers, the developer of the plaza, which will be anchored by a Sprouts Farmers Market that is opening Aug. 12. โThey havenโt physically started swinging any hammers yet, but they have started the process (of permitting).โ
Located right across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from the entrance to Hunterโs Green, and just a few miles south of the First Watch on BBD in Wesley Chapel that almost always, in pre-Covid times, had a waiting list, the New Tampa location will join a number of new restaurants in the Hunterโs Lake project. It will take over the 3,530-sq.ft. spot between Fresh Kitchen, which also is readying for construction in the spot on the northernmost end of the plaza, and Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar, which is opening tomorrow at 11 a.m.
Headquartered in University Park, FL, First Watch serves breakfast, lunch and brunch at its more than 300 locations in 26 states.
For an area lacking in a true breakfast place for years, New Tampa will soon have two of Tampa Bayโs most highly-rated selections. The Brunchery, a long-time and popular breakfast staple in Valrico, expanded to New Tampa last December when it opened a new location in the old Boston Market space next to the Moeโs Southwest Grill on Preserve Walk Ln. at BBD.