The last of the landmark restaurants will close in April.
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
Published February 8, 2006
[Times photo: Cherie Diez]
Expansive water views throughout Johnny Leverock's Seafood House on St. Pete Beach were part of the attraction for diners.
The last Johnny Leverock's Seafood House, clinging to a hump of land on Boca Ciega Bay, will close in late April, its waterfront site feeding a hunger for luxury condos.
The landmark restaurant and a cluster of adjacent buildings will be torn down to make way for Corey Landings, about 110 luxury condominiums starting at more than $1-million apiece.
Management woes and changing tastes helped doom most of Leverock's 12 restaurants that once stretched from Jacksonville to Fort Myers. The first Leverock's began serving oysters and hush puppies in Pinellas Park in 1948.
The sole surviving restaurant has clung profitably to its Intracoastal Waterway location at the gateway to St. Pete Beach. But owners couldn't resist the lure of millions of dollars dangled by developer William Karns.
"We told him it's more than just a real estate deal," Leverock's co-owner George Lewis said of Karns. "We've got a business and a very successful one at that. We just can't sell it for what the real estate's worth."
Karns paid $40-million for Leverock's and four adjacent properties on Corey Avenue. Neither side of the deal would disclose the price paid for Leverock's alone.
Karns views his project as a way to clean up blight at the foot of Corey Causeway, the bridge from the mainland to St. Pete Beach.
Aside from Leverock's, his acquisitions include the 1950s-era Bay Winds motel, abandoned apartments and the vacant Bridgeview Restaurant.
Karns will round out the condos with a pier, a high-end restaurant, shops and a public park and parking garage. Karns wouldn't disclose construction costs but valued the project at $150-million to $200-million. It's expected to open in 2008.
"Every piece of property I bought is decrepit," Karns said. "Leverock's is a nice restaurant but by today's standards it's not a very quality building."
For decades, Leverock's was synonymous with seafood in the greater Tampa Bay area, a favorite of locals and snowbirds alike.
Its origins go back to World War II, when Johnny Leverock began selling oysters from a shack at U.S. 19 and 70th Avenue.
Leverock added a hot plate and deep fat fryer. His wife, Bertha, pitched in with chowder and hush puppies. A business was born.
The Leverock family sold their restaurant in 1981 after Johnny's death. The new owners changed the name from Johnny Leverock's Oyster Bar and embarked on an expansion that would peak at 12 restaurants.
Gold Coast Restaurants Inc. acquired the chain in 2000 and promptly opened two more Leverock's, in Sarasota and Fort Myers.
"They've got a great reputation in the bay area, and we felt like there was some opportunity to expand in the West Coast of Florida market," Gold Coast executive William Long said at the time.
The fall came fast. Gold Coast filed for bankruptcy in 2004, citing lackluster business at Leverock's. Over the past two years all but one of the restaurants has closed: The St. Pete Beach restaurant remained as a franchise held by the old ownership group that sold to Gold Coast.
Karns has agreed to let Leverock's stay open through the end of the high tourist season in late April.
Lewis and partner John Stross said they're scouting sites in mid or south Pinellas County with the hope of resurrecting Leverock's away from the waterfront. But they can't promise the restaurant will re-open.
"We wanted to keep it going until late April and give employees plenty of advance notice," Lewis said. "We didn't want to just bolt the door shut."
