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Bubba Gump bound for John's Pass

The restaurant will anchor the new building there.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published July 15, 2007

MADEIRA BEACH - As the John's Pass Village reconstruction winds down, owners finally have an anchor tenant: Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

The international restaurant chain, based on the Academy Award-winning Tom Hanks film Forrest Gump, signed an agreement last week to take the prime restaurant location in the $17-million development the Hubbard family started three years ago.

After the initial tenant bailed late last year, signing a big fish like Bubba Gump is a sweet solution.

"We're very excited," said Patty Hubbard, who runs the family's village operations and is overseeing the construction. "And relieved."

The space, on the west side of the new five-story garage-retail building along Gulf Boulevard, was to house A.J.'s Seafood and Oyster House based on a restaurant in Destin, but that deal fell through in December. Hubbard then hired Leverock's owner George Lewis to find a tenant for the 9,400-square-foot, two-story restaurant.

"We've been looking from Clearwater to St. Pete for many years," said Scott Barnett, president and CEO of Bubba Gump. "We came close a few times, but this is the best we've seen, so we took it."

The California-based chain has four Florida locations - Orlando, Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami - but none on the west coast. Barnett said they've just about tapped the east coast but expect three or four more locations in. The chain has 19 U.S. sites and in places like Hong Kong, Bali and Manila.

Barnett said this site is larger than most stores, particularly when he includes about 2,000 square feet of outdoor space. The site, on the second and third floors, looks toward the Gulf of Mexico over a city park so it's sunset views may never be broken.

Though the restaurant will be a popular draw, it may also compete with other food venues in the village, include the Hubbard family's Friendly Fisherman.

"We look forward to the challenge," Hubbard said. "But we already have about 2-million people come to the village every year. We can't feed them all, but want them all to eat before they leave."

The new restaurant should create the kind of draw Hubbard has wanted. The signing also nearly fills up the total 24,000 square feet the family is building in a complex where in 2004 they had only 6,000.

The National Comedy Hall of Fame opened earlier this year and a new coffee shop, Addicted to the Beach, opened last month, Hubbard said. Sully's Beach Gameland arcade and possibly Beach Glow Golf, an indoor, glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course, are set to open next month. New construction along the boardwalk also will be complete next month and stores will open there.

Hubbard said all the spaces should be rented and open by the time of the village's Seafood Festival in October. Barnett said he is planning to be up and running by spring 2008.

The Gump decor will be like others in the chain, resembling a working shrimp production facility, but Barnett said there are individual touches to each site. He said menus are regionalized as well but he's not sure yet how he will implement that in John's Pass.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified July 14, 2007, 21:59:01]