BELLEAIR BLUFFS — Business is booming in Belleair Bluffs, where several new establishments have opened in recent months, and more are on the way.
The Hideaway Cafe — the latest venture from Belleair Market owners Chris Scott and Julie Champion — opened last fall and held its official ribbon cutting in April. Several other businesses have opened since or are about to.
The list includes Oovique, a Pilates studio on the north end of Indian Rocks Road, and two businesses moving into Belleair Bluffs Plaza on West Bay Drive.
City Administrator Debra Sullivan told the commission last month that “businesses are booming,” citing the recent opening of Oovique and the Beach Glow Bath and Body shop, along with the highly anticipated Tavern in the Bluffs sports bar, which she said was “in the process” of opening.
“We also have the Academy of Cream opening,” Sullivan said of the offshoot of the popular Dunedin ice cream shop. She added that the Daf and Dream boutique would expand into an adjacent storefront in the Plaza at 100 N. Indian Rocks Road.
“So, she’s not closing, she’s expanding,” Sullivan said of the shop, which she called “very unique.”
Plans for a boutique hotel on West Bay Drive are also moving forward, Sullivan said.
“We received the hotel development agreement, and we’re moving forward with that,” she said of the proposal from local hotelier and entrepreneur Tony Utegaard, who last year asked the city to change its ordinances to allow transient lodging — hotels and motels — in certain commercial sections.
The city’s approval of those regulations last July cleared the way for Utegaard to submit plans for what he called “an extremely classy” boutique hotel on a vacant lot on West Bay Drive, just east of the Belleair Causeway.
“I’ve wanted to build a hotel on that property for 15 years,” said Utegaard, who has worked in the hotel business — designing, building and consulting — for more than 20 years. “So, I’m willing to wait as long as it takes.”
After the May 18 commission meeting, Utegaard said the proposal’s fate now rests with the city.
“They have the plans, and the ball is in their court,” he said. “So, I’m eagerly awaiting their decision.”
Sullivan said the city attorney and the planning board are nearly finished reviewing the plans.
“I believe they are almost done,” she said.
Iconic Bluffs businesses change ownership
Even as the new businesses arrive, a pair of beloved Belleair Bluffs establishments — E&E Stakeout Grill and Le Merle Coffee Bar and Bakery — have recently changed hands. The new owners say they don’t plan wholesale changes to the brands.
Peter Aramanious, E&E’s new owner, “grew up in a family restaurant … found his way into the kitchen, and never really left,” the steakhouse said in a May 20 post on its Instagram account.
“When the chance to take on E&E came up, he didn’t see a place to reinvent,” the post read. “He saw a 40-year-old institution where his job, in his words, was to respect it and quietly make it better.”
Even with assurances that the new owner will preserve what makes E&E special — the cozy, old-school atmosphere and longtime menu items — the news rattled the community. The restaurant, founded in 1985 by Eugen Fuhrmann and chef Erwin Scheuringer, has been a cornerstone of the Plaza at 100 N. Indian Rocks Road for four decades.
“We have never had a bad meal or bad service at E&E,” read one comment on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “It’s been our go-to restaurant for years. I hope it remains so.”
Around the corner at 2985 W. Bay Drive, Le Merle was purchased by Utegaard, the businessman behind the proposed hotel across the street.
“We did a thing!” Utegaard posted on Facebook in mid-May. “Today we had the grand re-opening of Le Merle Coffee Bar and Bakery — our newest family adventure! Like, follow, share and come visit!”
The post drew a wave of congratulations. Utegaard said he and his wife, Leah, took over with the blessing and support of the previous owner.
“We plan to host an official grand opening and ribbon cutting together soon,” he said after the May 18 meeting, calling the ceremony “a passing of the torch.”