Nashville-based Avenue T Hospitality Group paid $4 million for the English-cottage-style building at 2221 4th Street North, according to a deed recorded October 7, 2026, and reported by St. Pete Rising. The group also took out a $5.355 million loan from Pinnacle Bank tied to the purchase. Its plan is Pelato, a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant built around shared plates.
Pelato is only one of four changes on this stretch of 4th Street North this fall. An electrolyte-drink shop, a fast-casual farm-to-table counter and a closed coffee flagship make up the rest. Taken together, they show a split on the corridor. The one building designed for a long evening is drawing the most expensive commitment on the street. The spaces around it are moving toward places you stop at on the way somewhere else.
Ninety Years of Dinner in One Building
The cottage at 2221 has rarely been anything other than a place to spend an evening. St. Pete Rising lays out the history of the building.
| Era | Occupant |
|---|---|
| 1930s | Earl Gresh builds the cottage and runs it as the Earl Gresh Wood Parade tourist attraction |
| 1959 to 1985 | Rollande et Pierre, a French restaurant |
| Following three decades | The Melting Pot |
| 2021 | Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company founder Matthew Powers buys the property for $1.425 million |
| 2023 to late 2025 | Sesh, a restaurant and brewpub, after a renovation |
| October 2026 | Avenue T Hospitality Group buys it for $4 million to open Pelato |
The Tampa Bay Times reported Sesh's closing in early November 2025.
The building's layout explains why it keeps drawing dinner operators. The property covers 7,630 square feet and has an indoor-outdoor bar facing 4th Street North, a patio, and a large main dining room built around a brick chimney. A dining room with a hearth at its center is hard to turn into a counter-service shop.
Reading the Price
The two sale prices five years apart show how much the new owner is committing. Powers paid $1.425 million in 2021. Avenue T paid $4 million in October 2026, roughly 2.8 times as much for the same building. The $5.355 million loan tied to the purchase is $1.355 million more than the price on the deed.
The group buying it has a track record with this format. Chef and restaurateur Anthony Scotto and his wife, Teresa, created Pelato after moving from New York to Nashville in 2022. They opened the first location in Nashville in 2023, then added Charleston and Franklin, Tennessee. St. Pete would be the fourth Pelato.
The menu is meant for sharing at the table, with no conventional entree-and-sides format:
- Potato croquettes made from Teresa's mother's recipe
- Panelle with whipped ricotta, Brooklyn-style fried calamari, and chicken scarpariello from Anthony's family
- House-made pastas such as radiatori vodka and bucatini cacio e pepe, plus chicken parmigiana, baked stuffed shells and stromboli
- Drinks including wine, Italian beer, a frozen espresso martini, an apple cider frozen cocktail, a New York Sour, a limoncello margarita and sangria
- Sunday Sauce dinner for two, built around a tomato sauce that has simmered for hours
A Sunday dinner built around hours-simmered sauce takes time to cook and time to eat. That fits a building that has hosted French dinners and fondue nights for most of a century.
When St. Pete Rising reported the sale on October 8, 2026, Pelato had not announced an opening date.
The Spaces Around It Are Going Faster
A few blocks north, the other changes point in a different direction. The two arrivals expected next are built for speed.
STORM at 2600 4th Street North. The Tampa-born drink shop announced on September 15 that it plans to open its fourth location before November 1, according to the St. Pete Standard. It is taking over space that Grand Kitchen and Bath occupied. Grand Kitchen and Bath is moving to the other side of the same building. STORM sells 32-ounce electrolyte drinks in more than 20 flavors and plant-based protein shakes. St. Pete Rising reports that the base price for a 32-ounce drink has stayed at $6 since the company opened.
Founder Molly Mills grew up in St. Pete and first hoped to launch here. In the same report, she says she and her fiancé, Cole Schaller, could not find an affordable space near downtown. They opened their first shop at 3401 S. MacDill Avenue in Tampa in 2021 with $16,000 between them. At the time of writing, STORM's own store locator still listed only its Tampa shops.
Naked Farmer at 2631 4th Street North. Across the street, Naked Farmer is renovating the former EVOS building, which St. Pete Rising reports had served health-focused fast food on the site for 22 years. The publication reports a November opening target, with Fox Building Group as general contractor. SNN reported in April 2025 that EVOS was closing its locations. CEO Jordan Johnson told St. Pete Rising that this is "the first standalone restaurant we've built entirely as our own, from the ground up."
The format is fast casual. Guests build Harvest Plates from a protein, a grain or greens base, and two seasonal sides. Proteins include grass-fed steak, Faroe Island salmon, rosemary roasted chicken, and roasted blue oyster mushrooms. Nothing is cooked in seed oils; the kitchen uses avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil instead. Planned hours match the downtown flagship at 200 Central Avenue: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The building sizes show the gap. Naked Farmer's 4th Street building is 1,920 square feet. Pelato's property is about four times that.
The Coffee Gap at 1211
Farther south, at 1211 4th Street North, The Blend Coffee & Cocktails has closed the flagship it opened in early 2020. Owner Stacha Madsen told St. Pete Rising that the company was consolidating its St. Petersburg operations, so "its original Old Northeast location will be closing," and added, "this isn't goodbye."
The Blend's two other St. Pete locations are still open: the Magnolia Heights cafe at 3001 16th Street North and the drive-thru at 2760 34th Street North. St. Pete Rising's report did not name a next tenant for 1211, so whether it becomes another place to sit or another place to grab and go is still an open question.
Where Each Address Stands as of Mid-October
From south to north, here is what the reporting supports right now:
- 1211 4th St N: The Blend's flagship is closed. The closing report named no successor.
- 2221 4th St N: Sold October 2026 for Pelato. No opening date as of the October 8 report.
- 2600 4th St N: STORM, targeting an opening before November 1.
- 2631 4th St N: Naked Farmer, under renovation and aiming for November.
The drink shop and the fast-casual counter both have opening targets before the end of November. The cottage has none yet, and its new owner paid $4 million to keep serving dinner in a building that has hosted dinner since Rollande et Pierre opened in 1959.
For more on dining near the island, see our look at what changed at the Vinoy this year and our Snell Isle neighborhood guide.
At Pedone Elite, we track commercial sales like the one at 2221 because they show where operators are willing to put money in the neighborhoods next to Snell Isle and Old Northeast. If you'd like to talk through what the changes on 4th Street North mean for a property nearby, Schedule a Free Consultation with our team.
