- December 4, 2024
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Main Street at Lakewood Ranch is headed into its 20th anniversary year of 2025 with a new look.
Over the past year, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Lakewood Ranch’s parent company, has been repainting the buildings and upgrading the landscaping.
Amanda Zipperer, director of property management and leasing at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch, said the awnings and outdoor seating will be updated, too.
However, SMR is not the only driver of Main Street’s revival.
Business owners are remodeling, rebranding and working together to draw more visitors to Lakewood Ranch's original town center.
“SMR spending money on Main Street made us feel good,” said restaurant owner Zach Zeller. “We’re starting to see some (other) people spend some money to elevate Main Street.”
Among the "other" people spending money are Bob Bender, Albert Myara, Adam Myara and Bruce Mahnke, co-owners of Ed's Tavern, which first opened on Main Street in 2009. Those owners opened a second Ed’s Tavern off State Road 64 in January, which led to a remodel in November at the Main Street location.
“Our guests just love everything about (the State Road 64 location),” Bender said. “So as we continue to grow and expand into other locations, we felt we needed to go back and do what we can (at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch) to get this to a higher level.”
The two locations now more resemble each other with wood paneled walls and a new TV systems. The Main Street tavern already had plenty of TVs, but now there are five more that help form a TV wall behind the bar.
The restrooms were remodeled, and the indoor and outdoor furniture was replaced with the exception of the booths, which are en route.
Zeller and his partner, Chef Evan Percoco, own and operate the Peculiar Pub and Percoco’s Pizza and Pasta.
They’re also opening another restaurant, the Twisted Pit, and they have snatched up another space next door to the Peculiar Pub.
The Twisted Pit will be serving Texas-style barbecue possibly by the end of the year, but that depends on equipment being delivered by then. The spot was formerly Sofia's.
Eventually, they want to add a speakeasy for the area that used to be Sofia's kitchen.
The space next to the Peculiar Pub is only being used for storage right now because the pair have enough on their proverbial plates, but they said the space could become an expansion of the pub or something entirely new.
When Zeller and Percoco took over Main Street Trattoria, the plan was to simply “put some lipstick on it” and reopen under the same name in about 10 days.
They said they quickly realized the restaurant had been neglected for quite some time, so they decided to remodel and rebrand it as Percoco’s.
“It went from 10 days to six weeks and a lot more money involved,” Zeller said.
In the end, the restaurant was outfitted with new air conditioning, floors and furniture. Plus, a wall was torn out to open up the space.
Zeller and Percoco envision Main Street as the place "where locals do life.” They want to see people return week after week because of the array of amenities it offers from seeing a movie to getting a haircut.
“We could absolutely put people in button-down shirts with white tablecloths and charge 20% more,” Zeller said. “The first thing we said was that we want this to be affordable for families to come and enjoy themselves.”
On Thursday nights, an 18-inch cheese pizza costs $12, and there’s live music from 5 to 8 p.m.
Percoco's isn’t the only rebrand Main Street has seen this year. What used to be McGrath’s Irish Ale House is now McGrath’s Kitchen & Cocktails.
The Myaras, Bender and Mahnke also own McGrath’s.
“We just changed the menu to make it more appealing to a larger audience base than people who are just coming out for the Irish (dishes),” Mahnke said. “There’s a little bit of everything on the menu for anyone’s taste buds.”
Corned beef is still served, but Cuban and Italian dishes are, as well.
Zeller said an interesting aspect of the days of COVID-19 was when all the tables on Lakewood Main Street were outside. Kids could kick a soccer ball around while their parents enjoyed a relaxing dinner.
That would be Zeller’s ideal setup, but Zipperer said it’s not feasible to shut down the street outside of special events because emergency vehicles need immediate access to all areas of the town center.
So Zeller and Percoco are looking into partnerships with other Main Street businesses to encourage guests to stay longer on Main Street. Perhaps pairing a pizza with a movie or a round of mini golf would be appealing.
“There could be good synergy,” Percoco said. “We have a good relationship with the other tenants.”
The Grove recently partnered with Arts A Blaze Studio for A Very Merry Ornament Workshop on Nov. 30, and it wasn’t their first collaboration.
“We started with a wine night,” Arts A Blaze owner Joann Kavanaugh said. “We join forces, and they get to do what they do best and we get to do what we do best. We’ll be doing something at Grove every month next year.”
The studio provides the pottery and paints. Grove provides the wine and snacks. The venue also allows Kavanaugh a larger audience.
The studio can accommodate 44 people inside with another 12 outside, but she’s had over 100 attendees at the Pinot & Pottery events held in Grove’s ballroom.
Arts A Blaze stays open until 8 p.m. five nights a week, but the retail shops on Main Street close between 5-6 p.m. with one exception — The Naples Soap Company.
By virtue of staying open late, they’ve partnered with every restaurant on the street.
“On a Friday or Saturday night, we’re on an hour wait,” Zeller said. “People need something to do. Naples Soap has captured that. All the time, we get people walking in with Naples Soap bags.”
Manager Amy Santella said the shop keeps busy during weeknights, too.
“They come in because we’re open,” she said. “People always say that they wish more stores were open later.”
