At 4059 Fifth Ave. N., the building has the low roofline and wide front of a 1964 Shell station. It still looks that way on purpose. Bright Ice Scoop Shop founders Steve Garrahan and Kurt Drake bought the building in June 2025. They got the original permit drawings through the City of St. Petersburg and are restoring the storefront to look the way it did when it opened, according to a St Pete Catalyst restaurant roundup from January.
That building is about to become Kitty's House of Pizza. A few doors away, Crooked Cup Cafe has already taken over a former bakery. Neither one is a new build. The changes on this part of Fifth Avenue North are coming from older storefronts, run by people who already know the street. One of them is an ice cream maker moving its production back to the block where it started.
A rotating brick oven inside an old service station
The Tampa Bay Times reported on Oct. 12 that Kitty's is "slated to open in about a month." The story was updated Oct. 15, and the photo captions give early November as the expected opening. Treat that as the owners' estimate, not a set date.
The kitchen is built around a Marra Forni rotating brick pizza oven that runs between 600 and 700 degrees. The menu centers on 12-inch and 16-inch pies made with a 72-hour fermented dough, the Times reported. Two of the early pies:
- Aloha Kitty: housemade pineapple jam, pickled onions and bacon
- Golden Hour: pepperoncini sauce, housemade sausage and thinly sliced red onions
The storefront is about 1,400 square feet with about 26 seats inside. Takeout is the main focus. Garrahan told the Times the partners want to add the outdoor patio as they grow into the building, and that "we were planning on beer and wine when we got approval for those patios," which would bring seating to about 50. That depends on approvals, so for now plan on picking up your order.
The Catalyst puts the whole building at about 2,800 square feet. That's roughly twice the size of the pizza storefront, and the other half explains why the owners bought it.
The ice cream is coming back to the block
Garrahan and Drake opened their first Bright Ice in St. Petersburg in 2019 and added a Pinellas Park location two years later. At some point they also moved production, the kitchen where the ice cream is made, to Pinellas Park. That kitchen has since outgrown its capacity, Garrahan told the Catalyst, so they went looking for a new building.
He explained why they picked this one:
"We fell in love with the building because we know the neighborhood so well. We really wanted to purchase it, but it was too big for what we needed."
The partners then decided to split the space. Pizza goes in one half. According to the Times, a Bright Ice commissary manufacturer will move into the space next door, and Kitty's will sell its ice cream by the scoop and in pints to go.
"We just wanted to be back in the area, kind of where we started with Bright Ice and bring it full circle," Garrahan told the Catalyst. He told the Times that "St. Pete and Central Oak Park have been a great customer for the past seven years." He also said one reason they bought the property was to add to local investment and renovation in the neighborhood.
The original scoop shop hasn't moved. Bright Ice's locations page lists it at 3701 5th Ave N, open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. That's four blocks east of Kitty's. "This new space allows us to more than double our freezer capacity and better serve our existing locations," Garrahan told St. Pete Rising. That means the original shop will be stocked from a kitchen on its own street.
The bakery space that became a coffee shop
Crooked Cup Cafe is a few doors west of Kitty's at 4130 5th Avenue N. The St Pete Catalyst reported that it officially opened Sept. 23. Like the pizza place, it moved into an existing space. Before it opened, St. Pete Rising described it as a neighborhood coffee shop in the former Tasty Treats Bakery, serving coffee, tea and a limited food menu. That preview mentioned a July target. The September opening is the date that held.
With Crooked Cup open and Kitty's coming, you can now walk this stretch for coffee in the morning, ice cream at night, and soon pizza in between. Here are the addresses from east to west:
| Address | What's there | Status as of Oct. 22, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 3701 5th Ave N | Bright Ice Scoop Shop, the original St. Pete location | Open daily from 11 a.m. |
| 4059 Fifth Ave N | Kitty's House of Pizza, in the restored 1964 Shell station | Owners expect early November |
| Next door to 4059 | Bright Ice commissary | Planned alongside Kitty's |
| 4130 5th Ave N | Crooked Cup Cafe, in the former Tasty Treats Bakery space | Open since Sept. 23 |
| 4444 5th Ave N | St. Luke's United Methodist Church, where Central Oak Park Neighborhood Association (COPNA) meetings are held | Board meeting Nov. 10 |
The Central Oak Park Neighborhood Association holds its general member meetings at St. Luke's from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The neighborhood association meets on the same few blocks where the new businesses are opening.
The neighborhood's own fall calendar
COPNA has a team in this year's citywide shuffleboard tournament. The team calls itself the "Acorn Nibblers." Here are the next few dates on this stretch and for the neighborhood:
- Friday, Oct. 23: Acorn Nibblers practice night, listed on the COPNA events page.
- Early November: Kitty's House of Pizza's expected opening at 4059 Fifth Ave. N., still an estimate.
- Sunday, Nov. 8, 3 to 8 p.m.: Neighborhood Shuffle Showdown III at the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, 559 Mirror Lake Drive North.
- Tuesday, Nov. 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m.: COPNA board of directors meeting.
- January 2027: Next COPNA general member meeting at St. Luke's.
The Showdown is run by the Council of Neighborhood Associations, and the St Pete Catalyst events calendar says anyone from a participating St. Petersburg neighborhood can play for free, with no experience needed. Each neighborhood can enter more than one two-person team during open play. Teams play eight-frame doubles matches, and results are ranked by winning percentage. The top four neighborhoods go to a Final Four, with two players representing each one.
COPNA asked players to sign up by Sept. 30 and pick the Acorn Nibblers when they registered, so check the CONA page if you're signing up late. The association's page says you can show up without a partner and they'll pair you with someone. If you'd rather not play, you're welcome to come and cheer.
COPNA also asks residents to host porch parties. It describes them as a way to meet neighbors and says not every party has to be outdoors. Hosts sign up through a link on the association's events page.
What's happening with the street itself
Fifth Avenue North has an older improvement plan of its own. A City of St. Petersburg project page says FDOT is planning to resurface most of the avenue and is exploring safety improvements. Those include proposed crosswalks at 40th and 46th Streets, which would sit on either side of Kitty's, Crooked Cup and St. Luke's. That plan was presented to the neighborhood association in 2022. FDOT's current project listing for 5th Avenue North shows no active projects, so the crosswalks are still only a proposal with no construction schedule.
For more on what's opening across the southern half of the county, see our South Pinellas neighborhood guide and our earlier August field guide to South Pinellas openings.
At Michele Ranjbar, we follow what's changing on streets like Fifth Avenue North because new storefronts, restored buildings and neighborhood events are part of what you're buying into. If you own a home near this stretch and want to know how your block compares today, request a free home valuation and make your move with confidence.
