Hooters Management Corp. buys Pepin Restaurant site

BUYER: Hooters on 4th Street Inc. (principals: Neil Kiefer, Gilbert Digiannantonio, William Ranieri, Edward Droste and Dennis Johnson), Clearwater

SELLER: Jose and Julia D. Cortes

PROPERTY: 4125 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg

PRICE: $1.6 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.6 million, June 2003

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Majesty Title Services LLC, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Clearwater-based Hooters Management Corp. purchased the 9,315-square-foot Pepin Restaurant on Fourth Street in Northeast Park for $1.6 million.

The price equated to $172 per square foot.

Hooters has started demolishing much of the building with plans to create a 5,500-square-foot Hooters Restaurant. The new restaurant will replace a current Hooters location at 10400 Roosevelt Blvd., St. Petersburg.

“We are doing a major renovation [at the new building],” says Susan Garcia, controller for the Hooters franchisee. “We are going to use the rest of that site for parking and a patio area.”

She says the biggest attraction offered by the property was its location in a much more populated area.

The new Hooters restaurant is scheduled to open by Labor Day.

The local Hooters franchisee has 22 restaurant locations, including in the Tampa Bay area, Chicago and New York City.