It’s good news for fans of the Chattaway, the cozy, old-school restaurant that’s stood at the intersection of 4th Street and 22nd Avenue South for a century. It’s been owned by the same family since 1951.
An ownership group has purchased the Chattaway, which was put up for sale in March, and plans to keep it open.
“It’s a community asset that we did not want to go away,” said Mark Ferguson, the owner of Ferg’s Sports Bar. “And I was afraid somebody was going to buy it and turn it into townhouses.”
Ferguson has partnered with real estate investor Cullen Mahoney and John John Delladonna, owner of the seafood restaurant Shrimpys.
“Cullen, he’s been great,” Ferguson said. “He’s had the contract for a while, but he wasn’t sure what to do with it, and we came together and made a plan. I know John John from doing business, and he runs a good operation. He was looking for a place downtown, and I said ‘It’s way too expensive downtown.’
“And then when I found the Chattaway, I said ‘This needs more seafood.’ So we started talking.”
Known for its old-Florida pastel colors, its lushly landscaped outdoor seating area (with 44 flower-filled clawfoot bathtubs) and its laid-back atmosphere, the Chattaway is both casual and quirky.
Jillian Frers, now 93, became a co-owner in the late 1970s (her then-husband, Everett Lund, bought out his mother, who’d purchased the restaurant in 1951).
Lund died in 2002, and Frers became full owner.
Frers, a native of Great Britain, turned one of the restaurant’s interior rooms into a proper English tea room; as Lady Chattaway, she booked (and hosted) tea parties in the afternoon.
The tea room, Ferguson admitted, will probably not survive when he and his partners take over, although the layout, including the quirky outdoor area, will remain. As will the pink-and-green paint job.
As for existing staff, “Nothing’s been finalized. We’re just in the process of doing all the paperwork, applying for a liquor license and stuff like that.
“We’re going to try to keep it the quaint, cozy little place it is.”
Ferguson said he and his partners took inspiration from the 2023 acquisition of El Cap, the vintage neighborhood bar and hamburger grill on 4th Street N., by the Seed & Feed Hospitality Group.
“I think there are enough mattress stores on 4th Street,” Seed & Feed’s Blake Thompson told the Catalyst at the time, “and that we have to do something to make sure that some of St. Pete’s fabric stays in place.”
Ferguson, who grew up in St. Pete, felt pretty much the same way when he heard that Frers and her family were giving up the Chattaway.
“I’d reached out to the broker myself, because I was interested,” he said, “but I just drug my feet. And then we were able to make a deal – and we’re going to honor the family, and the neighborhood, and we’re going to make it even better.
“The family’s got a legacy of 75 years there, and we want to honor them by keeping it going.”
A grand (re) opening is tentatively planned for late August.
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
