Forbici Modern Italian — the Hyde Park restaurant founded by restaurateur Jeff Gigante and Next Level Brands — is planned to open at Sundial St. Pete before the end of June, stepping into the second-floor space previously occupied by Sea Salt. The move marks the first Pinellas County address for a concept that has operated exclusively in South Tampa since it opened on South Howard Avenue.
The incoming menu mirrors Forbici's established Hyde Park program: 72-hour fermented Roman-style pizza, house-made pastas, meatballs, and Calabrian wings. The brand's happy hour — among the more visible draws on the South Howard corridor — is also expected to carry to the St. Pete location. That combination of an Italian-inflected, shareable menu and a social, high-energy atmosphere has defined the concept since its opening, and the operator appears to be bringing the same model to the new market rather than adjusting the format for a different audience.
Roman-style pizza is a meaningful point of differentiation in a region where Neapolitan and New York–style pies have dominated new openings. Forbici's 72-hour fermented dough produces a thicker, airier crust — a structural difference that positions the restaurant apart from the char-forward, thin-crust category that has proliferated across Tampa Bay in recent years. For St. Pete diners less familiar with the Hyde Park location, that distinction will likely define how the restaurant gets categorized in the early months.
The Sundial second-floor address had been one of the more prominently watched vacancies in downtown St. Pete after Sea Salt's departure. Sea Salt occupied the space for years as one of Sundial's primary dining anchors; Forbici moving into a finished, previously built-out restaurant room changes the pre-opening calculus substantially. The kitchen and floor plan are already configured, foot-traffic patterns around the property are established, and the address carries recognition with the downtown dining audience in a way a raw build-out in a new corridor would not.
Gigante and Next Level Brands have operated primarily in the South Tampa corridor, where the Howard Avenue Forbici built its following through a combination of Italian cooking and a deliberately social format. The St. Pete move is the group's most direct expansion into the Pinellas market, which has sustained steady new dining investment as Central Avenue and the downtown waterfront have developed into more competitive corridors — drawing increased attention from Tampa-based operators evaluating their next address.
Sundial has rotated through a range of tenants since its development as a mixed-use retail and dining block in downtown St. Pete. Forbici's arrival fills the Sea Salt vacancy with an operator that brings a demonstrated following from across the bay — a different proposition than a debut concept or an out-of-market chain. For the property, the placement adds a brand with existing audience equity at one of its most visible second-floor positions.
A confirmed opening date had not been announced as of this writing, with June 2026 the stated window. The cross-bay audience already familiar with the Hyde Park original will likely anchor early traffic; the longer-term read is how the concept establishes itself with the St. Pete dining public independent of its Tampa reputation. Watch for the formal opening announcement and the full program rollout — particularly the happy hour details — as the month closes out.
