Downtown Dunedin investor acquires food hall, plans overhaul into West End Mix

A downtown Dunedin investor is reimagining a Broadway Avenue property that only opened last year.

Joseph Kokolakis, president of Kokolakis Contracting, has purchased Dunedin Mix, a food hall with a carousel bar at 990 Broadway Ave. Kokolakis bought the property for $2.5 million via auction in April.

Since then, the food hall has temporarily closed to rebrand as West End Mix and bring in new concepts, including a brewery or bar with surrounding restaurants and possibly a Pilates or yoga studio and coworking space. The goal is to create a beer garden with a tenant mix that drives day and nighttime activity.

“I think we need to make a conscious effort to encourage a broad spectrum of retailers that promote daytime traffic,” Kokolakis told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “If we don’t protect the integrity of the downtown core and promote an eclectic mix of concepts, then we’re destined to fail.”

Kokolakis has lived in Dunedin since 1989 and has assembled property over the years. His properties range from the vacant land slated for development across from the Mease Dunedin Hospital to the retail properties on downtown’s west end, including Strachan’s Ice Cream, Cork and Beans House and Wine Lounge, and Dunedin Coffee Company and Bakery. His company has also built the Artisan Apartments.

The west end properties, as Kokolakis calls them, are less than half a mile from what was previously known as Dunedin Mix — a mixed-use concept created by the Stanley family, consisting of Brandon Stanley, his wife, Ashley Stanley, and his mother, Kristen Ernst. The New Orleans-inspired food hall opened in February 2024.

When the property was advertised for sale earlier this year, Kokolakis was interested, and then it went up for auction. Having patronized the place, he thought the property had “tremendous potential.”

The food hall’s first floor featured four food vendors and two boutique tenants. The second floor functioned as an event and banquet space.

When Kokolakis took over ownership, only two tenants were left: Al Dente, an Italian concept, and Spoons, which offered sandwiches and several other menu items.

He paused their leases while he finds other tenants to curate the hub of activity he imagines.

“We’re working with several different concepts for the lower and upper levels and trying to curate a mix that will complement each other,” Kokolakis said.

The upper level will no longer function as a banquet or event space; instead, it will be split up into several spaces, either for office and coworking or boutique fitness, like a Pilates studio.

“I want to make sure that whatever we bring there catalyzes that north end of downtown and brings traffic to all the other tenants,” Kokolakis said.

West End Mix will reopen after most of the spaces are leased, tenants have submitted for permits and work is complete, Kokolakis said, so it opens with enough critical mass to draw people from all over Pinellas County and beyond.

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