The Hub at Bexley Just Got a Second Restaurant From the Same Kitchen, and That Changes What Night You Should Go

Drive past The Hub at Bexley on a Friday around 7 p.m. this month and you will notice something that was not true two years ago: there is nowhere to park near the front door. Not because the plaza got bigger. Because the same restaurant group that built BellaBrava at the entrance to Bexley just opened a second full-service concept right next to it, and residents are treating the courtyard less like a stop for dinner and more like the place they already planned to be.

That second restaurant is Stillwaters Tavern, and its arrival in June 2026 at 16729 Focus Loop is worth paying attention to for a reason that has nothing to do with the menu. It is the same operator, 2B Hospitality, doubling down on the exact same address it already committed to in December 2023 with BellaBrava. When a restaurant group opens a second concept steps from its first one, on a corner it already knows intimately, that is not a developer checking an amenity box. That is an operator who watched the till for two and a half years and decided the neighborhood could support more capacity, not just more variety.

One Kitchen Philosophy, Two Storefronts

BellaBrava and Stillwaters Tavern share more than a parking lot. Both are 2B Hospitality brands built around scratch cooking, and the company has now planted them within a few doors of each other at the Hub. BellaBrava, an 8,200 square foot Italian trattoria, was the group's first bet on Land O' Lakes, arriving after successful runs in downtown St. Petersburg and Tampa's Midtown district. Stillwaters Tavern has a longer track record elsewhere. It has operated on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg since 2014, and the Bexley location is only its second address in more than a decade.

The menu at Stillwaters leans into the kind of dishes that reward a slow Tuesday night rather than a rushed one: a sausage board built from smoked beef knockwurst, bacon jalapeno cheddar bratwurst, pork kielbasa, and chicken chorizo, all made in house. There is Bayou Style Shrimp and Crawfish, a Tavern Pot Roast, and Chicken Jager Schnitzel. The bar pours about 20 beers on tap alongside a whiskey the restaurant calls Hogfish, made from barrels the ownership hand-selects and ages in house. BellaBrava next door keeps its own following with dishes like the Pasta Brava and a Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza that regulars order a second pie of before they leave.

Here is the detail that tells you the most about how this is meant to function as one operation rather than two competing storefronts: both restaurants run on nearly identical hours. Monday through Thursday, both close at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, both stay open until 11 p.m. Sunday, both wrap by 9 p.m. That is not a coincidence. It means the operator is not trying to split the neighborhood's weeknight traffic between two kitchens. It is trying to give the corner more seats during the hours people actually want to eat, and to keep both doors open at the same late hour on weekends when demand is highest.

What the Second Restaurant Actually Solves, and What It Doesn't

For residents, the practical effect splits cleanly along the calendar. On a Tuesday, this is straightforwardly good news. Where BellaBrava alone sometimes meant a wait during peak dinner hours, having Stillwaters open at the same address effectively doubles the number of tables available in that same window. If the trattoria is full, the tavern is thirty feet away with a table.

Weekends are a different story. Reviewers on OpenTable have already noticed that Saturday evening parking near BellaBrava has gotten noticeably tighter since the second restaurant opened, to the point that finding a spot, especially an accessible one, now takes real patience. That tracks with what you would expect: two restaurants under one roof pulling from the same lot means the busiest nights get busier before anyone builds more parking to match. If your plan is a relaxed Friday or Saturday dinner without circling the lot, the workaround locals have already landed on is simple: go right when the doors open, either at 11 a.m. Saturday or 11:30 a.m. the rest of the week, rather than arriving at the traditional 6:30 or 7 p.m. dinner rush.

Here is a quick read on how the two restaurants actually differ once you are inside:

Why This Corner Was Already Built for This

None of this happened by accident. The Hub at Bexley sits at the entrance to Bexley, the 1,200 acre master-planned community known for its resort-style pools and miles of connected trails. The whole point of putting a retail and dining cluster right at that entrance was to give residents somewhere to walk or bike to without getting in a car, and the businesses that have filled in around BellaBrava and Stillwaters reflect that intent. Thirsty Buffalo Brewing Company gives the corner a taproom option. Grain & Berry rounds out the healthier end of the menu spectrum. Duckweed Grocers means you can grab groceries on the same trip instead of making a separate run.

That is a meaningfully different pitch than most town centers attached to new Florida developments, where the food and beverage lineup often stalls at one restaurant that never quite builds the volume to justify a second. Bexley's version got there in under three years, and the operator adding capacity is the same one that opened first, not a new name trying to test the market cold. That is the detail that should change how you think about the corner: it is no longer the plaza with the one nice restaurant you save for a special occasion. It is functioning as a real, two-kitchen hangout that residents are folding into ordinary weeknights, not just anniversaries.

Planning Around It

If you are already living inside Bexley or nearby in Land O' Lakes, the practical takeaway is less about which restaurant to pick and more about which night fits your evening. A few things worth knowing before you head over:

• Weeknights are genuinely the easier time to get a table at either spot, since both close by 9 p.m. and neither runs a dinner rush the way weekends do.
• If you are set on a Friday or Saturday night out, arriving at opening, 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m., beats showing up during the 6:30 to 8 p.m. window when both kitchens and the lot fill up together.
• Walking or biking in is worth considering if you live close enough. Bexley's trail network connects directly to the Hub, and skipping the parking search entirely solves the one real friction point residents have flagged.
• If you want a quieter version of either restaurant, weekday lunch is consistently the calm window, according to regulars who have compared notes on both.

What is happening at this one corner of Focus Loop is a small but real signal about how Land O' Lakes is growing. It is not new construction chasing rooftops that do not exist yet. It is an operator who already had a foothold here choosing to double it, on the strength of what the neighborhood actually showed up for over the last two and a half years.

If you are weighing what any of this means for your own address nearby, whether you are curious what your home is worth in a corner of Land O' Lakes that keeps adding reasons to stay close to home, the team at Russell Adams Realty has been watching this market since long before Bexley existed. Reach out for a free home valuation or browse more of what is happening across Land O' Lakes neighborhoods on our site.