The building at 4059 5th Avenue North briefly operated as Cardio sport, an athletic-training studio | loopnet

A new neighborhood pizzeria is coming to St. Petersburg’s Central Oak Park, bringing brick-oven pizzas, house-made pastas, and a familiar local name behind the concept.

The restaurant is the latest project from Steve Garrahan and Kurt Drake, the founders of Bright Ice, a small-batch ice cream brand known for its creative flavor combinations like roasted strawberries with brown sugar and balsamic and blueberries with cinnamon.

Kitty’s House of Pizza is slated to open in early 2026 at 4059 5th Avenue North, just four blocks west of Bright Ice’s original St. Pete scoop shop.

The building, which Garrahan and Drake purchased in June, previously housed a gym and, before that, a convenience store.

The idea for Kitty’s House of Pizza grew organically out of Bright Ice’s continued expansion.

Bright Ice opened in St. Petersburg in late 2019 and has since expanded to Tampa, Pinellas Park, Venice, and Lakeland.

“We’ve outgrown our current commercial kitchen for ice cream production, especially when it comes to cold storage,” Garrahan said. “This new space allows us to more than double our freezer capacity and better serve our existing locations.”

The logo for Kitty’s House of Pizza | image provided

When the 2,834-square-foot building hit the market, the partners immediately saw an opportunity to do more than just relocate production.

“The space was bigger than we needed just for ice cream, so we started exploring what else made sense—and pizza felt like a natural fit,” said Garrahan, who named the restaurant after his daughter’s cat, simply named “Kitty”.

Kitty’s House of Pizza will primarily focus on carry-out service, with limited indoor seating, roughly two dozen seats, designed to serve nearby neighborhoods rather than compete directly with downtown’s crowded dining scene.

The menu follows the same intentional, streamlined, and ingredient-driven approach as Bright Ice.

“It’s a curated menu, not a huge one,” Garrahan said. “We’re planning five to nine pizzas, a couple pasta dishes, some sides, and pints of our ice cream for dessert.”

The pizzas will be cooked in a brick oven, resulting in a rustic, crispy-chewy crust.

Pies will be available in 12-inch and 16-inch sizes, sold by the pie.

While flavors are still being finalized, Garrahan said the focus will be on approachable combinations made entirely from scratch, with rotating specialty pizzas introduced regularly to keep the menu fresh.

“There are a lot of great pizza spots that stick to a standard lineup of pizzas, garlic knots, wings, and mozzarella sticks,” Garrahan said. “We’re looking to create our own lane and offer something a little different.”

Bright Ice is a small-batch ice cream brand known for its creative flavor combinations like roasted strawberries with brown sugar and balsamic and blueberries with cinnamon | Bright Ice

The building itself adds another layer of character to the project.

Originally constructed in 1964 as a Shell gas station, the structure has housed several businesses over the decades before sitting vacant in recent years.

Rather than erase its past, the team is leaning into it.

“The building is a former 1964 Shell gas station, and we’re really leaning into that mid-century feel and paying homage to what it originally was,” Garrahan said.

The partners were able to obtain the original blueprints from the city and are restoring the façade to reflect its original design, including the three former auto bay openings, while updating the interior with natural wood finishes and a green-forward color palette.

Beyond the food and design, Garrahan said opening Kitty’s House of Pizza in this particular pocket of St. Pete felt intentional.

“This neighborhood has always shown up for us,” he said. “During the pandemic, people would come in and put money on the counter just to help us stay open.”

Construction is currently underway, with the opening expected in early 2026.

More details, including the finalized menu and hours, are expected to be announced in the coming months.

Be sure to follow Kitty’s House of Pizza on Instagram to stay up to date on grand opening plans and new menu items.