University Town Centre near Bradenton is expanding its products with 12 new options for shopping and dining.
Sarasota’s University Parkway and off the coast of North Cattleman Road will grow in 2025 and 2026 with new restaurants, clothing retailers, furniture stores and more.
Let’s take a look at what comes to UTC.
Tampa Restaurants Come to UTC
Award-winning chef Chris Ponte has two restaurants planned along North Cattlemen Road across from Ford Garage. One is Olivia, a modern Italian restaurant, and the other is a modern American restaurant in Swan.
Named after Ponte’s daughter, Olivia, who started at Southernpa in 2019, occupies a 6,500-square-foot building. The UTC location is third.
Swann occupies 5,000 square feet. It was the second place in the restaurant that started in Tampa and won the recommendations of the Michelin Guide.
“I always wanted to expand into the Sarasota market,” Ponte said in a news release. “This was the idea of a year that was finally becoming a reality at UTC. The fact that both brands can be adjacent to each other is a victory.”
Swan features dishes such as lamb meatballs on grits served with mintted ricotta cheese and paprika honey butter.
The two restaurants are scheduled to open in 2026.
More new restaurants are planned
Other planned restaurants in UTC’s western district include:
*Bulla Gastrobar, known for its Spanish tapas, is being built near furniture store Ethan Allen on its planned opening day in 2026.
*Blu Kouzina, a Greek restaurant that began in the St. Armand Circle in Sarasota, will open later this year next to Ford’s Garage.
*Zoto is a Japanese Ikegami or pub/izakaya. Sushi, small Japanese plates, premium sake and craft cocktails add a Japanese twist. It is scheduled to open in UTC’s western district this summer.
*Florence and the Spice Boys serve Middle Eastern food and will open a UTC restaurant on Monday.
*Rita Italian ice is open at UTC shopping stores in late spring or early summer. It is located next to the Sprinkles Cupcake Shop.
LL Bean and other stores have been announced
The popular outdoor and adventure store LL Bean will open its first Florida store on May 9th. It is located near Target in the western district of UTC.
Additionally, there are plans to open a showroom in a 120,000-square-foot building next to Tesla in the east section of UTC. The opening day will be the second half of this year.
Reach With Reach With Reach is opening in the summer at UTC malls, but Canadian clothing retailer Garage and Southern California-based jewelry Gorjana are also planning a mall at the UTC opening.
The Venderson development project, UTC spans more than 4 million square feet of retail, dining, accommodation and office space, including the UTC mall that opened in 2014.
For more information, please visit utcsarasota.com.
