Pura Vida Miami, the Miami-born wellness cafe chain, is eyeing downtown Tampa for its next move, with plans filed for a new outpost at 1038 Water Street. The proposal, spotted in city plan-review records, lays out a ground-floor storefront along Water Street's retail row, featuring a full-service cafe with indoor tables and sidewalk seating. The project is still working its way through city review, and no official opening date is on the books yet.
Plans detail the build-out
According to Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, the submitted drawings call for a 4,209-square-foot indoor space with roughly 562 square feet set aside for outdoor seating. The build-out would bring in new interior finishes, millwork and seating, plus a pergola-style patio, and specifies electric rapid-cook ovens instead of open-flame equipment. Renderings in the filing show a coffee counter, retail display and cafe seating that would sit next to Wagamama on Water Street.
Menu and brand growth
Founded in 2012 by Omer and Jennifer Horev, Pura Vida bills itself as a wellness-focused lifestyle brand, according to the Pura Vida Miami website. Local reporting notes that the chain's menu stretches from sandwiches and wraps to bowls and all-day breakfast staples, including items like the Perfect Egg Sandwich and Overnight Oats that frequently pop up in the brand's marketing. What Now also points out that the company has been pushing beyond its South Florida roots in recent years, adding locations in New York and California along with two Sarasota-area spots that have opened since 2024.
Why Water Street?
A Water Street address would put Pura Vida in the middle of one of downtown Tampa's most closely watched development plays, alongside a growing lineup of restaurants and hotels. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth cites a 2023 economic-impact study showing that the district's first phase generated nearly 6,000 permanent jobs and more than $500 million in annual economic output, with multiple hotels and dozens of street-level tenants now in the mix. For national and regional concepts, Water Street offers a steady stream of office workers, hotel guests and Riverwalk pedestrians, which makes it prime real estate for expansion-minded brands.
What’s next for Pura Vida in Tampa
City plan filings and local coverage indicate that the proposal remains under review and that no construction or opening timeline has been released, according to the Tampa Downtown Partnership. If the city signs off and build-out gets underway, the Water Street cafe would add another health-forward option for both dine-in and grab-and-go in the district's expanding food scene. Until permits are approved and crews get to work, though, Pura Vida's Tampa debut will stay in the "coming soon" column.
