Seminole Heights is about to gain another locally-owned specialty cafe.

The Lab took to Instagram last week to announce the opening of its second full-service Tampa cafe, which soon take over the former Blind Tiger at 4304 N Florida Ave.

It will technically be The Lab’s third Tampa location, since the specialty cafe and breakfast spot just launched a small kiosk inside of St. Joseph’s Hospital a few weeks ago. While its social media post of “SEMINOLE HEIGHTS WE COMIN 4 U” wasn’t the most detailed announcement, co-owner Jason Barnett tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that The Lab’s upcoming location is slated to open its doors sometime in April.

“We’ve been eyeing a second location for years, and I’ve always wanted to open a cafe in Seminole Heights, since I’ve lived here for over a decade. Especially on Florida Avenue… as corny as that is,” Barnett says with a laugh.

Barnett and his business partner Peter Davidson signed their Seminole Heights lease 10 days ago and aim to open The Lab’s doors in just a few weeks. Needless to say, things are moving quite fast.

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Its team is quickly remodeling its bathrooms, doing some light electric and plumbing work, building a new bar and giving their Florida Avenue space a colorful facelift.

A new mural will soon appear on the building’s south-facing wall, and bright paint will cover Blind Tiger’s old orange and gray accents.

“We’re going to update our look a bit—grayscale was very cool eight years ago in my defense,” Barnett says. “Folks can expect a little bit more color, more brightness—we want it to fit in with the rest of Seminole Heights.”

In addition to locally-roasted coffee from Zeal Roasters, The Lab slings Cuban toasts, breakfast sandwiches, homemade pastries and chorizo burritos in collaboration with local butcher The Boozy Pig.

While Barnett tells CL that the drink menu of its upcoming Seminole Heights spot will mirror that of its Hyde Park predecessor, it will feature a new grab n’ go section of freshly-baked bagels and tortillas.

Davidson’s mother has been baking for The Lab’s Hyde Park cafe, and will soon have a retail outlet for her from-scratch bagels, tortillas and other baked goods—all sold under the same business umbrella.

“We’re going to take her recipes and sort of replicate them for our production facility. People can come in and get a six pack of bagels if they want,” Barnett says.

Joanne Davidson owned and operated Organic Life Bakery in Palm Harbor until its closure last year, and has been pumping out fresh bagels and tortillas for The Lab ‘s breakfast menu since.
Florida Avenue’s former Blind Tiger suffered from a fire last summer, which also flooded out its neighbor Labyrinth Studios. The cafe stated that it would reopen shortly after the fire, although Barnett recalls it never reopening.

A barista from Blind Tiger’s SOHO location confirmed that its Seminole Heights cafe never did reopen its doors, although its newest location just debuted inside of Tampa’s International Plaza and Bay Street mall.

The Lab’s flagship location has been at 1703 W State St. in Hyde Park for seven years, and will continue to roast Zeal coffee for its soon-to-open Seminole Heights location, too. It debuted in 2016 as a specialty cafe and collaborative space where aspiring roasters could come in and experiment with their equipment.

For the latest information on The Lab’s upcoming Seminole Heights storefront, head to its Instagram at @thelabcoffeetampa and not its website, because Barnett says “it’s kind of embarrassing.”