“Hospitality is making people feel special,” said Jess Anderson, Director of Business Development for Oxford Commons.
Oxford Exchange was a dream before it was a place. Blake Casper, Co-Owner of Oxford Commons’ parent organization, Caspers Company, “had always wanted to own a bookstore,” Anderson said. Driving past Grand Central Avenue on his way home every day, he noticed immediately when the building that would one day be Oxford Exchange came up for sale. “Truly the idea went from having an office above a bookstore to holy cow there’s about 27,000 square feet! What should we do with it? The building really dictated the whole thing,” Anderson recalled. Opening its doors in 2012, Oxford Exchange “started as a place to get away, and it’s still that for many, many more people than we ever thought it would be,” Anderson said.
Since then, Oxford Commons has emerged as a hospitality phenomenon in the Tampa Bay area, with Oxford Exchange, the Stovall House, The Library, the Current Hotel, its new restaurant Predalina, and two design studios – Oxford Design and Oxford Creative. According to Anderson, their exponential growth wasn’t planned, it just happened. “There was never really a true full plan, everything that we have has started with a space, or the idea of a concept,” Anderson said. “The Library in St. Pete, we were approached by Johns Hopkins to put a restaurant in the bottom of their new research facility.” The Stovall House on the iconic Bayshore Boulevard was a similar situation. The centerpiece, a historic residence, was transformed into a members-only social club. “The Stovall again, was dictated by the property. The owner of the Stovall, when it was a residence, approached Blake to do something cool with it,” Anderson explained.
While the brands under the Oxford Commons umbrella are all different, they are tied together by their detail oriented, intentional design. “We create spaces that people just want to exist in, and the way we do that is by building really special, really thoughtful and very purposeful spaces,” Anderson said. “It’s not just one thing, it’s the sum of our parts. The fact that there’s real brass on the door handle. It’s marble on the countertop, real wood floors. And when its altogether, you can’t quite pinpoint why its different, but it is.”
Currently in an important time of strategic planning and growth, Oxford Commons has more than 8 new projects in its wheelhouse and is planning out several years in advance. “We have between 2023 and roughly 2026 mapped out, and whether it’s a renovation or a new build, we’ll have a new concept open every 6 months to a year,” Anderson said. Their newest concept, the Predalina, opened on July 5th to high anticipation. It’s an elevated seafood driven Mediterranean restaurant on Waters Street. With more than 245 seats, Predalina is the largest Oxford Commons restaurant to date. “We have plenty of seats,” Anderson said, “we’re open lunch and dinner, with brunch on the weekends and dinner at night so there’s space for everyone.”
Caspers Company, Oxford Commons’ parent company, has been a member of the Chamber since 1963 and participated in various programs over the decades including the legacy Leadership Tampa. In this new chapter of growth Oxford Commons is “excited to begin turning to the Chamber for support, and also in turn be supportive to the business community in any way we can,” said Anderson.
