Dellagio Lost Big Fin and Gained a Pho Bar. A Sushi Lease Explains Part of the Shuffle.

"Our goal is to revitalize Dellagio through active leasing and management, ensuring it once again becomes a primary destination and a cornerstone of the community."

Michael Lohmann, principal and director of leasing at CORE Investment Management, said that in March 2025, when the Miami-based firm bought Dellagio Town Center for $37.5 million. Two words stand out in his statement: "active leasing." At this center, the most useful way to explain the past 18 months of openings and closings is through lease terms. Which kitchen fills a space depends on what the building's existing tenants are allowed to protect.

A Japanese Restaurant That Had to Stop Being So Japanese

The clearest example is a restaurant many Dr. Phillips diners never got to know well. Lewis Lin opened a wagyu shabu-shabu house at Dellagio called Nabe, which he ran with owners Khoa Nguyen and Keren Swan. Orlando Weekly reported that its neighbor, Dragonfly Robata Grill & Sushi, held exclusivity on Japanese cuisine in the center. That clause forced Nabe to change its name to Hinabe and its concept from shabu-shabu to hot pot.

By Orlando Weekly's December 9, 2025 roundup, Hinabe had closed. The paper wrote that "the tweaks, evidently, didn't cut it." It also said the three operators planned to work with the landlord and Dragonfly on some kind of agreement, possibly a total concept change.

Exclusivity clauses are common in shopping centers. An anchor tenant pays rent partly for the promise that the landlord won't put a direct competitor next door. Most of the time, diners never see these terms. At Dellagio, one showed up in public as a forced name change, a menu rewrite and a closure, all within a single storefront.

What Moved Into 7988 Via Dellagio Way

The space didn't stay empty long. Pho Bar opened its second location there in the former Nabe/Hinabe space. Its first is at 1012 E. Colonial Drive in Mills 50. The West Orange Times & Observer reported it open by July 13, 2026, at 7988 Via Dellagio Way, Suite 100.

If you haven't been yet, here is what to expect:

• Hours: dinner only, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week
• Menu anchors: house special pho, wagyu pho, shrimp noodle bowl, pork chop rice plate
• Drinks: Thai tea, taro milk tea, fruit tea, orange honey tea and more
• Families: a kids' menu is available

Vietnamese cooking falls outside a Japanese exclusivity. There is also some continuity here. A broth-centered noodle and soup concept took over a space that had last served hot pot. No source says the clause decided who signed the lease. Still, the space Hinabe couldn't keep went to a cuisine the clause doesn't cover. If you've been wondering why Dellagio got pho instead of ramen, that's the most likely explanation. You can check the menu on Pho Bar's site.

Big Fin's Corner Is the Next Test

Six weeks after Pho Bar opened, Dellagio lost one of its longest-running restaurants. Big Fin Seafood Kitchen closed on Monday, August 24, 2026, after nearly 17 years on Restaurant Row. The restaurant at 8046 Via Dellagio Way was known for boat-to-table seafood, oysters and steaks. The Observer's closure report didn't name an incoming tenant, and none of the coverage we found does either.

The Hinabe story matters here. Whatever goes into Big Fin's space has to fit around the center's current lineup and whatever protections those tenants negotiated. Fleming's Prime Steakhouse is a few doors away at 8030 Via Dellagio Way, Building F. Dragonfly still runs daily dinner service with reservations. Peperoncino Cucina takes online orders from 7988 Via Dellagio Way #108. The public record doesn't say which of these restaurants hold exclusivity terms, other than Dragonfly's Japanese clause. That clause alone shows the next restaurant isn't simply whoever wants the corner most.

The 8046 address also isn't among the suites currently advertised for lease. A commercial leasing listing for the center shows five open spaces.

The listing is undated, so treat it as a snapshot rather than a live count. Two first-floor spaces of 6,000 square feet each are large enough for a sit-down restaurant. Because Big Fin's address isn't marketed alongside them, the space's future is unclear. It could be under negotiation or still being sorted out. Nothing published settles which.

Don't rely on the center's own website to track these changes. As of this writing, the Dellagio directory still lists Big Fin's hours and doesn't include Pho Bar. It also lists ANQOR Hookah & Tea Lounge, London House's The Bond Room and The Drawing Room, Norman's Orlando, Nola's Ice Cream and Paddywagon Irish Pub. Given how far behind the page is, call ahead before planning a night around any of them.

Restaurant Row's New Arrivals Come With Track Records

Outside Dellagio, the rest of Sand Lake Road shows the same pattern. Many new openings are concepts that already work somewhere else.

1. February 2026: Vines by H. Vines Grille & Wine Bar opened at 7533 W. Sand Lake Road in 2003. It came back renovated and rebranded under The H Hospitality Group, with a grand-opening celebration on February 19. The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Omer Yildiz, formerly executive sous chef at The H Orlando. According to the release, regulars can still count on the live jazz.
2. April 2026: The Dough Show. This Middle Eastern restaurant began its soft opening on April 15 at 8910 Turkey Lake Road. Its site now lists regular hours and online ordering for that location.
3. July 2026: Pho Bar. The Mills 50 restaurant's second location took over the former Hinabe space at Dellagio.
4. Still pending: Shake Shack. It was announced in December 2025 for The Marketplace at Dr. Phillips, 7800 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Suite 300, in the former World of Beers space, with no opening date. The shopping center's website still lists it as "Coming Soon."
5. On paper: The Pinnacle. In March 2026, a Unicorp National Developments affiliate filed plans with Orange County for a four-story building at the northwest corner of Dr. Phillips Boulevard and W. Sand Lake Road. It would have about 48,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space wrapped around a four-level parking garage.

The Pinnacle is the only item on that list with no restaurant names attached. Unicorp President and CEO Church Whittall told GrowthSpotter the building would have up to seven retail and restaurant spaces. He's aiming for two to four restaurants, possibly one in each corner of the first floor. He described the interested tenants as "really good concepts that are elsewhere in the country and elsewhere in the state."

The project has already changed once in response to neighbors. In 2023, Unicorp got pushback at a community meeting over the building's modern look and its proposed height of up to six stories. Whittall said the company lowered the height to match the area and switched to a more Mediterranean design. The revised plan would replace the two-story Valley Bank branch, built in 1984, and asks for eight waivers from county rules on open space, height, landscape buffers and setbacks. GrowthSpotter's March report covers the filing, not an approval or a hearing outcome.

What to Watch on Via Dellagio Way

Taken together, these changes show that the landlord's leasing decisions now shape Restaurant Row's dining options as much as the chefs do. CORE said it would revitalize Dellagio through active leasing. The center's first visible change under that approach was a Japanese concept pushed out by a Japanese exclusivity clause and replaced by Vietnamese food from an operator with a proven location across town. Its second is a 17-year seafood anchor that left a large corner whose next tenant has not been named in any coverage we found.

Here's what will show how the next phase goes:

• 8046 Via Dellagio Way: whether Big Fin's space shows up on a leasing listing or gets an announced tenant, and what cuisine it is
• The two 6,000-square-foot first-floor suites at 8060 and 7958 Via Dellagio Way, which are large enough for sit-down dining
• Shake Shack's opening date at The Marketplace at Dr. Phillips
• The Pinnacle's county review, which will decide whether two to four more restaurants come to the Dr. Phillips Boulevard corner

The West Orange Times & Observer covered the Dellagio sale, Pho Bar's opening and Big Fin's closure, and its Southwest Orange coverage is a good place to check for news on Big Fin's space.

At Keystone Global Real Estate, we follow changes like these on Restaurant Row along with the home sales in the streets around it. If you'd like to know how the area's dining and retail changes line up with recent sales near you, ask us for a FREE Market Report.