Broadway National Bank of Tampa, 1702 7th Avenue
Broadway National Bank of Tampa, 1702 7th Avenue, northeast corner of 7th Avenue (Broadway) and 17th Street. 1953.Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Bernini, 1702 7th Avenue, 2020.© Chip Weiner
The Broadway National Bank purchased this location in 1937. It was formerly the Latin-American Bank of Ybor City. Robbery attempts began almost immediately. That same year, criminals were thwarted by a baby’s cry outside the bank that called attention to the scene, forcing the robbers to run away. In 1944, a tunnel that began behind a house and moved toward the bank was discovered after a truck drove over it, causing it to cave in. In June of 1955, the bank moved to its new location across the street to the former site of the Mecca Café following an estimated $200,000 construction of a new building.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the building housed the Ybor Flower Shop, and in 1982, the Ybor City Redevelopment Agency moved in. The current occupant, Bernini Ybor, opened in 1997.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 2