Cass Street Arcade on southeast corner of Cass Street and Florida Avenue

Cass Street Arcade, southeast corner of Cass Street and Florida Avenue.

Cass Street Arcade on southeast corner of Cass Street and Florida Avenue. 1932 Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Sam Gibbons US Federal Courthouse on southeast corner of Cass Street and Florida Avenue 2021.. © Chip Weiner

The sign for the Sapphire Room at the Floridan Hotel can be seen protruding into the left side of this 1932 photo. Situated directly across the street, The Cass Street Arcade was a multi-tenant business hub for shops like The Adorable Permanent Wave Shop, Floridan Hat Shop, The Floridan Pharmacy, and the Crystal Café Restaurant. It was built by A.J. Simms, the same man who developed the hotel in 1926. The land was the previous site of the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in 1902.

Ironically, the structure was torn down in 1967 to allow more parking for downtown retail stores. Obsolescence was the reason given by the agent for the owners to demolish the building. The S.H. Kress and JJ Newberry’s stores were directly across Florida Ave, and the area was a popular shopping spot. That trend ended when the interstate system came through, and people left the centralized downtown area for suburban living and shopping malls. In 1995, construction began on the federal-style $81-million, 17-story Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse. That building opened in 1998.

From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 1