Tampa’s Franklin Street was a retail fixture throughout the city’s development, starting in the early 1900s. It was the first street to have electric lights and where the first brick building was built. The street was historically crowded with stores, restaurants, and theaters, including local big names like Maas Brothers, Wolf Brothers, J.C Penny, Haber’s, Kress, and J. J. Newberry’s. Retail thrived here through the 1960s as families flocked to the district due to its central location and variety of offerings. It was home to large holiday celebrations and parades.

In 1962, I-275 opened as a segment of I-75, fragmenting the northern part of downtown. Even more importantly, it created a gateway for people living downtown to migrate to the suburbs and have the ability to commute back to their jobs efficiently. That, along with the development of shopping malls and subdivisions, was a death knell for downtown retail. People still worked downtown but shopped and ate closer to their homes in the burbs. In addition, as giant skyscrapers were built, they opened their own restaurants and shops, further detracting from outlets on Franklin Street and others.

City leaders recognized the issue and devised a plan to enhance business.  In 1973, Mayor Dick Greco led the charge to convert this dead zone into a nine-block pedestrian mall in order to revitalize it. The thinking was to make it more user-friendly by removing the cars and adding wide sidewalks, benches, and trees, giving people a place to gather. They installed information kiosks, street vendors, dining tables, and large concrete planters. Burger King, CDBs Pizza, and other food brands were there. The plan was successful in bringing people to the mall during the day in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but consumers took their life-giving buying power back to the suburbs at night. The revitalization didn’t stick. Large corporations like GTE Data Services moved their headquarters out of the district in 1986, further decreasing the number of available retail patrons. Stores struggled and failed. Maas Brothers closed in 1991, and Woolworth’s and Wolf Brothers in 1992.  From 1972 to 1999, over 60 businesses deserted the mall. There have been dozens of attempts by stalwart entrepreneurs since that time to make retail work. But most don’t last more than a year or two. Following years of complaints by owners, 20 years after he first closed it, re-elected Mayor Dick Greco re-opened the street to vehicles in 2001. But the lanes remained narrow, and few parking spots returned.  Twenty years later, there’s a ghost-town feel. Many stores, most notably on the 800 block of Franklin, the former home of S. H. Kress, Woolworth’s, and J.J Newberry, deteriorated and have withered away, boarded up for decades.

The top photo, a composite made from the Gandy Collection, shows the east side of the 500 block of Franklin St around 1980. From left to right are Franklin Jewelers, Beverly’s Gift Shop, Stay Healthy Restaurant, Colony Shops, and Farners Shoes. They were all closed by the early 1990s. When going to the block to retake the bottom photo, the stench of urine from the men living on the street there was sickening. 

But there is a shift brewing for downtown. People are returning to urban living as hundreds of high-end, high-rise condominium buildings are being constructed. An increase in residents necessitates infrastructure, retail, restaurants, and services. It looks like a renaissance. It looks like we’re giving it another go. Perhaps this time, it will be for the long haul. 

© 2023. Chip Weiner. Old Tampa Photos