When the entire half block at 901 Franklin St. sold in 1907 for $100,000, it was the largest real estate transaction the city had ever seen. Several wood-frame structures were on the property. In 1920, Oscar Daniels, Dr. L.A. Bize, and W.B. Gray built a 3-story, $85,000 block building, calling it the Southern Building, with W.T Grant store and Barker Bakeries as its prime first-floor tenants along Florida Ave, and several smaller shops along Cass St. Grant’s would eventually take over the entire frontage on Franklin St. In 1937, a catastrophic fire gutted the building. It was a total $200,000 loss. Thousands of people attended the grand re-opening of this new store on October 22, 1937.

The building was sold to Lincoln National Life Insurance in 1947, and the Grant Co remained as tenants. On March 1, 1960, Grant’s lunch counter was the scene of approximately 200 African Americans staging a sit-in as part of an organized march. The group went to several stores demanding service. Store managers then hung a sign saying “closed for cleaning purposes.” The crowd eventually left. The protests, organized by the NAACP, would eventually lead to desegregation at Tampa’s lunch counters. With the great exodus of retail shoppers fleeing to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s, the store closed, and the building deteriorated. In 1983, Philadelphian Warren Browne, a staunch believer in downtown, leased the building, did a complete redesign, and opened the London Victory Club here. The corner was also Makos, Club 911, and Club 211. The building was demolished in 2016 to make way for the 23-story Nine15 Luxury Apartments and storefronts.

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