Sixteen years ago, The Bricks brought new life to the corner of E 7th Avenue and N Avenida Republica de Cuba in Ybor City—now the property it’s on has been sold to a company helping develop Darryl Shaw’s nearby Gasworx project.
Records from the Hillsborough County Tax Collector show that the deed for 1327 E 7th Ave. was transferred to the Ybor City Mixed Use LLC on Jan. 9. According to sale history from the property appraiser, the company with ties to Tampa developer Joshua Pardue paid $3.14 million in the deal.
Pardue’s company purchased the property from Ybor City Properties LCC—registred to Skatepark of Tampa founder Brian Schaefer—which bought the building in 2009 for $825,000, according to records.
Under Schaefer and a team of locals, The Bricks revived the western end of E 7th Avenue. When it opened in 2010, The restaurant and night spot was caddy corner from a since-shuttered Czar nightclub and parking lot that would eventually become Hotel Haya.
The Bricks quickly established itself as a hipster haven, with a solid, vegetarian and vegan-friendly menu and exciting bar scene bolstered by programming that includes art shows, concerts in the courtyard, and wild parties after athletes wrapped competition at the skatepark’s Tampa Am and Tampa Pro contests.
Schaefer has not yet responded to requests for comment, so the future of The Bricks is uncertain. The restaurant recently reduced operations to four days a week, with lunch service happening Saturday-Sunday only.
Pardue and his representatives have also not yet responded to requests for comment, but he has been happy to be the face for recent development of Ybor City’s western end and the corridor connecting the district with Channelside and downtown Tampa.
Last summer, Shaw’s Gasworx announced plans to have Pardue’s JPRE Development help spearhead the curation of retail and restaurant experiences at the development, adding that Pardue’s “team is taking a curated, methodical approach to tenant recruitment to prioritize brand alignment, longevity, and authenticity.”
In the summer of 2024, Pardue stood on the site of the original New World Brewery and told the Tampa Bay Developer Podcast how Shaw’s Gasworx project will fill in the space between Ybor City and Channelside so that visitors and residents can literally walk between the neighborhoods.
“Once that happens with some of the other benefits that Tampa’s known about, it really puts it on the map,” Pardue told the podcast. “Been waiting for this 20 years.”
A year later, Pardue returned to the podcast to talk about courting companies to lease property at Gasworx.
“I think in general the amount of demand for Tampa is hard to even explain,” Parude, who is also involved with the redevelopment of CL’s old office in Tampa Heights, said. “It’s so high.”
This is a developing post. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay will update this post with any new comments.
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This article appears in Jan. 29 – Feb. 04.