This piece is written by CL Contributor Manny Leto
It’s 9 a.m. in City Council Chambers and Ken Ferlita sits listening to attorney Michael Labarbera rattle off the list of maladies associated with the building Ferlita’s immigrant grandfather once owned. The roof is gone, the grout between the bricks is crumbling, the walls are bowing.
He already knows the story. For the past year or more, Ken Ferlita has tried to find a way to save the former Ferlita Macaroni Factory, which his Sicilian grandfather founded in 1912 in West Tampa.
Giuseppe Ferlita moved the factory to 1607 22nd Street in Ybor City in 1924. The building served both as his family’s primary residence and business. Giuseppe embellished the building with neo-classical columns and a grand front entrance to mirror the nearby Italian Club, which was constructed just a few years earlier, in 1917. The business eventually outgrew its Ybor City headquarters and, in 1946, Ferlita sold the building to Pedro and Digna Diaz Perez, who used it as a cigar factory and residence. The family eventually sold the cigar business but continued to live in the building until 1974.
In 1985, Less Thompson purchased the property and, after of 25 years of ownership has brought Labarbera before the Barrio Latino Commission to argue his case for demolishing the historic blonde brick structure.
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2009.