It’s been three years in the making, but the Florida Theatre has finally hung out the “office space for rent” sign.
The fourth and sixth floors of the performing arts venue have been renovated by the city at a cost of about $102,000 — a capital improvement project approved by City Council in April 2014.
Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center President Numa Saisselin said the concept is to offer a low-cost alternative to the Class A office space that’s plentiful Downtown.
The nonprofit’s staff will serve as the property manager and the city is the landlord, offering the space for $9.75 a square foot with a one-year agreement and four one-year renewal options.
That’s about half the going rate for space in a Downtown office tower.
The project included bringing the 1920s-era restrooms into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, new carpet, new door hardware and a fresh coat of paint.
Most of the spaces are small — about 150 square feet — but some have doors that could create adjoining offices and the corner suites are larger.
Saisselin said it’s not intended to be fancy.
“We’ve got bathrooms, we’ve got electricity and we’ve got locks on the doors,” he said. “For this price, you can’t have a coffee bar and a fitness center.”
The target market is people who don’t need a lot of room or opulent office space, such as sole proprietors, startups and “entrepreneurs who want to get out of their garage,” said Saisselin.
“It would be great to have some creative types,” he added.
Revenue from the leases will be placed into the theater’s trust fund for the continuing preservation of the building and could one day be used to finance renovations on the vacant fifth and seventh floors without needing money from the city’s capital improvement budget.
“It’s an asset that’s just sitting there,” Saisselin said. “Anything we can squeeze out of it is a benefit to us and a benefit to the city.”
(904) 356-2466