ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For nearly 100 years, the Manhattan Casino has sat along 22nd Street S in St. Petersburg.
In its early days, it served as a hangout spot for black people in the city, welcoming black artists like James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie.
"It was the only place back in the 20s and the 30s where black entertainers could come because they couldn't go into the white parts of town. This building holds a great history and our community would like to see it thrive again and swing again," said Pastor Greg Murray.
Pastor Greg Murray is one part of the teamed that revitalized the building. The Callaloo Finance Group restored the building into restaurants and an event space where legends of another generation once played.
"I think that it's important that the casino remains a vital part of the community. I would like to see it become that centerpiece that it once was. I believe that we were heading in that direction," he said.
Yet, the City of St. Petersburg hosted a community conversation Tuesday night focused on the future of the building.
"We're really interested in finding out from the St. Petersburg residents what they would like to see in that location. It gives us an opportunity to be informed as a part of the Mayor's pillars to be informed about what the community wants to see and make sure that everyone has an opportunity to have their voice be heard," said James Corbett, St. Petersburg Development Administrator.
It's a conversation that's coming up now because the city isn't renewing the existing lease for the Callaloo Finance Group. Pastor Murray said the city decided to find new tenants because of rent payments, but his team had other reasons for withholding rent.
"There's a lot of issues. I think there are some valid mitigating circumstances that perhaps are why the rent wasn't able to be up to date," Pastor Murray said.
The people the city leased the building to said a road closure directly in front of the building hurt business.
"Since May, we were only promised that it was going to be closed up for about a couple of weeks, and it hasn't happened. They said that they would be reopened by Juneteenth. We see that the road is still closed. A lot of people did not know that our business was still open. And so we lost a whole lot of business because of this road closure," said Pastor Murray.
Pastor Murray also pointed to issues within the building.
"There were things like that we felt that the city was supposed to come in and partner with us and help us with in order to succeed here at the Manhattan. It's a city owned property. We were asking for certainly help with the air conditioner. Our ballroom is one of our biggest financial drivers. And when the ballroom couldn't open, especially this summer because of lack of air conditioning, we lost a lot of business that way. And the city said no to helping us with the air conditioning," he added.
Yet, Pastor Murray feels he and his team still have work to do within the Manhattan.
"I'm hoping some of the ideas that come out of the conversations is that well, why not let the Urban Collective remain. To help them out, we've asked for help, relief with the lease in terms of the rent, help them out with that, and make sure that these young urban professionals who Urban Collective really are able to succeed here. I'd like to see them succeed. That's why I originally got involved with it," he added.
He said he would like to see a partnership similar to the city and the Mahaffey Theater.
For now, the city has plans to move forward with feedback gathered from the community conversation.
"I expect within the next month people will know a summary of what their input was. And then from there, we'll decide how we should proceed," said Corbett.
Meantime, the people involved with the Callaloo Finance Group plan to host their own Community Conversation at the Manhattan Casino on November 9 at 6 p.m.
