The 1915 cigar box factory building was a tall one story rectangle with high windows and a center courtyard. Once an elegant structure with a timber and wood framed roof and custom concrete masonry shapes, it had recently suffered from serious neglect. Enter Miles Development Partners, Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architects, and Palmer Engineering Company.
After repairs and renovations, each loft unit has a raised interior roof with clerestory windows, and mezzanine bedrooms. CMU fire walls do double duty as reinforced shear walls to resist hurricane winds. The interior parking area retains the original rafters and decking, but new steel columns and beams have opened up the original column grid to accommodate drive aisles and parking spaces, and x-braced frames provide lateral resistance. The derelict courtyard is now a sleek communal pool and social focus. The shops, night clubs, and restaurants of Ybor City are still just a short walk away, and the old cigar box factory is again as fresh as were Tampa’s best hand rolled stogies. Click here to visit their site.
Box Factory Lofts
Tampa, FL
