Know
The Floridian Social Club is on the market
One year shy of its 100th birthday, the historic building at 687 Central is back on the market. The Floridian Social Club has been at that address since February of 2021, and real estate mogul Kevin Chadwick, who own the facility and bankrolled its costly renovation, is looking for a buyer.
“It’s on the market, but we have not set a price,” said Wendy Giffin, managing director of listing agent Cushman & Wakefield. Chadwick, she said, “has a lot of pride in what he has created there. But he feels that he’s a real estate guy, not a venue operator.
“He feels like he has taken this as far as his experience can take him. He’s looking for someone with experience in the entertainment business, someone who can elevate it to its next level.”
What’s for sale is the building, the bar and its 4COP liquor license, along with the theater and its state-of-the-art sound and lighting system for musical and other stage performances.
In other words, it’s a successful business, with all the components in place for a new owner to move right in.
“Maybe that’s somebody local,” Giffin said, “or maybe from New York, Europe, the Far East – or someone in Nashville, who might want to start bring all these country music artists to town. We don’t know who the buyer could be.”
Chadwick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chadwick operates the largest Keller Williams franchise in Florida with 10 offices in Tampa, 1,300 agents and $3.2 billion in annual revenue.
He paid $2.1 million for the 8,600-square-foot building in 2018. Constructed as the Alexander National Bank in 1924, it was re-designed as a movie theater (the State) following World War II.
In the 1980s, its shelf life as a single-screen movie theater over, the State was turned into a rock ‘n’ roll nightclub; business was all but non-existent when Chadwick bought it. Because his parents had their first date at the old movie house, it became a “passion project” for him. He paid for the State through his Kevin L. Chadwick Family Trust.
“I don’t think downtown St. Pete has ever been more raging, more roaring, than it is right now,” Chadwick told the Catalyst at the time. “I think we’re in one of the best times of St. Petersburg’s history. I want to restore this theater truly, authentically to its historical roots.”
The entire building was gutted, floor to ceiling. The balcony was re-built. Todal cost for renovations was $4 million.
687 Central Ave. was designated a Local Historic Landmark in 1991.
Floridian Social Club sales brochure (click here)
