Cuban Civic Club's clubhouse faces possibility of shutting down after 50 years

TAMPA, Fla. - The Cuban Civic Club of Tampa Bay's clubhouse is fighting to stay open after a recent building inspection. The nonprofit has operated out of the building off Memorial Highway in Hillsborough County since 1974. Its ballroom has been the backdrop for thousands of celebrations, concerts, corporate events, weddings, and more over the years.

The club proudly offers the rental space at an affordable rate.

"We have held events like the 15th birthday for Cuban girls, it’s a big event or 16th birthdays, weddings, domino championships, all kinds of celebrations," said club president Dr. Daniel Plasencia. "We do it for all kinds of Latin Americans, African nations, Haitians. You name it, we have done events of all kinds through the years."

Dr. Plasencia said the club was taken aback after a recent visit from a Hillsborough County fire inspector.

"There's a fire code mandate since 2007 that says if you hold an event with more than 300 people, you have to have sprinklers," he explained, "And we don’t. We thought we were grandfathered in throughout the years."

He said the county is giving the club one year to comply or the entire 6-acre campus will be shut down. 

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"They would kind of overlook the fact, but recently they said, ‘No, you are violating that. But we are going to give you time; you can hold events as long as you don’t have more than 300 guests inside the facility.'"

The club gathered two quotes for an automatic sprinkler system for the ballroom. Both are around $300,000.

"Our secretary was the one who was given that news and she started crying because she realized we don’t have it. We’re going to have to close it," Dr. Plasencia said.

Dr. Plasencia said dues from the club's 70 active members are hardly enough to cover basic facility expenses. And offering the ballroom rental space to the community at a low rate means the club makes little to no profit from events.

He hopes the community will help raise money for the sprinklers.

"Some sort of way that people can give us support and see if we can raise that kind of money," he said.

Donations are being accepted on the club's website. To donate, click here.

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