Hotel Floridan’s new name gives nod to the olden days as $30 million renovation nears completion

TAMPA, Fla. - The Floridan Hotel, which was once the tallest building in Florida, is undergoing a $30 million renovation and will soon have a new name.  

The Floridan Palace Hotel was a New York-style hotel built in Tampa in 1926. It was luxurious, but the Great Depression and the years that followed took it out of style.

Now, a new facelift is underway on the inside and outside of the hotel at Cass Street and Florida Avenue.

"It was an asset in the community that was untouched, so we're literally bringing this building back to life in a community Downtown that's thriving right now," says Crystal Rivera, the hotel's general manager.

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The hotel will soon be called ‘The Flor’ with the bar inside named ‘The Dan’.

Interior of The Dan. 

"I saw the sign from 275 or I-4 and I thought, oh, I would like to work at that hotel. It reminded me a lot of New York," shared Mohamed Khald, a mixologist at The Dan. 

The Flor's 210 guestrooms are being redone with modern styling and accents that give a nod to the early days of the hotel. 

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The Flor will be part of the Hilton Tapestry collection of hotels that cater to both business and leisure travelers. 

Hotel Floridan 

Rivera says The Dan and the attached Cass Street Coffee Company café will cater to locals and worker at the federal courthouse just across Cass Street. 

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The hotel was once the tallest building in all of Florida in the middle and late 1920s. The renovation has been underway for nearly two years. 

For guests, it will be like stepping into a time machine that travels both backward and forward at once. 

The Hotel Floridan was once luxurious, but then the Great Depression took it out of style. 

"We actually talk about that all the time," explained Rivera. "We're replicating something for the next hundred years." 

The Dan Bar and Restaurant is open, and The Flor Hotel is scheduled to open in a few weeks.