$18.5M historic Ybor City building restoration in final stages

[JohnS]

$18.5M historic Ybor City building restoration in final stages

 By Anastasia Dawson -. November 25, 2025 

The defunct Sanchez y Haya hotel in Ybor City will be restored by J.C. Newman Cigar Co. 

Bottom line

Key takeaway: The family behind J.C. Newman Cigar Co. has worked since 2023 to restore the Sanchez y Haya building across the street from their iconic cigar factory.

Core challenge: The building was the first in Tampa to be made with rebar and concrete, but after decades of neglect restoration has been a slow and laborious process.

What’s next: The Newman family hope to reopen the building in October 2026, with a restaurant, bar and cigar lounge on the bottom floor and small hotel on the second story.

It has been a grocery store, a distillery, a coffee mill, a knitting shop and even a speakeasy during Prohibition. In its final years, it was a seedy, often bloody dive bar called the Chip-Inn. But for the past few decades, the 115-year-old Sanchez y Haya building has simply been a crumbling, empty relic of Ybor City’s cigar-fueled heyday.

That was before the building caught the attention of its neighbor across the street, the owner of the iconic “El Reloj” clocktower factory of the J.C. Newman Cigar Company. Now, the Newman family, which operates the oldest working cigar factory in the U.S., is entering the final stages of an $18.5 million restoration effort of the Sanchez y Haya property that began in 2023, they say. 

By next October the historic building, at 1601 Columbus Drive, will once again be restored to its former glory, when it was a bustling, two-story hotel and restaurant where tourists, travelers and cigar factory workers mingled over cups of cafe con leche. 

City council members, community leaders, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, joined in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project Tuesday. When it reopens to the public late next year, the Sanchez y Haya building will look like it did in 1910, the Newman family says, with a restaurant, bar and cigar lounge downstairs and a small hotel upstairs. 

“To be clear, restoring this building was never in our plans,” says Drew Newman, general counsel and part of the fourth generation in his family’s cigar business. “We saw it as observers from across the street, and we saw it sit vacant and just deteriorate … In 2020, the building was so bad we thought it was just going to fall down and we realized if we didn’t try to go in and save it and restore it and preserve this piece of Tampa’s history, nobody else could or would. So we did, and here we are.”

The Newmans’ goals for the building were deceptively simple: bring the Sanchez y Haya building back to life following the best practices of historic preservation. Doing so, however, has been a slow and laborious process. The building, constructed in 1910, was the first in the city of Tampa to be built with rebar and reinforced concrete. That meant workers had to manually repair the concrete beams, ceilings and columns of the building, patching the 115-year-old rebar frame by hand with more than 1,400 bags of concrete, Newman says. 

Now that the building’s structural repairs are complete, the team is ready to begin the final phase of the project, restoring historical features and “making it beautiful again.”

“When we walked through the building with the National Park Service staff about 18 months ago, one of them commented offhand that this was the second worst building in the state of Florida that they've ever seen anyone try to bring back,” Newman says. “I still don't know if that was meant to be a compliment or just a statement that we're just crazy to do this, but it does speak to how much effort it has taken to bring this building back to life.”

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. received a $600,000 grant for the project from Hillsborough County, $2.3 million from the National Park Service and a recent $5 million infusion from the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency. 

“Tampa is bigger than its buildings,” Castor told the crowd during Tuesday’s ceremony. “Tampa is its history, its people, the cigar workers of 100 years ago who came here from Spain and Italy and Cuba and all lived and worked together and lifted each other up.That’s what gives Tampa this special Latin flair and this unique history.”

While Ybor City may be named for cigar magnate Vicente Ybor, it was his friend and business rival Ignacio Haya who is remembered as the man who first brought the cigar industry to Tampa. Born in 1842, Haya immigrated from Spain to New York and started the Sanchez y Haya Cigar Co. with his business partner, Serafin Sanchez. 

The turn of the century brought a boom to the cigar industry, and Tampa — then a small fishing village with a population under 1,000 people — aimed to cash in by offering incentives to manufacturers such as no-rent leasing, affordable land and monetary bonuses, Newman says. Sanchez y Haya were among multiple cigar manufacturers and real estate developers to relocate to Tampa, and on April 13, 1886 they produced the first cigar in Ybor City. 

From the 1800s to the 1920s, roughly 200 cigar factories sprung up in what became known as Cigar City. 

“When you cast an eye to the next decade or two, what do we want Tampa to be? We want it to be a city that retains its uniqueness, this flavor of ‘Cigar City,’” Castor told the crowd. “Tampa is a city with people from all backgrounds who come together and lift each other up, and that’s what we’re recreating here, by continuing to invest in our community to make sure that is the case for years to come.”

Source: https://www.businessobserverfl.com/news/2025/nov/25/historic-ybor-city-building-restoration-final-stages/

[JohnS]

Work begins to restore Ybor City cigar lounge to how it was 115 years ago

by: Sierra Rains - Posted: Nov 25, 2025

Work begins to restore Ybor City cigar lounge to how it was 115 years ago. (Credit: City of Tampa)

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Crews have begun work to restore an abandoned Ybor City cigar lounge and hotel to its glory days, when it was bustling with travelers and factory workers.

The J.C. Newman Cigar Company broke ground on the Sanchez Y Haya building restoration project Tuesday. The dilapidated building sits across from the company’s iconic cigar factory off Columbus Drive, and its restoration has been a vision in the making for years. 

(Credit: City of Tampa)

(Credit: City of Tampa)

(Credit: City of Tampa)

(Credit: City of Tampa)

(Credit: City of Tampa)

Built in 1910, the Sanchez Y Haya building first served as a restaurant and cigar lounge with a small hotel upstairs. According to city officials, the building was also the first in Tampa to be made with rebar and concrete.

Its strong structure outlasted the years, and over time, it became many other things, operating as a grocery store, coffee mill, distillery, knitting shop and even a speakeasy during Prohibition.

The building was last known as the Chip-Inn, a local dive bar, before it was abandoned for decades. It stood empty for so long that thousands of bats took up residence on the second floor.

However, with the bats relocated, and preparations complete, it won’t be long before the Sanchez Y Haya building is open to the public again.

The new owners hope it feels like stepping back into the 1910s, with all of the building’s original offerings, including a restaurant, lounge and hotel.

“When it reopens late next year, the building will look and feel like it did 115 years ago so that it can once again serve the community and celebrate Tampa’s history,” officials said.

The project has received state and local support, with investments from Hillsborough County, the National Parks Service and East Tampa CRA, which provided $5 million in funding. 

Source: https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/work-begins-to-restore-ybor-city-cigar-lounge-to-how-it-was-115-years-ago/

[JohnS]

Tampa Celebrates J.C. Newman’s Sanchez y Haya Groundbreaking

December 15, 2025 - Press Release 

Last week, Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Tampa City Council Members Guido Maniscalco, Charlie Miranda, and Naya Young joined Eric, Bobby, and Drew Newman in a ceremonial groundbreaking celebrating the start of the final phase of the restoration of the Sanchez y Haya building across the street from J.C. Newman’s historic El Reloj cigar factory.

Constructed in 1910, the Sanchez y Haya building was the first commercial building in the City of Tampa built with reinforced concrete. It was a community hub for Ybor City, a place where cigar workers, neighbors, and visitors gathered to eat, drink, and sleep. A century ago, the first floor had a restaurant and bar and the second floor was a hotel. Sadly, this historic building was abandoned and neglected for decades, and has been a great example of urban blight.  

Following the best practices of historic preservation, J.C. Newman is working to restore this landmark to the way it was in 1910, with a restaurant and cigar lounge downstairs and a small hotel upstairs. When it reopens late next year, the building will look and feel like it did 115 years ago so that it can once again serve the community and celebrate Tampa’s history.

J.C. Newman is tremendously grateful for the City of Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency, Hillsborough County, State of Florida, and National Parks Service for supporting this project. It is a privilege to preserve this piece of Tampa’s cigar history so that it can stand and serve our community for another 115 years.

Source: https://www.cigarjournal.com/tampa-celebrates-j-c-newmans-sanchez-y-haya-groundbreaking/