In downtown Tampa, Franklin Street has been the scene of deadly shootings

TAMPA — You could call them downtown’s modern urban pioneers.

Sixteen years ago, residents started moving in to what would become a small enclave of townhouses, condos and apartments sprouting on the north end of Franklin Street, along a quiet stretch of oak-lined brick bordered by Interstate-275. The city’s big resurgence was still in the making.

But now in downtown’s current boom, with residential towers rising and once-quiet streets busy with people, North Franklin Street has seen an alarming spate of gun violence.

Three times this year, shots rang out on a single block of North Franklin that houses two popular nightclubs, Lit Cigar & Martini Lounge and Eden Ultra Lounge & Nightclub, and a busy restaurant called Bello Bar and Kitchen.

The latest shooting on Oct. 9 outside the Lit lounge left a 30-year-old man, who was in Tampa from California for a wedding, dead just before 3 a.m. Two women and four men, most or all of them part of the wedding party, were wounded.

Tampa Police said a dispute erupted inside the crowded club and the people involved were escorted out. The argument escalated and two men got guns from a nearby car and began firing at the group, police said. Two weeks later, Josue Clavel, 22, and Damaso Bravo, 32, who police said are believed to be members of the Latin Kings gang, were arrested in Texas and charged with murder.

On Feb. 27, an argument authorities say started inside Bello restaurant ended up outside with one man shot dead and another wounded. On Jan. 24, a dispute police said started inside nearby Eden during a Bucs game after-party sparked a shooting outside on the sidewalk at 1:15 a.m. Two people were taken to the hospital.

All three incidents happened on a single block of North Franklin Street, leaving neighbors concerned.

“What I would like to see is the city really taking a proactive role on this, saying we can’t be approving any more nightclubs and (alcohol zoning) licenses ... where you’re surrounded by residents that are out walking their dogs,” said 16-year resident Fernando Perez.

Lou Prida developed the 40-unit Residences of Franklin Street with his son to open in 2006 and moved there himself in 2018. The Straz performing arts center, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa Theatre, good restaurants and a locally owned coffee shop that makes a fine cafe con leche are all in walking distance, he said.

“You’re downtown, but you’re not downtown,” Prida said. “My wife and I love living there — it’s a great area. Except for what goes on on the 900 block right now.”

“It’s upsetting, it really is,” he said of the shootings.

Representatives of Lit and Bello did not respond to calls, emails and letters from the Tampa Bay Times for this story.

Asad Yusupov, a managing partner at Eden who used to live at the Nine15 building on Franklin Street across from the club, said he understands the residents’ concerns.

“People assume it’s something we did as if we don’t have all these security protocols and don’t do everything we can,” he said. “I care about the safety of the residents, obviously I care about the safety of the patrons, I care about the safety of the employees.”

Weeks after the January shooting, at a city forum on gun violence, Eden’s head security guard Sean Lopez said he’d like to see more police downtown at night — something he thought might have prevented the shooting outside the club. Lopez said at Eden, they pat down all patrons, allow no weapons and deny entry to those who appear overly intoxicated.

“But once they step outside our doors, we lose our authority over them,” he said.

A general manager at Bello who also was at the forum agreed, saying he asked Tampa Police to have a larger presence on Franklin but was instead quoted a price to pay officers overtime to patrol the area.

Yusupov also supports a stronger police presence in the area. “It’s not the police department’s fault — they’re short-staffed, too,” he said. “We need more police officers. How do you solve that? The only solution is more police officers.”

At a news conference following the October shootings, Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor called the incident “a terrible example of where 3 o’clock in the morning, alcohol and tempers are a terrible mix.”

A Tampa Police patrol car has been parked just outside Lit’s doors since the most recent shootings.

“We are going to take a hard look at the Franklin Street corridor and redeploy appropriately to provide a heightened sense of security,” O’Connor recently told the Times.

She also noted “an uptick nationally in shootings.”

“There’s definitely a gun problem nowadays,” O’Connor said, “But I hesitate to say that that’s related to the nightclubs.”

She called the situation on Franklin Street “a challenge.”

“There’s nothing good for a police chief in a large city to have seven people shot outside a nightclub, ever,” O’Connor said.

Lynda Remund, president and CEO of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, told the Times via text: “As Tampa becomes a big city, we are going to see big city problems.” She also said city and police officials “take safety very seriously and make swift preventions and resolutions.”

North Franklin Street residents know they live in an urban environment. They co-exist with a population of homeless people and have security cameras around their buildings. Between 2019 and 2020, multiple late-night complaints of loud music were lodged with the police about a North Franklin Street restaurant called Mole Y Abuela.

As downtown keeps developing — particularly fast-moving, high-end Water Street on its southern edge — North Franklin also has seen change. A park where day laborers used to wait to be picked up for jobs and where the homeless slept at night now is a gated dog park. A Starbucks popped up catty-corner from the nightclubs.

Some residents say they’re leery of what businesses will move in next.

“We certainly want restaurants and things like that,” said Perez. “You can have nice establishments.” He referenced two popular places over by the downtown Riverwalk: “I don’t know that they’ve had any instances at Ulele (restaurant) or Armature Works, and they attract thousands and thousands of people.”

“We don’t need bars that are open (until) 3 a.m.” Prida said. “It just doesn’t fit.”

Times staff writer Matt Cohen contributed to this report.