Developer Darryl Shaw began his real estate journey in 1988 with the purchase of this building at 1632 7th Avenue, intending to convert it into office space. That same year, he took his family to Ybor City's Guavaween parade and watched from the balcony of the two-story structure. Just two weeks later, in the middle of the night, Shaw received a call from the Tampa Police Department: the building had collapsed onto 7th Avenue. The very balcony where his family had stood—along with the entire façade—had crumbled.

The next day, after clearing the rubble, he brought in an inspector. After pushing a car key through the mortar between the bricks on the second floor, the inspector concluded the building was structurally unsound and had to be demolished. It was a swift interruption of Shaw’s Ybor real estate ventures.

In 1996, Shaw pivoted to a new path. Along with his brother Neil, he co-founded BluePearl Veterinary Partners. Starting with a single office on Gunn Highway, the company expanded. Under Darryl's leadership as CEO for over 25 years, BluePearl grew into a nationwide network of pet hospitals before the Shaws sold the business. Darryl retired in 2022 and returned his focus to Ybor City, now with the resources and vision to take on major redevelopment projects.

Shaw held onto the original 7th Avenue lot, and in 2003, built the red brick structure that stands there today. Over the years, he leased it to several tenants, including a hookah lounge and a Subway sandwich shop. Recently, he began remodeling the space to integrate it into a larger redevelopment of the block, including the adjacent former Kress building—now home to Kress Contemporary, a studio-based arts hub. A new raw bar is awaiting final inspection before opening on the original corner lot.

In just the past few years, Shaw has transformed several landmark Ybor properties: the former Buchman Department Store into a mix of retail and residences, the historic Oliva Cigar Factory (formerly Ybor’s first firehouse) into housing, and the former El Dorado Hotel and Casino into the boutique Hotel Haya. In the massive Gasworx project, Shaw is building a walkable, mixed-use district with 5,000 residences, 500,000 square feet of office space, and 150,000 square feet of retail. The project emphasizes walkability, bike-friendly infrastructure, expanded green spaces, and the transformation of a warehouse into a vibrant marketplace. His is the quintessential lemons-to-lemonade transformation of not giving up.

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