Ashley Furniture HomeStores setting up office in Centro Ybor
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 20, 2015

A national retailer is taking over office space in Centro Ybor.

Construction in the mixed-use development in the heart of Ybor City is under way on office space for Ashley Furniture HomeStores Inc. and AshComm LLC, according to city building permits filed in April. The permits list renovation to the interior and exterior movie theater space.

The Tampa-Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. has issued a media alert for "an economic development announcement" to be made at 11 a.m. Thursday in Ybor City. An EDC spokeswoman declined comment Wednesday.

The announcement is to be attended by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, EDC CEO Rick Homans and Hillsborough County Commissioner Chairwoman Sandra Murman.

Converting a portion of the movie theater space into office space has been planned for Centro Ybor since Chicago-based M&J Wilkow bought the property in 2009. At that point, the company was planning to convert 10 auditoriums into 4,000 square feet of office space.

David Harvey, an executive with M&J Wilkow, confirmed there would be an announcement on a new office tenant in Centro Ybor on Thursday. Harvey wouldn't comment on whether the announcement was Ashley Furniture.

It's not yet known what type of operation will occupy the space. Ron Wanek, the founder of Ashley Furniture, is a philanthropic investor who also mentors business students. He lives in St. Petersburg and has a net worth of $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.

The Wanek family investment fund, Third Lake Capital, acquired Tampa-based restaurant chain Ker's WingHouse in July 2014.