Step into the Kress Building on Seventh Avenue, past the cigar bars and vintage shops of Ybor City, and you'll find something unexpected: Tampa's answer to an artist colony, where sculptors weave watercolor paper into baskets three floors up while photographers capture Florida's hidden swamplands in the gallery below.
Known today as the
Kress Contemporary, the historic building on Seventh Avenue is home to an impressive roster of local artists, creators, and the nonprofit entities supporting them. SH Kress & Co., the five-and-dime department store that gave the building its name, closed at this location several decades ago. More recently, the building housed the Tampa offices of US Customs and Border Protection. Like the Kress buildings in downtown Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, the Ybor Kress is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s also returned to its department store roots in a way, but this one is stocked with art galleries, working studios, and theaters.
“There’s safety in numbers in the arts right now,” Kress Director of Curatorial and Community Affairs Tracy Midulla says, stressing the importance of the collective atmosphere.
A lot of arts organizations face an uncertain future, particularly when it comes to public funding.. The Pinellas County Commission just eliminated funding for the county's designated arts agency, Creative Pinellas, and President Trump has proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts.
Luckily, the Kress has numbers on its side. At least sixteen artists and ten arts entities call the building home, and there’s still space to grow the roster. The private studios rent at below market rates for artists or creators looking for affordable homes away from home among fellow creatives.
An expansion and major renovation to the west wing of the building’s second level will add to the excitement. In the next few months, Kress Contemporary will unveil an event rental space that’s larger than a conference room but more intimate than most event venues — ideal for about 80 seated guests. It comes with exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, soaring south-facing windows, and two open-air terraces.
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
The site’s ground floor is home to
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA), which exhibits important photographic art central to contemporary life and culture. “Here For Now,” an exhibit on display through October 5, explores pertinent themes of migration and impermanence in the context of a world marked by environmental and political change.
“We’re a relatively nimble organization and we like to focus on local artists. Our agility allows us to rotate our exhibitions more frequently and engage with the community,” says Executive Curator Robin O’Dell.
Launched in 2001, FMoPA moved to Ybor and the Kress Contemporary in 2023 and is closing in on its 25th anniversary celebration.
On view until October 26, “963 Hz: The Interstitial Moment between Image and Sound” is a new interdisciplinary show by artist Chris Leventis that features soundscapes and immersive photos of Florida’s wetlands, something tourists are unlikely to experience anywhere else.
“We love showcasing our members in the spotlight gallery up front,” O’Dell adds.
Members apply to have their photography work displayed for an entire month.
Since relocating to the Kress, both membership and attendance are way up. The location along busy Seventh Avenue's visibility and proximity to the TECO Line Streetcar line make it easy to entice visitors.
Tempus Projects
Kress Contemporary’s second level is home to several galleries, including
Tempus Projects, a grassroots arts nonprofit fostering “a vibrant and critical arts nexus that
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Carole Devillers Tempus Projects on the second floor of the Kress Contemporaryconnects to an international arts dialogue through innovative, equitable programming.”
Since 2009, the organization has curated regular visual art shows, facilitated an artist residency program, and maintained a buzzy calendar of hands-on events and openings. Founded by Midulla, Tempus Projects was a cornerstone arts organization when the Kress opened in early 2023.
“Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Ybor was a place for artists to congregate. It’s starting to feel like that again,” says longtime Tempus Board member Ann-Eliza Musoke. “The entire building is activated, and it creates a sense of community. We need that right now.”
The exhibit “CADET” Recent Paintings from George Lewis Jr., AKA Twin Shadow,”
the first painting exhibition by the Dominican-born American musician, producer, actor, and visual artist, is at Tempus from October 2 through Nov 20th.
Performance arts
Performance and literary arts add to the variety at the Kress.
Fringe Theatre occupies the building’s black box theater, with just enough seats for everyone to be in the front row. Tampa Fringe volunteer Lisa Urbano says the space is a respite from all the craziness that pervades our world at the moment.
“I feel free here,” she says
On “Anything Goes 3rd Thursday” open mic, attendees pay what they want and can sign up for a five-minute set to do anything they want on stage — as long as it's legal. No fire and no glitter.
Urbano says she likes to do yoga poses while doing stand-up comedy during her five-minute set.
“It’s just the coolest!” she gushes
Heard ‘Em Say is another beacon of performance art and free expression at the Kress. Aimed at empowering teens through poetry and metaphor, Heard ‘Em Say launched in 2007 as Tampa’s only youth open mic program. Today, it’s an established venue for young people to explore creativity, leadership, and emotional expression.
Artist studios and galleries
On the third floor, you’ll find a variety of visual artists hard at work - creating, building, displaying, and selling.
Sculptor and basket maker Lisa Ramudo says she keeps a separate studio at home for the messiest of her work, which includes dyeing thick watercolor paper and then cutting it into thin strips for weaving.
Her small studio at Kress was spotless in white, overlooking a dreamy Ybor City
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Carole DevillersThird-floor artist studiossunset. Other artists and patrons stopped in to chat while I admired her richly pigmented and precisely shaped baskets.
The theme that echoes through the halls of Kress Contemporary is activation. With so many creatives moving through and spending time there, the building bubbles with the energy of possibility.
The building echoes the broader change happening in Ybor City — redevelopment, reactivation, and a focus on variety—with newly established daytime businesses like Hive Ybor, a community-first co-work space, and Tampa Pickleball Crew, a sizable pickleball court facility in south Ybor.
While the historic district has perennially been a destination for dreamers and creatives, it’s also evolving to become Tampa’s top neighborhood for living. Kress Contemporary is helping it reawaken.
For more information, visit Kress Contemporary.