HCC Child Development Center

LOCATION: 1505 East Palm Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605

OWNER: Hillsborough Community Center

ARCHITECT: Unknown

BUILT: 1929

SIZE: 14,690 SF

This building, constructed in 1929, was originally known as Las Logias Unidas, or the United Lodge, because it was home to five different Ybor City lodges. The building represents one of many examples of Mediterranean Revival buildings located in Ybor City. In the early 1940s this building became home to La Benefica Clinic of El Centro Español. This clinic provided medical services to the wives, children, and families of El Centro Español members, as the main Centro Español hospital was exclusive to adult male members. This building then housed La Gaceta, the nation’s only tri-lingual newspaper. La Gaceta remained in the building until the late 1970s, and over the next few decades the building housed not only a grocery store, but was the site of the Sugar Palm Club, a popular swing club. Hillsborough Community College purchased the building in 2001, and in 2004 reopened the building as the Child Development Center, as well as a state-of-the-art dance studio. Located on the first floor, the Center provides students and faculty with affordable and accessible child care. The dance studio, located on the second floor, includes a practice and performance space, dressing rooms, and a computer lab.