El Centro Espanol, a historic building in Ybor, will soon become “Ten Rooms”, a new dining and retail destination that Zach Pace and Ro Patel will open. “Ten Rooms” will be a multi-functional dining and retail space that is planned to open later this year.

   El Centro Espanol has been vacant for many years and has seen many vendors throughout the decades. The building was first established in 1891, and in 1912, it was Tampa’s first social club for immigrants. It was later restored as part of the shopping and entertainment compact Centro Ybor. 

   It was once home to a steakhouse called Carne ChopHouse but has been vacant for quite some time now. “El Centro Espanol’s mission is to honor, preserve, and celebrate the cultural heritage and history of the community of immigrants from Spain who settled in Tampa,” according to centroespanoltampa.org. 

   This site also states the vision of El Centro Espanol is “to sustain the historic link between our community and Spain, to educate the younger generations of the significance of this link, and to gather frequently to enjoy each other’s company and the cultures of Spain and the United States, which together have shaped the lives of six generations of Spanish Americans.”

   Patel is a Tampa Bay restaurateur, and he plans for “Ten Rooms” to be a crossbreed between dining, cafe, and shopping with space that can accommodate rotating art displays. Pace will be joining Patel, and he has managed and run operations at several restaurants. 

   Patel is originally from London but has resided in Tampa since the 2000s. He signed a lease on El Centro Espanol at the end of 2022. Despite having yet to set an exact opening date, Ten Rooms is nearing completion; they are just waiting on several permits.

   According to the Tampa Bay Times, Pace said, he “was drawn to the building’s large foyer, which he envisions will appeal to Ybor’s heavy pedestrian presence- a place where folks can pop in for a drink or a bite or simply to shop and admire the space.”