Chris Rivas, the local restaurateur behind various concepts including Urban Cantina and Chakana SoHo, filed a new construction plan review with the city of Tampa for 515 N Franklin St back in October, which was subsequently approved yesterday, Dec 5.
Rivas did not respond to a request for comment.
Incidentally, the building’s real estate firm, Accardi, put out a press release in April 2017, explaining that Rivas had leased the 6,300-square-foot property and would be opening a new concept called Citizen, which was described as “a new dining experience not provided currently in the downtown core,” including “entertainment and an upstairs coffee shop lounge area where craft cocktails can be enjoyed in a downtown urban environment.”
Moreover, according to Florida’s publicly available plan review records, the business has been filed as 515 Franklin, thus it’s unclear whether Rivas still intends to use the Citizen name.
