Parliament House — Orlando’s iconic gay resort — now has a future home in downtown Orlando, but it took months of negotiations and failed deals to land a space.
The search for a new home started around November 2020 when Parliament House officially shuttered at 410 N. Orange Blossom Trail after 45 years in operation there. However, business owners and landlords in Orlando were interested in reviving the popular concept elsewhere.
Initially, Parliament House was in talks to sign a lease on Church Street in downtown Orlando, but that deal later fizzled.
Then, in December 2020, Patricia Sullivan and Maria Blanchard of Orlando-based real estate firm Olde Town Brokers, who were representing Parliament House in their search for space, contacted Tim Garito, principal of Orlando-based real estate firm Garito & Co.
Through that phone call, a deal was struck eventually.
After nearly six months of discussions, Garito and Parliament House revealed July 29 that Parliament House’s new space would be at 29 S. Orange Ave. The deal resulted in Garito Hospitality, which is related to Garito & Co., to becoming a partner in Parliament House. Meanwhile, Garito & Co. is also a partner in New York-based Positively Pine Street LP, which bought 29 S. Orange Ave. in June.
Parliament House has not revealed an opening date yet, but is expected to collaborate with existing tenant SAK Comedy Lab to operate in the building’s entire 18,000 square feet, making it one of the largest entertainment destinations in downtown Orlando. The new home will house a video bar, sports bar, dance floor and redeveloped stage with a state-of-the-art entertainment system.
Here, Garito shares with OBJ how the deal came to be and what’s next for Parliament House.
How did you first get in contact with the Parliament House owners? After purchasing Sly Fox Pub in 2020, Garito Hospitality immediately started looking for partners to collaborate with to create additional entertainment concepts downtown. In December 2020, Patricia Sullivan and Maria Blanchard from Old Town Brokers reached out to us through Garito & Co., our commercial real estate firm, to inquire about an available space on Washington and Orange that potentially could house the new Parliament House. Unfortunately, after months of back and forth, we determined that the space lacked the ability to accommodate the critical theater space that Parliament House needed.
Were the Parliament House owners always open to doing a deal downtown, or were other sites explored? Parliament had their eye on 29 S. Orange Ave. and actually had the property under contract through another investor, but that deal ended up falling through in March 2021.
What motivated you to do this deal with Parliament House, and were there any challenges along the way? 29 S. Orange Ave. is an iconic building that housed Orlando’s very first theater. We felt that this was an incredible opportunity to pair a prominent landmark to Orlando entertainment staples in SAK Comedy Club and Parliament House. Anytime you’re structuring a deal with multiple moving pieces, you run into obstacles that must be overcome. But I couldn’t have asked for better group of individuals to help tackle the various challenges we faced along the way. I would like to acknowledge Avaram Weissman and the entire Weissman family who not only put their trust in this venture, but also understood the historic nature of what we were aiming to accomplish. Secondly, it was a pleasure working together with Chris Dinger and John Hunter of SAK Comedy Club and Don Granatstein, Susan Unger and Marla Harris of Parliament House. I think we formed a hell of a team.
Did you always know you wanted to buy 29 S. Orange Ave., and how did you get investors together to buy it? Garito & Co. is aggressively looking to increase its portfolio of key assets downtown, and 29 S. Orange Ave. fit the criteria we are looking for and proved to be an excellent acquisition. Garito & Co. has been incredibly fortunate to have strong partnerships, which allowed us to raise the nearly $6 million needed to purchase this property in less than 30 days.
Why is this space the right fit for Parliament House? While I can’t speak for Parliament House, I can say this building captured many of the key elements that were necessary to re-create Parliament House’s pre-existing entertainment model, which includes the theater, disco and multiple bars.
What are you most looking forward to when Parliament House reopens? It’s incredibly exciting. Apart from breathing new life into downtown’s nightlife scene, the new Parliament House will be a safe haven for the LGBTQIA+ community. I feel incredibly humbled to be a small part in helping facilitate the re-opening of one Orlando’s most storied franchises
Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2021/08/05/orlando-florida-lease-retail-lgbtq.html
