Boxy and bland in all-over beige, the hulking historic building at 2010 Staples Ave. wasn’t much of a headturner.
Built around 1912, the 7,000-square-foot building housed the Martinez Havana Cigar Factory, then was part of Tampa’s Santaella Company, another cigar manufacturer.
Today, the building houses A/C Secured Storage, its interior lined with self-storage units of varying size, containing Christmas decorations and the accumulated belongings of island residents with limited living space.
But passersby on Staples Avenue are now being reminded of the building’s history, as two new murals brighten the property and the neighborhood around it, with a third in the works.
Artist Greg Mankis has spent the past two months or so on an elevated lift, carefully spraying color onto the previously drab edifice.
Mankis recently completed a giant cigar box on one end of the building, near the business office, echoing the philosophy of A/C Secured Storage, whose Facebook page states, “Remember when times were simpler, days were longer and all your best stuff could fit inside of a cigar box? Today’s world may be more complicated, but the solution for your storage needs just got easier.”
The longest side of the building, facing Staples Avenue, now features a Key West sunset scene, and he is beginning work on the third side.
Mankis is a Fort Lauderdale-based artist who transforms private, public and commercial spaces through “site-specific art concepts, mural paintings and wall art installations,” states his website at gregmankis.com, where details and photos of the project are available. Find him on Instagram as well @g_mank.
