The Tallahassee City Commission voted 4-0 last Wednesday to delay consideration of demolition permits for the 1907 Wahnish Cigar Factory, putting a temporary hold on plans to clear the site for a 73-unit student apartment project. The pause came after a letter arrived just an hour before the meeting alleging that the city's Architectural Review Board had procedural problems when it approved the demolition. Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey was out of chambers during the vote.
The letter, written by Max Epstein, alleged that the Architectural Review Board violated several rules when it voted on the Wahnish Cigar Factory demolition, according to the Miami Herald. Epstein requested that demolition permits for both the Wahnish Cigar Factory and the Marshall House be withheld until vacant board seats are filled, and that a reconstituted board publicly rehear both applications and issue signed written findings. City Attorney Amy Toman said she needed time to review the allegations, and Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, who made the motion to delay, said he wanted the city to ensure the board was functioning properly.
A Board Short on Members
At the center of the dispute is the Architectural Review Board itself, which has two vacant seats — one city seat and one county seat — that have remained empty since at least December 3, 2025, per the same report. That gap exceeds the board's 60-day limit for filling vacancies. When the board voted on the Wahnish demolition on April 1, only five members took part, even though board bylaws require six members to take action.
City Manager Reese said growth management could delay permit issuance at the commission's direction, and the commission opted to pause issuance of demolition permits while the allegations are sorted out. The Development Review Committee had already postponed action on the demolition request and is now set to discuss the proposal again at its meeting Monday, September 28, at 9 a.m. at the Renaissance Center on North Macomb Street. City staff plan to recommend approval of the site plan with conditions, and a decision on that site plan is scheduled for Monday morning.
A Building With Layers of History
Built in 1907 by Alfred Wahnish at 469 St. Francis Street, the Wahnish Cigar Factory and Tobacco Warehouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018, according to the Florida Department of State. Constructed during Leon County's early 20th-century shade tobacco boom, the factory was the largest cigar operation in Tallahassee at the time and remains the city's last surviving historic cigar manufacturing structure, WFSU Public Media reports.
Over its 119-year history, the building has held many identities beyond tobacco, including the former Cowhaus music venue, according to a preservation report from 1000 Friends of Florida. The site also carries Black, Jewish, and Spanish history tied to the city's downtown, per the seed reporting.
Developer's Plans and Pushback
The proposed 908 Cigar Factory development would span 1.62 acres across 10 contiguous parcels, replacing the historic factory and adjacent lots with 73 student apartments ranging from 750 to 1,550 square feet, along with a multi-story parking garage. Tampa-based 908 Group, the developer behind the project, has already built multiple student-oriented complexes in Tallahassee, including The Nine at Tallahassee on West Pensacola Street and several developments along the Gaines Street corridor near Florida State University. In March, 908 Group made a separate $11 million offer for two downtown parcels along Gaines Street for a planned apartment project valued at more than $125 million, with a separate hotel planned.
During an August 10 Development Review Committee meeting, Tallahassee Historical Society President Bob Holladay urged city planners to require the developer to integrate the 1907 structure into the site plan, arguing that demolition continues to erode the capital city's cultural heritage. The Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation's Architectural Review Board had determined during earlier reviews that preserving or retrofitting the existing factory within the planned 73-unit complex was not feasible for the developer.
What Happens Next
The advocacy group Save Historic Structures, Heritage Trees has urged residents to attend Monday's meeting, with an organizer saying the Wahnish Cigar Factory was not yet safe from demolition. The Marshall House, a 19th-century downtown home at 317 E. Call Street formerly occupied by two mayors, is caught up in the same procedural dispute and faces the same uncertainty over whether its demolition approval must be revisited.
For now, the fate of both buildings rests on how city officials resolve the vacancy allegations against the Architectural Review Board. Whether growth management can move forward once procedural deficiencies are addressed, or whether the board must fully rehear both applications, remains an open question heading into Monday's session.
