ST. PETERSBURG — The owners of Brandon-based GolfSuites had planned to turn the historic Tramor building in downtown St. Petersburg into an indoor city club with golf simulators and a high-end restaurant, but the costs started soaring.
Crypto lender Secured Automated Lending Technology offered $105 million in bitcoin-backed financing to the local company. (The Colorado-based company provides crypto-asset-related financial services.) But despite the backing, GolfSuites CEO Jerry Ellenburg said the new project for the century-old Tramor, which was briefly a Hofbrauhaus beer hall, had become too expensive.
Ellenburg originally planned to spend $5 million or so to build his first GolfSuites in the area. But it was getting closer to $9 million to repair the roof and upgrade the facility and deal with its tiny parking lot for a vast restaurant space without much foot traffic…