The Unknown Florida

We, my wife and I, started to take nightly bicycle rides through Tallahassee at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago. To this day, we still do those bike rides one or two times a week to have dinner at The Bark, a picnic at Railroad Square or a night out in College Town. On those rides we always pass by the old Coca-Cola building on All Saints Street that served as the area’s bottling plant starting in the 1940s. The bottling operation later moved to a new building on South Monroe Street that today is home to the Proof Brewing Company. For at least the last two decades, as far as I know, the historic building has largely been empty with occasional attempts for redevelopment: A large sign on the building still advertises an apartment project that never took off. Ten years ago, in 2016, there were some attempts, discussed widely in the local media, by a new owner to start a distillery that also never materialized. At this point the building is still waiting for a new, perhaps final use. Or it might be torn down to make space for more corporate student housing.

However, there was a time between the beginning of the pandemic and earlier this year when the building was actually occupied, as we learned over time on our bike rides. Sometimes we noticed faint light and music in the building through an open door, motorbikes in front of the building, and occasionally folks sitting on camping chairs on the stoop. First we thought those were squatters or homeless people. Over time we noticed a particular face of a young man over and over again, and he didn’t look like a homeless bum. In fact, he looked very muscular and healthy. Gradually, he started to wave at us when we rode by or saw him cruising on his motorbike through Railroad Square. We also saw him lifting weights in the building’s backyard, sometimes coaching others, and every so often we saw him running shirtless through Railroad Square with a group of friends. Perhaps he is some kind of personal trainer, living or squatting in the old building and running a makeshift gym? One evening in May 2023 we again rode down All Saints Street and saw him sitting on the stoop, and decided to stop and chat.

It turned out his name is Constantine and the owner allowed him to live in the building so that squatters or homeless people won’t take over. And he ran a gym. He also showed us the inside of the building. After that, we saw him many more times over the next two and a half years until earlier this year: In February 2026 he was gone and the building has been locked-up since then. As I had his phone number (he gave it to me so that I could send him the photo I took) I texted him about his whereabouts but never received an answer.

Inside the All Saints Street Coca-Cola building. Tallahassee, Florida.