The House that Jai-alai Built

By Jeff “Laca” Conway

The house that jai-alai built.  That’s how Tampa Bay tabloid Creative Loafing reported it.  

And now it’s for sale.

Cigar City Brewing founder Joey Redner has put his South Tampa waterfront mansion up for sale.  The 7,379 square-foot home was built in 1925 and has 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms along with a detached guesthouse.  The house features 170 feet of waterfront, a pool & spa, an outdoor kitchen, a treehouse and more. 

Joey Redner, son of Joe Redner (owner of the most famous strip club in the world – Mons Venus) was a Tampa jai-alai fan and named one of his beers after the sport in what has become one of the top craft beers in America.  He founded Cigar City Brewing in 2007 after holding a sales position with Florida’s oldest microbrewery – Dunedin brewery.  He hired Wayne Wambles as his brewmaster in 2008 and the pair brewed the first batch of Cigar City Beer.  Shortly afterwards, Jai-alai IPA was released and was an immediate hit with craft beer critics.  Today, the brewery produces over 170,000 barrels annually with distribution in 39 states.

Redner sold a controlling stake of the company to Colorado-based Oskar Blues for about $60 million in March of 2016, where is remains an active partner with. 

His house is on the market for $7,495,000.  He paid $6.4 million for it in July of 2016.