The Florida Theatre celebrated the renaming of its VIP lounge at a grand opening ceremony on Friday, Sept. 12, marking a new collaboration with PNC Bank as the official naming rights sponsor.
The former Remedy Lounge is now known as the PNC Lounge.
Florida Theatre President Numa Saisselin welcomed guests to a grand opening of the newly renamed lounge and explained how the new relationship with PNC evolved.
“About a year ago, Brian Rose, the owner of Remedy Intelligent Staffing, said he was retiring. And the new owners did not want to continue to support the Florida Theatre, but he would make good on the balance of the contract,” said Saisselin. “But if we knew of someone who was interested (in the naming rights for the lounge), he would step aside.”
A brief time after hearing this news, Saisselin was attending a PNC holiday party and found himself talking to Chris Kalin, the PNC Regional President for North Florida.
“He took me aside and said, ‘We really like what you are doing at the Florida Theatre and if there is ever a way for us to be more involved, we’d be open to that discussion,’” said Saisselin. “I told him, ‘Well, you may be in luck.’”
The hospitality area formerly known as The Remedy Lounge officially transitioned to The PNC Lounge at the Sept. 12 grand opening. The lounge first opened in 2022 after Saisselin had the idea to convert the previously vacant second floor of the Florida Theatre Office Building into a place to entertain guests. The venue offers 3,000 square feet of lounge space that can accommodate more than 300 people standing, or 150 people seated at tables. The Theatre can use the lounge as an alternate performance space on nights when there isn’t any programming in the main hall. The PNC Lounge will also be rentable for business, civic and private events.
“We are proud to play a role in supporting the Florida Theatre as you approach your 100th anniversary,” said Kalin at the grand opening. “This will be a space for relationships.”
The PNC Lounge will be available to more than 1,600 individual members and more than 30 corporate partners who make annual contributions in support of the historic theatre and its programming.
Anyone can become a Florida Theatre member at any time on the Theatre’s website: www.floridatheatre.com.
