Category: Featured

The Grove Theater Getting A Major Makeover

When CMX, the parent company of Cobb Theatres and CineBistro, filed for bankruptcy in April, citing the damage done by the coronavirus, it officially brought to an end Wesley Chapel’s popular movie theater in The Grove.

It also, however, has ushered in a new opportunity.

Developer Mark Gold, whose Mishorim Gold Properties owns The Grove, is remaking the popular 85,000-sq.-ft. movie theater into something that he says will be bigger and better.

“I am bringing something for the whole family,” he says. And, don’t worry, he adds, the new project will still be a movie theater, it’ll just be, “unlike any you have seen before.”

To name a few of the major changes: Instead of 16 movie screens (and roughly 3,000 seats), there will be 12 screens, with at least one or two dedicated to children. The additional space freed up by consolidating the screens will be used to create a video game area that Gold says will resemble the popular arcade and restaurant/bar Dave & Buster’s. There will be a sushi restaurant upstairs and one with more traditional American/theater food options below.

Outside, new landscaping and a mini-golf course will create an area for people to gather and make a night of it.

Gold says the entire facility will be redesigned, reimagined and most important, rejuvenated, and that there already are plans for an adjoining housing development featuring 540 townhomes and apartments.

“This is going to be an entertainment complex like no other,” says Tom Peck, the director of operations for The Grove Theater (working title).

The large arcade area — which, in most theaters, is just a small room set off to the side with a dozen or so games set up — will replace the current lobby, with games designed for teens and adults in one area, and games for younger players in another.

At least one or two of the movie theaters will be modified to serve as a “kids zone,” with things like bean bag chairs and sofas for those watching the movie and a play area for those who’d rather climb through tubes and tunnels. The kids theater will be ideal, Gold says, for parents looking to watch a movie or enjoy dinner while their children watch something more suitable for their age.

Gold says he also is considering converting one theater into a ninja-style obstacle course for younger kids.

The other movie theaters will carry the latest Hollywood releases and will be fitted with newer, and more comfortable, leather reclining chairs. There will be VIP theaters, will full-fledged dining options like the old CineBistro model. “The name won’t be there,” Peck says, “but the same concept will continue.”

You Still Have To Feel Safe

Gold says he is most pleased, however, with his plans to ensure safety. In an era where the Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything about the way the world does business, Gold promises that with each movie ticket, gaming pass and meal purchased, customers also will receive the one thing that will best allow them to enjoy the experience — peace of mind.

State-of-the-art cleaning equipment will be employed to keep the theater virus-free. There will be hospital-grade fog machines and ultraviolet lights to disinfect walls, floors, handles, seats and the air in between each movie, and temperature monitors at the front door that will keep those showing coronavirus symptoms from entering.

Social distancing will be implemented, as will face masks, depending on the state of the virus when the theater opens.

“Our theater will be extremely safe,” Peck says. “It will have things in there no other company has ever been able to do because of the (costs associated with the) large number of theaters they control.”

And, if you wonder what happens when (or if) Covid-19 finally passes, Gold says he is still playing the long game with his safety measures, because there will still be plenty of other germs out there and families will be looking to stay safer than ever in the future.

“Everyone is going to want to feel safer, more secure,” Gold says. “Even 2-4 years down the road. The idea is we will be much safer than your grocery store. This place will be 3,4, 5-times safer because we are taking all these steps.”

Only with these safety measures, Gold says, can he see his vision fulfilled, where families come out to play a round of miniature golf, enjoy a dinner together, see a movie and play some games afterwards. Instead of two hours in a theater, families can spend 4-5 hours enjoying a night of entertainment.

“It will have everything in one complex,” Gold says. “At a normal movie theater, maybe you go eat before you come, then see the movie and go somewhere else after. But, this will have everything. It’s going to be a real destination spot.”

The theater renovations, which Peck says could be completed sometime in September, are another part of a massive project at The Grove, which Gold purchased last September for $62.7 million.

By the end of the year, The Grove is expected to have more than 60 converted and redesigned shipping containers open at the trendy KRATE by Gold Box container park, which is being built on nearly 7 acres of land just west of I-75 and east of The Grove’s big box retail stores like Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

A host of other restaurants, bars and businesses are opening now, or are expected to open soon in “The Village” portion of the 200-acre complex.

For leasing & other info, search “Grove At Wesley Chapel” on Facebook, call (407) 636-1266 or see the ad on pg. 1 of every issue of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

Teachers Concerned About Return To Classrooms

Her son had such a wonderful experience with his teachers in Pasco County that Danielle Biggs went back to school in her 20s to become one of them.

Today, she’s afraid that decision could kill her.

Like many teachers not just across the county but across the nation, Biggs, a mother of three, is preparing to get back into a Veterans Elementary classroom on August 24, when Pasco’s schools are scheduled to reopen. She is filled with trepidation, however, because she says the growing spread of Covid-19 poses a serious threat to her and her teachers and students.

“I don’t want my children to grow up without a mom because I chose to be an educator,” she says.

That is not hyperbole, she adds. While the numbers suggest that children catch the virus and are less affected by Covid-19 than adults, the fear of them spreading it to teachers (and students with underlying health conditions), and as a result the community, is frightening for Biggs.

There are countless layers and questions when it comes to reopening schools, as Florida continues to struggle with containing the virus, which is infecting more than 10,000 people a day in the Sunshine State and the death count continues to grow.

But namely, consider this: What happens if a teacher contracts the virus? What happens if a student passes it around?

And, what happens when/if someone — even one teacher or child — dies?

“It’s unsafe for us to open right now,” Biggs says. “This has me pretty emotional. The decision our governor is making is ultimately going to cost the lives of educators, and the lives of family members and students. And to me that is just unacceptable.”

Biggs’ fears are shared by other teachers. But, they have few choices. U.S. Pres. Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have pressed for schools to open, even threatening to withhold much-needed funds if they don’t, and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued a July 6 order (now being challenged in court) that a five-day-a-week traditional school option should available to all parents.

“I teach kids every day about science and repeated trials and tracking data, and what it really means to look at facts,” Biggs says. “But,what we’re getting is a lot of opinion. When the Governor says I believe that we need to do this, and it is not supported by data…and that’s not okay.”

Most teachers, citing concerns about children spreading the virus, overcrowded classrooms and keeping their students from simple things like sharing pencils or a hug, would rather see the first semester — at least until infection rate numbers decrease significantly — be online only.

They have staged protests across the state, and Biggs was one of dozens of Pasco teachers who protested outside the July 21 School Board meeting.

At that meeting, Browning told those listening that Pasco County had no choice but to follow Corcoran’s order, even though school districts in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties are opening with distance learning.

“They’re still in Phase 1, they have the latitude,” Browning said. “We are not given that latitude. We’re in Phase 2 of the Governor’s (reopening) order. In fact, the (Corcoran)’s emergency order specifically states that upon reopening in August, districts must open brick and mortar at least 5 days a week for all students. The order does not give districts any wiggle room to not open our schools. I don’t necessarily agree with the order, but it is an immaterial point.”

Teachers like Katy Powers and her husband Robert Mueller, fifth grade teachers at Denham Oaks and Sand Pine elementary schools, respectively, don’t find any solace in the Phase 2 argument, however.

“We closed schools when we had 300 cases in the entire state,” Katy says. “We’re now here in July, and statewide we have 436,000 cases. And, that’s with kids being at home. It makes no sense to go back now.”

Robert Mueller and wife Katy Powers are both elementary school teachers in Pasco County and are concerned about returning to the classroom.

Powers and Mueller are so concerned about the dangers of returning to school — Katy has a blood pressure issue from a pregnancy three years ago that puts her at risk — they decided to put together their wills.

The United School Employees of Pasco (USEP) conducted a survey recently of its teachers and school-related personnel (SRP), and 75 percent of the 3,800 respondents felt the only way to safely begin school was through distance learning.

In a formal resolution on July 24, the USEP wrote, “In order to promote health and safety for students and staff, USEP will strongly advocate for the District to conduct schools in a Distance Learning only format until there is a 14-Day downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases.”

NOTE: After our deadline, the USEP announced it would file for a temporary injunction to the emergency order by the Department of Education. Also, in Hillsborough County, its School Board voted 5-2 in favor of online learning for the first four weeks, with plans to revisit on Sept. 8.

Colleen Beaudoin, the Pasco School Board chair, says the school year will not start online.

“A lot of people are saying they want to start “On time and online,” Beaudoin says, referring to a campaign touted by teachers as the best way forward. “That is currently not an option. One thing that is crystal clear is that we must follow the statute to receive funding, or nobody gets paid.”

Beaudoin says she has received emails from teachers who are fearful of returning to their classrooms before Covid-19 is under control, and “I’ve also heard from some (SRP) and teachers who have advocated for going back on time, (that they’re) worried about how to make ends meet.”

Biggs says of all the teachers she knows, maybe five percent have no issues about returning to school, while another five percent are looking into taking a leave of absence. The remaining 90 percent “are absolutely terrified and looking to find other opportunities.”

Many are trying to get one of the District’s online teaching positions. But, Browning says that about 65 percent of parents who made their declarations by Aug 1 wanted their kids to go back to brick-and-mortar classrooms, so there won’t be too many online jobs available.

Katy Powers will teach online, as well as in a pod at Denham Oaks. Robert applied for an online teaching position but didn’t get it, and will return to his classroom at Sand Pine.

Katy has resigned herself to the fact that schools will reopen Aug. 24, but she still hopes that Browning and the Board will look at the Covid-19 infection rates and fight harder for the safety of teachers and students.

“I’m just afraid it’ll come too late, after schools are opened, after someone passes away,” she says. “After it’s too late.”

Covid-19

Outside The Box, Inside The Pod?

Although Hillsborough County is giving parents three choices for the upcoming fall semester, it really comes down to two choices — learn in a traditional classroom with other students, restoring the social interaction and face-to-face contact that are the stalwarts of education; or learn in a more isolated and individual-based online format at home that makes it easier to avoid contracting the virus and transmitting it to others.

However, there is a group of local parents considering something else — merging the classroom and online settings together in a unique collaboration that, they believe, will offer the best of both worlds.

Tampa Palms resident Jenni Wolgemuth, an Associate Professor of measurement and research at the USF College of Education and mother of a first- and fifth-grader, is helping to organize a group of 4-5 families whose children will learn online, but will learn together in a small “learning pod” overseen by a privately hired learning support specialist.

“A one-room school house,” Wolgemuth calls it. “It is an attempt to create a bubble around a group of families, all agreeing to similar standards of social distancing.”

That school house, or learning “pod,” that Wolgemuth has organized will have nine students in it. Four of the students are fifth graders, who would hopefully have the same teachers at the charter school they all attended last year.

The pod also will include two first-graders, a third grader, an eighth grader and a ninth-grader. The parents would rotate hosting and the kids would bring their lunches and eat together and have time for outdoor activities together, too.

Everyone would still be taught by their school’s teachers through the online platform and Zoom video classrooms used by their schools. However, the parents are already interviewing people to be a support specialist, who would monitor the pod from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and help the students with technology issues, staying on task and doing their assignments.

“Basically what we would have been doing if we had been home,” Wolgemuth says.

The idea was Wolgemuth’s brainchild and she says she began thinking about the learning pod solution before the Hillsborough School District issued its choices for parents. She thought the District was too comfortable with the idea that everything would be fine by August. “I’m a planner,” she says. “This was my plan A.”

She mentioned the concept to friends, but the response, at first, was tepid. She continued, however, to bring it up in conversations.

When she had a Zoom call with other parents after the choices were revealed by the District, there was still some hesitation. During that call with other mothers, however, one of the husbands, a doctor who works with Covid-19 patients, overheard the plan.

“That is a really good idea,” he said, and the plan started to take root.

There are still hoops to jump through for Wolgemuth and her group, which includes a second Tampa Palms family, two families from Lutz and another from Carrollwood.

They will have to see how the pod works for the younger students, namely the two first graders. And, having nine or so computers using the same WiFi network could create issues that would need to be addressed.

Otherwise, Wolgemuth thinks the idea is the best fix for one semester, with the hopes that the coronavirus can be brought under control and that everyone can go back to their brick-and-mortar schools in January.

coronavirus School

Parents Have Tough School Choices To Make

Schools are not just re-opening this fall, they have to re-open.

The President tweets it; the Governor repeats it.

With the rising and record number of positive Covid-19 cases and deaths in Florida seemingly finding no ceiling, that leaves parents with one of the toughest decisions — whether to send their children back to brick-and-mortar schools or have them learn online — many of them have ever had to make.

Jaclyn Lewis-Croswell, the parent of a fourth-grader at Turner/Bartels K-8 school, will be keeping her daughter home in the fall to learn online. It’s not ideal, she says, but for her, the risk of infection outweigh the benefits of social interaction and classroom learning.

She certainly understands anyone who chooses the opposite for their kids, sympathizing with those who trust the safety measures and some studies that say children aren’t as affected by the virus, while also worrying their children’s mental health may suffer in a detached, online setting.

But, when Jaclyn looked at the rising numbers, “I felt like there is a potential risk of losing my child,” she says. “And that’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

If Covid-19 continues to rage at its current rate, there remains a chance that schools will not open by August or will be completely online, at least until January. But, as of now, school is moving forward with an expected start date of Aug. 24, with Hillsborough County’s schools offering three different options:

• Option A: A return to traditional, face-to-face, brick-and-mortar schooling, with special social distancing and enhanced disinfecting measures implemented, as well as requiring all students, teachers and staff to wear masks at all times.

• Option B: eLearning full-time through the students’ assigned schools. Students will participate in a distance learning program from home, taught by teachers at their school through Canvas, a new Learning Management System which will replace Edsby. Daily log-ins and attendance will be required.

• Option C: Hillsborough Virtual K-12, a web-based curriculum taught by teachers from Hillsborough County, but not the same as the eLearning program. For grades 6-12, Hillsborough Virtual K-12 and Florida Virtual School (FLVS) are the same, except Hillsborough Virtual K-12 will follow the District’s 2020-21 school calendar, meaning they have more stringent start-and-stop deadlines.

Earlier today, Hillsborough County Schools tweeted out declaration-of-intent results so far. With 115,001 responses tallied, 56,488 families have selected on-site learning, 48,410 have chosen eLearning and 10,103 have picked Hillsborough Virtual K-12.

The Neighborhood News spoke with multiple New Tampa families about their respective decisions. Here are three stories about how some of those parents made their decisions.

*Cindy and Connor Kelly both feel the decision to stick with online learning is the safest way forward*

Cindy Kelly – eLearning

When schools abruptly closed in March due to the coronavirus, teachers and students were thrown into an online system of learning that ended up receiving mixed reviews.

While some found the spring experience underwhelming and ineffective, others, like Wharton’s Connor Kelly, thrived in that environment.

So this fall, Connor plans to spend his senior year again learning outside of the classroom as he prepares for college.

“He had no desire go back to the bricks and mortar,” his mom Cindy says. “I was kind of surprised by it myself.”

Cindy says that if Connor had expressed a desire to return to school, the coronavirus would have definitely caused her some concern. In fact, Connor says a big part of his decision stems from his own concerns about passing anything onto his parents.

“It really does seem like people are really concerned about the virus and weighing it with the social aspect and the isolation (of online) learning,” Cindy says. “It’s a miserable, tough decision to make.”

Thankfully, Connor found the flexibility of online learning to his liking last spring, and looks forward to continuing it. He says, however, that a slight majority of friends in his social circles say they are returning to brick and mortar.

“They want to be able to have that social interaction,” he says, “although, the way it sounds, there probably won’t be too much social interacting allowed anyway.”

He regrets having to miss some, or, depending upon the virus, all of his senior year. He is serving as president of Rho Kappa, the social studies honor society, and isn’t sure he’ll get to make his induction speech, and says he also had roles in other clubs he will miss, as well as the other social benefits of his last year in high school.

“It kind of sucks,” Connor says. “I had a whole meticulous plan laid out for the last three years…I spent a lot of time designing my senior year, and then a rock was thrown through it. But that’s okay, it’s a life lesson.”

*Lisa and Eric Ling, with their kids Elijah and Ethan, think its time to get kids back to school, with increased safety standards.*

Lisa Ling — Traditional School

Lisa Ling is sending her kids back to school.

While the mother of a first- and fourth-grader at Hunter’s Green Elementary (HGE) understands the risks associated with the brick-and-mortar option this year, she also feels better about her decision now that masks are going to be required.

“Getting kids back to school is what needs to happen,” she says.

Ling and her husband Eric aren’t alone. A recent thread on Facebook she participated in showed more than a dozen parents who agreed with them, and she says many of her friends are following suit.

Ling says it wasn’t really that tough of a decision. “Well, I really did not consider Hillsborough Virtual K-12 or Florida Virtual, because we love our school and didn’t want to disconnect from it,” Ling says. “The (Covid) numbers are going up, but it’s a very low percentage of the population. We feel that there also is evidence coming out that young kids just don’t transmit it as much. Our whole family is healthy, no one has a compromised immune system or lives with an elderly grandparent. God forbid, if one of us gets it, we’ll be okay.”

Lisa has been a stay-at-home mom for nine years. When her children were forced to learn from home in the spring, she says she didn’t find it to be a fruitful experience.

Her third grader was fairly independent unless he would click on the wrong thing while working from his computer, and her youngest, who was in kindergarten, needed constant support.

She didn’t find the quality of the education to be what it should either, but understands it was a difficult, thrown-together situation for everyone.

“It wasn’t the same as being at school,” she says.

Lisa will no longer be a stay-at-home mom this fall. She is returning as a school psychologist at Benito Middle and Clark Elementary schools. She says her new job did not affect her decision.

“Even if I hadn’t taken that job, I was sending them back,” she says.

*(l.-r.) Hector, Grayson and Laurie Gonzalez decided eLearning will work best for them this fall.*

Laurie Gonzalez — eLearning

As a teacher, Laurie Gonzalez isn’t sure how she would keep her students safe from the spread of Covid-19, much less her son Grayson, who would be attending sixth grade at Benito Middle School on school choice this fall if she hadn’t decided to keep him home for eLearning.

“I made the choice to do eLearning for my child because I don’t think it is safe for anyone to return at this point,” says Laurie.

By choosing school-based eLearning through his assigned school, as opposed to the other online options, Grayson can keep his seat and if Covid-19 is ever brought under control, he can return after the fall semester.

“Of course I worry about social interaction, but at what cost?,” she says. “At least today, kids have video games and phones so they can keep in contact with their friends. It isn’t the same but, for now, it will have to do.”

Laurie has read the CDC guidelines and imagines what she and her co-workers’ classrooms would look like in the Covid-19 age. She doesn’t like what she sees.

“I know first-hand that it will be impossible to follow the CDC’s guidelines to keep kids safe from Covid, especially if we reopen schools at full capacity,” she says. “There is not enough room in most classrooms to space kids 3 feet apart for testing, so 6 feet is just not going to happen.”

A mask mandate is a great decision, Laurie says, “but I don’t believe it will be enough. As soon as we open schools, I anticipate the number of Covid cases will skyrocket.”

Laurie, who teaches at Turner/Bartels K-8 School, says she has an auto-immune disease, and is nervous about the impact Covid-19 would have on her if she were to get it.

With so many unknowns, Laurie and her husband Hector have no idea when it will be completely safe again to return to school — for her or her students. She feels fairly certain that August won’t be it.

“Yes, I am very confident that coronavirus will still be a problem in August,” she says. “We haven’t seen the numbers (of deaths) that will correlate with the 4th of July yet, but I don’t have much faith that they will be good.”

Covid-19 hillsborough county schools

First Watch Coming To New Tampa; Via Italia Opens tomorrow!

First Watch, the popular restaurant chain known for its healthy breakfast and lunch items featuring items like power wraps, avocado toast and quinoa bowls, is coming to the Village at Hunter’s Lake plaza in New Tampa.

“They have signed their lease,” says Mark Elias, the leasing agent for Regency Centers, the developer of the plaza, which will be anchored by a Sprouts Farmers Market that is opening Aug. 12. “They haven’t physically started swinging any hammers yet, but they have started the process (of permitting).”

Located right across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from the entrance to Hunter’s Green, and just a few miles south of the First Watch on BBD in Wesley Chapel that almost always, in pre-Covid times, had a waiting list, the New Tampa location will join a number of new restaurants in the Hunter’s Lake project. It will take over the 3,530-sq.ft. spot between Fresh Kitchen, which also is readying for construction in the spot on the northernmost end of the plaza, and Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar, which is opening tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Headquartered in University Park, FL, First Watch serves breakfast, lunch and brunch at its more than 300 locations in 26 states.

For an area lacking in a true breakfast place for years, New Tampa will soon have two of Tampa Bay’s most highly-rated selections. The Brunchery, a long-time and popular breakfast staple in Valrico, expanded to New Tampa last December when it opened a new location in the old Boston Market space next to the Moe’s Southwest Grill on Preserve Walk Ln. at BBD.

First Watch Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar