AMC Highwoods 20 Planning Major Facelift!

AMC Highwoods 20, the target of recent criticism over its appearance inside and out, may be looking at a major $6-million facelift.

According to plans filed by Kansas City-based BRR Architecture with the City of Tampa, the AMC Highwoods 20 location just off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. could be receiving major interior renovations that include an upgraded lobby, new carpet and paint, larger bathrooms and new projection and speaker systems, with roomier recliner leather seating inside the theaters.

AMC Theatres public relations director Ryan Noonan did not confirm any specific enhancements, but did tell the Neighborhood News that “the renovation process is in place” and, if permitting goes smoothly, it could begin sometime around June and be completed by the end of 2020.

A woman who identified herself as one of the AMC Highwoods 20 managers declined comment.

Noonan said that the New Tampa location would likely receive the same upgrades AMC is putting in at many of its other theaters across the country.

“The new recliner seating is always the star of the show,” he said.

According to the plans, the renovations on the 82,815-sq.-ft. movie theater would cost roughly $6.6 million dollars. 

“That’s great news,” said Tampa City Council member, Hunter’s Green resident and frequent AMC 20 patron Luis Viera, whose district includes the theater. 

Viera wrote to AMC’s corporate management in November of 2019 stating that the New Tampa theater was “unkempt and not properly reflecting the exterior standards of New Tampa” and could use some TLC. 

Many on social media agreed.

Posters on various platforms shared their horror stories, while others said they would rather drive 20 minutes to see a movie in Wesley Chapel.

Noonan acknowledged that AMC was aware of the bad press the theater had recently received.

“They have been discussing (renovating) the Highwoods 20 before any of that came to light,” said Noonan.

An upgrade would be a big boost to New Tampa’s only movie theater, which opened in 1999 and pales in comparison to the nearby and newer Cobb Grove 16 in Wesley Chapel when it comes to amenities like food, comfortable seating and offering a more modern experience.

AMC is currently renovating a number of its nearly-700 theaters across the country and has been for the last decade, Noonan said. He said there are less than a handful of new theaters built by AMC each year, with the company instead focusing of renovating its existing properties with better and reserved seating, touch-screen ticketing kiosks, eco-friendly restrooms and a full-service MacGuffins Bar.

Any AMC Highwoods 20 renovations would typically not cause the entire theater to be closed, just certain sections.

Most of the 20 auditoriums will have their current capacities reduced to make room for the larger, more comfortable seating. Auditorium 4, for example, currently has seating for 284, but plans indicate that once renovated, there would only be seating for 140.

“There will be a 40-60 percent reduction in seating,” Noonan said. “With the new seating it’s no longer an elbow-to-elbow experience.”

Viera said he hopes those that have been unhappy will support the effort to modernize the theater.

“They are taking the steps to fix it, and I would hope New Tampa recognizes that and supports it,” Viera said. “I’m thrilled to see this happen.”

New Tampa’s Teachers of The Year!

Here are the area’s top teachers as selected by their peers. Congratulations!

Stacy Hoffman
Hunter’s Green Elementary
Math & Science, 3rd grade
STEM lead
“Teaching is my passion!  My students become family and together we build a class community.  We don’t see differences, we encourage others, and we understand that we learn from our mistakes.  Through this, I become their biggest cheerleader, encouraging them to be the best they can be.”

Simon Meshbesher
Liberty Middle
Social Studies/History,
8th Grade
  “Teaching is the most exciting and rewarding profession!  The extent of enjoying student achievement, watching students learn, offers unlimited possibilities to influence generations of students, imparting to them the excitement of learning, the passion of discovery, and the magic of an inquisitive mind.”

Michelle Payton
Clark Elementary
Math & Science
4th grade
  “My favorite thing about teaching is making positive connections with my students and showing them that learning can be fun…each time I see one of my students have an “A-Ha” moment, it means success (for both of us).”


Rachael Trent 
Freedom High
ESE
  “The students in my classroom run their own business, have jobs on campus and volunteer at an assisted living facility in our community. I love that I am able to facilitate all of this for them in order to enrich their lives and help them become more independent adults.”

Daniel Sturlaugson
Turner Bartels K-8 School
4th Grade
  “My favorite thing about teaching is empowering students to lead.  Student leadership isn’t something that we are mandated to teach, but it’s crucial in preparing students to be college- and career-ready.  It’s a true opportunity to see students grow and change right before your eyes.”

Shane Moody
Benito Middle School
Subject Area Leader for the Language Arts Department, ELA-3 (8th grade) Honors/Advanced classes.
  “The best thing about teaching is that I get to invest my time in developing young students on a path to success relating to their life goals…I am so proud to say I am a member of the Jaguar Family.”

Kendall Arnold
Heritage Elementary
2nd grade
  “My favorite thing about teaching is making connections with students that last beyond the year they are in my class. I have students who come to visit me years after they leave my second grade class. This is the most meaningful part of my job.”

Carol Lynch
Tampa Palms Elementary
1st grade 
  “Tampa Palms Elementary has an incredibly talented staff of teachers and support personnel, so it really is an honor to be chosen by my peers for this award.”

Dawn Harris
Pride Elementary
Kindergarten
  “My favorite thing about teaching is the growth I see ALL my students achieve. They always make me proud.”

Lisa Keigher
Chiles Elementary
English Language Arts
3rd grade
  “My own children, who are now adults, went to Chiles. Their teachers, some who are still at Chiles…inspired me to go into education. To be chosen from my colleagues is the greatest honor I could have ever gotten.”

Elizabeth Glover 
Wharton High
Social Studies, AP Human Geography (9th grade) and Student Government Advisor.
  “(My favorite thing about teaching?) Working with the students!  Watching them have the ‘a-ha’ moments while explaining difficult concepts to them.  Teaching them tools to perform tasks, then observing them while they self-start and do (them) on their own.”

Sports Campus Has ‘Wow’ Factor!

In the past, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter had been so frustrated by the failures of Pasco County to figure out what to do with the 80 acres of land of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel donated by his family that he quipped they might just take it back.

However, these days, Porter is all smiles.

He was among a group of local dignitaries and media on Jan. 28 invited to tour that 80 acres of land, or more specifically, the still-under-construction $44-million Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County that now stands tall upon it.

“It’s really good to see it actually come to fruition and come out of the ground,” said Porter, who has championed some kind of athletic facility on the property for nearly two decades. “Sometimes, patience is required.”

While the indoor/outdoor sports complex won’t be completed until July, it is beginning to take shape. With a little imagination, you could almost hear the squeaking of shoes and swishing of basketball nets as Ajax Building Corp. project manager Marshall Quarles led a dozen or so media members through the massive, 98,000-sq.-ft. structure.

Although he sees the facility quite frequently, Richard Blalock, the CEO/founder of RADD Sports, said it never gets old to him.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Blalock, whose private company is managing the complex, which is a private-public partnership with Pasco.

RADD Sports CEO Richard Blalock, Pasco County tourism director Adam Thomas, District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore and RADD Sports marketing director Jannah Nager unveil the new logo for the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County on Jan. 28, prior to giving the first-ever hard-hat tours of the new sports facility to local media and VIPs.

RADD Sports beat out three other companies in 2016 for the right to develop the property, ending years of frustration.

However, what was originally earmarked to be a national tennis center back in 2001, and after that, a failed attempt headed up by former Major League Baseball star Gary Sheffield to build 19 baseball fields with on-site dormitories in 2015, is now just months away from opening as potentially the premier sports complex in Florida.

The state-of-the-art indoor sports facility primarily will be home to basketball (the building can be configured as eight regulation-sized courts), volleyball (up to 16 courts) and cheerleading, although Blalock says it can be configured to accommodate as many as 14 different sports.

The building also will house a large fitness area, kitchen, concession stand and various meeting and training rooms.

To the left (and south) of the main entrance into the indoor facility will be two outdoor soccer fields, and there also is room for an open-air amphitheater, playgrounds and can host concerts and other outdoor events.

As part of the project, Mainsail Development Group, Inc. will build a four-story, 128-room Residence Inn by Marriott just a few feet from the sports campus’ main entrance, according to site plans filed with the county on Jan. 22.

Another hotel, a Fairfield Inn, opened on adjacent Wiregrass Ranch property in 2018 and is within walking distance of the facility.

The sports campus is expected to be a huge boon for Pasco’s growing sports tourism, which was re-branded as the “Florida Sports Coast” last year.

Adam Thomas, the county’s tourism director, said that Pasco drew more than one million tourists last year, and 87 percent indicated they would return for future vacations.

Thomas also said he believed that once the facility has been completed, people will be lining up from all over the country to get their youth sporting events hosted there. The campus is scheduled to host a volleyball tournament in September to kick things off, with a half-dozen more tournaments already on the schedule.

“The wow factor is definitely there when you walk in,” Thomas said. “It’s not even done, and you can see the magnitude of this facility.”

The $17-billion youth sports market in the U.S. continues to grow, and the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County is poised to grab its share of that market on the weekends. However,  Blalock also said that the local community will also be served by the facility, especially during the week.

“We’re excited to have it open at 6 a.m. with local seniors, all the way to 10 p.m. with the kids, and then the weekends (with youth sports events),” Blalock says. “We’re excited about all of it.”

Blalock, the former recreation director for the city of Newberry, FL, said this is the biggest project RADD Sports has tackled. He also said that architects and engineers developed a facility in Alachua where the basic design is similar, but the Wiregrass Ranch campus is almost three-times larger. In fact, he hopes the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County will become the model for future projects, and he envisions building four more in Florida.

“This is the prototype,” he said. “We hope these plans can go on the shelf (when we’re done) and we can just pull them and keep going.”

From tennis courts to baseball diamonds to basketball, volleyball and cheerleading, the journey has been a long one. Porter, however, says it couldn’t have ended any better. He looks forward to seeing how the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County impacts the area, and is glad the final product didn’t just focus on singular sports, like the previous tennis and baseball projects, but rather became a facility that offers something for everyone.

“It’s probably one of the most rewarding projects to come out of the ground here,” Porter said. “We took this project and said, ‘Hey, how can we retool this to make it benefit everybody?’ We came back (with something) that is probably much better than what anyone envisioned 10-15 years ago.”

For sponsorship and other information about the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, email Jannah@RADDSports.com or visit RADDSports.com.

Aldi Grocery Approved For New Tampa!

Aldi is officially coming to New Tampa.

The petition to re-zone the property of the former Ruby Tuesday restaurant on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. was unanimously approved earlier today by the Tampa City Council on the second reading.

The city’s Development Review & Compliance staff had already found the petition, which requests to be reclassified from a PD-A (Planned Development, Alternative restaurant) to PD (Planned Development, retail sales, shopper’s goods), to be consistent with applicable City of Tampa land regulations.

The proposed Aldi store, which will be located at the corner of BBD and Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in front of the AMC movie theater, will be 19,160 square feet — almost four times the size of Ruby Tuesday — with 106 parking spaces.

Leon Capital Group, the owners who purchased the 2.36-acre lot for $2.82 million in 2018, were represented at the first reading on Jan. 16 by Scott Stannard of Commercial Site Solutions.

Stannard said the plans include not only replacing the vacant restaurant, but enhancing the surrounding area.

“We feel it’s an improvement, actually,” Stannard told the council members. “We’ve had arborists go out and we’re going to be taking down some of the dead trees and replacing them with new landscaping and beefing that up. It will be a nice fit for what’s out there.”

Stannard also said as that, as part of the new development, a sidewalk will be built on Highwood Preserve Pkwy., to aid pedestrians who are shopping, as well as those using the bus stop at the same corner.

“It’s really surprising there’s not one there already,” Stannard said.

Aldi, a German discount grocer, will be the third supermarket to open along a less-than-one-mile stretch of the west side of BBD. It would join a Publix at the corner of BBD and New Tampa Blvd. and Sprouts Farmers Market, which will be open by this summer in the new Village at Hunter’s Lake development across from the entrance to the Hunter’s Green community.

While Publix is the largest of the three and Sprouts is a “green” grocer, Aldi is a hugely popular German discount chain that carries brands that many shoppers here in the U.S. may not recognize, including their own. More than 90 percent of the brands Aldi carries are exclusive brands.

One unique aspect of Aldi is the quarter charge to rent a shopping cart at the store, to prevent stray carts from being left in the parking lot where they can dent cars.

Users get their quarter back when they return the cart.

Another Aldi is just weeks away from opening on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, right in front of the Costco.

Earth Fare To Close!

Well, that was fast.

In a rather stunning move, Earth Fare, Wesley Chapel’s first – and only – large green grocer, is closing all of its stores, including the Cypress Creek Town Center location on S.R. 56.

In a press release earlier today, the North Carolina-based grocer announced it was liquidating all of its stores nationwide, and liquidation sales will begin immediately. Even store fixtures can be had, the release noted.

“Earth Fare has been proud to serve the natural and organic grocery market, and the decision to begin the process of closing our stores was not entered into lightly,” the company said in the press release.  “We’d like to thank our Team Members for their commitment and dedication to serving our customers, and our vendors and suppliers for their partnership.”

The Wesley Chapel location will, perhaps, barely make it to its first anniversary. More than 100 shoppers lined up on Feb. 19, 2019 eager to be some of the store’s first customers.

“A gut punch,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.

Allen said she had recently read about Earth Fare closing a store in Gainesville on Jan. 11 after only four years, but still didn’t think the Wesley Chapel store, which was the 12th for the company in Florida, was in any danger.

“It is very shocking,” Allen says. “I thought we would be immune from those closures because it was so recently opened.”

On a VIP tour of Earth Fare a week before it opened, CEO/president Frank Scorpiniti touted the quality of Earth Fare’s organic products, which do not contain high-fructose corn syrup, artificial fats, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives, or meats that were bred with antibiotics or growth hormones. The chain had a “boot list” — a long list of banned ingredients it does not allow in anything sold in any Earth Fare store.

At the time, Scorpiniti said the Wesley Chapel opening was just the beginning of an aggressive plan to expand Earth Fare’s footprint. At the time, the company was operating 50 stores, and Scorpiniti said he expected there to be more than 100 locations in a few years.

Earth Fare, which was founded in Asheville, NC, in 1975, said its financial struggles were too much to overcome, and hinted that its efforts had failed.

“While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry impeded the company’s progress as well as its ability to refinance its debt,” the press release said. “As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go forward basis. As such, we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to commence inventory liquidation sales while we continue to engage in a process to find potential suitors for our stores.”