The decades-in-the-making New Tampa Peforming Arts Center (NTPAC) should be ready to open this fall, says Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.
Hagan, who represents New Tampa in District 2, said a ribbon cutting is tenatively scheduled for September 22 or 23.
“Nothing is set in stone yet,” Hagan says. “But that’s what county staff is looking at right now.”
The 20,000-sq.-ft. NTPAC, which can be expanded later to 30,000 sq. ft., will have a 343-seat theater with retractable seating, a stage, a catwalk and an orchestra pit. There will be four multipurpose rooms and parking for 215 vehicles. The facility, located behind the Village at Hunter’s Lake shopping plaza, across from the entrance to the Hunter’s Green community, is expected to be used for community performances and arts training of all kinds.
No one has been selected to run the facility yet, a responsibility the county may end up assuming. It had originally chosen The Florida Cultural Group, formerly known as The Manatee Players, Inc., but some of the commissioners objected and said they preferred a local group be hired to manage the NTPAC.
A new company was expected to be chosen to run the programs at the PAC by March but nothing has yet been announced.
But, the NTPAC ribbon cutting isn’t the only thing the county has planned for September in our area — Hagan says he also expects the new Branchton Regional Park to break ground that month.
The park, which will be located on Morris Bridge Rd. just south of Cross Creek Blvd., will have pickleball and basketball courts, a splash pad and a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) substation in its first phase, to name a few of the amenties.
“County staff is finalizing plans and getting the final permits,” Hagan says.
And, prior to the NTPAC and Branchton events, Hagan said there will be a public meeting held in August so local residents can weigh in on a proposed public recreation center, which would be the first such county-run facility in New Tampa.
The recreation center will be located at Cross Creek Park, adjacent to Pride Elementary just off Kinnan st.
The facility will include indoor basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts and be available for other sports, and there will be community meeting space as well.
The basketball courts and playground already at the park will be upgraded, and a splash pad also would be part of the improvements.
Hagan says he has secured $1.5 million for the project, and is looking at the rest of the funding to come from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding. Hillsborough County has received $285 million from the federal program.
The recreation center’s proposed location, near Pride Elementary, could be an issue for many K-Bar residents without major road improvements in that area.
At various townhalls and meetings with city officials, residents have expressed safety concerns about school traffic in that area, due to the unusual configuration of the road leading past the school and into K-Bar Ranch, which has created logjams for years.
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