Ready For A Theater Like No Other?

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The All-New Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment Is Opening Soon & You Definitely Need To Check It Out!

When you’ve been in the local news business as long as I have, you hear a lot of people do a lot of talking, but very few back up their words with solid action.

Considering that developer Mark Gold of Mishorim Gold Properties has only owned The Grove shopping center development for about a year, you’d think there’d be no way he could back up everything he promised to do when he spent more than $64 million to buy The Grove in late 2019.

And you’d be wrong.

Since then, during the worst pandemic of our lifetimes, Gold has turned The Grove area he calls “The Village” from a mostly vacant mess into a vibrant new destination anchored by Treble Makers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant and Double Branch Artisanal Ales, with much more to come.

Closer to the Outback Steak House, Gold already has begun delivering on another promise — to create a container park that will dwarf Sparkman Wharf in downtown Tampa by sometime this year.

But now, Gold has done something that certainly seemed impossible when he took over the former Cobb 16 Theater at The Grove towards the end of last summer — he’s not only ready to reopen it, he’s completely transformed it into The Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment — and he promises the formerly failed movie theater he and his team have totally overhauled in less than six months will be a safe, family-friendly experience that will attract visitors from far beyond the borders of Wesley Chapel.

“South Tampa will come here to see this,” Gold promises. “There’s nothing else like this in the U.S.”

I’ll admit I was excited when Mark Gold and his team took us on an exclusive tour of all of the unique entertainment options that will be available right here in Wesley Chapel when The Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment opens to the public sometime after this issue reaches your mailbox.

The Grove Theater will have 12 new-release movie theaters, including six VIP sections upstairs, with literally the most comfortable reclining theater seats you’ll find anywhere. But, that’s just the beginning. 

In addition to a huge arcade stocked with 43 giant-sized video games near the entrance, The Grove also has one theater that will be solely for children in a safe, supervised environment.

“It’s going to be like a nanny room,” Mark says. “Parents can feel comfortable leaving their kids while they have dinner or watch their own movie.”

Another will be home to a “Spin Theater,” equipped with competition-style stationary bikes, both for top athletes to use for training and for those who want to exercise while watching a movie. There will be instructor-led classes, as well as open spin classes.

Still another theater will be available for rent for private parties and events. “For a birthday party, you can rent the theater for $300-$400, pick whatever movie you want and we’ll screen it just for you,” Mark says.

Plus, yet another theater will be offering Broadway and other professionally produced shows that Mark says will be brought in by a professional theatre company.

And finally, as we announced in our Sept. 29, 2020, issue, one theater will be the concert-style-seating home of SideSplitters Comedy Club. There’s even a SideSplitters reception area near the completely reconfigured movie concession stand. SideSplitters, of course, has a popular location on N. Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood, where top-level comics, as well as yours truly and members of the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel have performed.

A True Dining Experience

But, best of all, Gold also has transformed the theater’s second-floor dining and bar area into a legitimate high-end bistro, complete with a sushi bar and Italian-trained Head Chef Wissam (“Sam”) Itani. 

“It’s a chef-driven concept,” says Grove Theater manager Tom Peck. “We’ll have everything from Mediterranean items like chicken shawarma, steaks, salmon, you name it.”

Peck adds that the whole concept is to keep guests at the Grove Theater for longer than the average 2-1/2 hours spent at most theaters by the average moviegoer. “We’re not just a movie theater,,” Peck says. “We’re both a great restaurant and the greatest entertainment experience ever.”

Concerned about safety these days? Who isn’t? But, Gold and his team have that covered, too!

“I think we’re #1 in safety out of all the movie theaters in the country,” says VP of operations Matheus Gold. “We have fog machines sanitizing each theater after every movie, disinfecting UV lights, temperature and mask checks when you enter and hand sanitizing stations everywhere.”

In other words, if you live anywhere near Wesley Chapel, you should definitely check out the all-new Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment. There’s literally nothing else like it.

“This is a totally new concept that is the future of movie theaters in the U.S.,” Mark says. “Everyone really needs to come see this place.”

For more info about The Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment, visit GroveShopping.com.

COMEDY GOLD!

There’s already a taproom, dueling piano bar and mini-golf, and a unique movie theater and a container park are on the way to The Grove. But, if you think developer Mark Gold of Mishorim Gold is done, it looks like the joke might be on you!

Side Splitters Comedy Club will be bringing the same nationally-known comics. like America’s Got Talent finalist Preacher Lawson, to its Wesley Chapel location that it regularly schedules in Tampa.

Two guys walk into a bar.

One guy says, “Hey, how would you like to bring your comedy club to The Grove theater in Wesley Chapel?”

The other guy says, “Hey yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Let’s do it!”

Okay, so that’s not much of a joke — we’ll leave that to the pros, who will be headed to Wesley Chapel in a few months, when the renowned Side Splitters Comedy Club opens a its second location in The Grove on S.R. 54.

Developer Mark Gold, who is redeveloping The Grove into an entertainment space unrivaled in the area, says he has forged a deal with Brian Thompson, the owner of Side Splitters in Carrollwood, to bring a full-fledged stand-up comedy club to the area before the end of 2020.

As part of the former Cobb theater’s dramatic makeover — which already is set to include a huge video game area, a high-tech spin room, theaters that cater to kids and moviegoers and two new restaurants — Side Splitters Comedy Club will take over one of the theaters for its stand-up shows.

“We have gotten a ton of requests to get another location and Wesley Chapel is one of the areas with the most requests,” says Thompson. “We know it’s a growing area and, when the opportunity came up to get in there, we took it. We see it as a win-win for both of us.”

And, for the record, Gold and Thompson didn’t forge the deal at a bar. Instead, Thompson, who says he has been unofficially scouting the Wesley Chapel area for years, came across a 3-D video online showing the new things happening at The Grove and inquired about any vacancies.

He was told one unit was available, but it was smaller than what he was looking for, so he declined.

However, five minutes later, after Gold found out a comedy club had called — just what he had been looking for — the developer arranged to meet with Thompson that same day.

“He said he was one of the top comedy clubs in the U.S.,” Gold says. “I had a theater available in what will be an entertainment complex. It’s perfect. It’s a good fit.”

April Macie has performed at Side Splitters Comedy Club, as well as on Netflix.

While the original Side Splitters is a 5,500-sq.-ft. location and seats 250 patrons at tables and chairs below the stage, the comedy theater at The Grove will seat roughly 170 above the stage, with food and drink service.

“It will be a little different, but it will be the same intimate feel of Side Splitters that people dig,” says Thompson met with Gold’s management company this past week to hammer out the details.

Thompson, who was the general manager at Side Splitters since 2007 before buying the club in 2019, says it draws 70,000-80,000 people a year while mostly holding shows Thursdays through Sundays. That built-in audience is likely to translate nicely to the Wesley Chapel location, which also happens to be the home of some of Side Splitters’ more popular comics, like Rahn Hortman and JB Ball.

Side Splitters Carrollwood has hosted a number of nationally-known comics, and Thompson says some of those big names also will come to Wesley Chapel.

“We’ll definitely get comedians with some strong TV credits — some late night appearances, “America’s Got Talent,” “Last Comic Standing” — people like that,” Thompson says.  

Open mic nights also are popular at the club and will carry over to The Grove.

“It’s a nice partnership,” Thompson says. “Mark’s vision is having a one-stop shop, where people can walk around, grab dinner, play a round of golf and see a comedy show, without having to get in their cars to drive to each place. We’re very very excited to be part of that.”