Dear New Tampa Families with Young Kids:
You may not have to go to Brandon for all of your birthday parties anymore!
On Jan. 25, Urban Air Adventure Park opened in the Market Square at Tampa Palms plaza on Commerce Park Blvd., Filling a pretty significant and long-standing void for those who have families in the New Tampa community.
While New Tampa has never lacked for good neighborhoods with community parks, good schools and just enough youth sports programs and restaurants to keep you busy on a weekend, one standard complaint has always been: There’s nowhere to take your kids for fun.
Now, there is.
“I think this will be a hit,” said assistant general manager Chris Schade, a Live Oak resident. “It’s a great concept, especially for the New Tampa area.”
The Dallas-based adventure center is owned by Sarasota businessman Michael Tucci, who says he has a number of relatives that live nearby. He said he was always drawn to the area, and when he decided to buy two franchises, Tampa was a definite destination.
“This is a great spot,” Tucci said. “We knew there was nothing else like it in the area and thought it would be the perfect fit.”
The indoor attractions feature really cool Flip Zone and Spin Zone bumper cars, a high-wire ropes course, a Sky Rider, a Warrior Course, Battle Beam, dodgeball courts, rock walls, trampolines and areas for younger kids.
There are six rooms for hosting parties, food and drink and various pricing plans (Basic to Ultimate) and park memberships (which can be charged monthly).
Schade said he was happy to see a dormant, 28,000-sq.-ft. building that had been closed for a couple of years, after HH Gregg went out of business, spring back to life.
“We feel like we’re helping to revitalize the New Tampa area,” he says. In fact, in 2019, Urban Air announced it was taking over a number of old HH Gregg sites — in Augusta, GA; Akron, OH; Montrose, CO and Wellington, FL, in addition to Tampa Palms, to name a few.
It was unofficially announced in September that Urban Air would be opening a New Tampa location, and it only took a few months to renovate and redesign the old HH Gregg before opening. At a pre-opening VIP event on Jan. 23 that we attended, workers were still hurrying to put on a few final touches.
Sarah Tengali, who drew high fives from employees after completing the difficult Warrior Course without falling into the ball pit below, and her son Rocco, rushed from attraction to attraction, laughing and working up a sweat. Sarah’s favorite was the Sky Rider, where riders strap in and twist and turn as they fly above (and all around) the adventure park.
Rocco said his favorite was The Wipeout, where you have to jump over or duck under large swinging arms. “Everything,” Rocco said, “is awesome.”
Urban Air Adventure Park is located at 6250 Commerce Palms Dr. For more info, visit UrbanAirTrampolinePark.com or call (813) 522-5401. And please be sure to tell Chris and the staff that you read about them on Page 1 of the New Tampa Neighborhood News!
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