Neighborhood notebook

Group seeks alternate cultural center sites

TAMPA PALMS -- It could be back to the drawing board for the New Tampa Cultural Center, as organizers begin to re-examine their initial options.

As they scouted for possible center sites, organizers looked first at city-donated land behind Fire Station 20 on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. They considered other potential sites in Tampa Palms Area 3 near the Lowe's home improvement store, and later near the WorldCom complex in Highwoods Preserve.

But time is running out.

"How much longer can we continue searching for what will be the optimal site?" asked Graeme Woodbrook, president of New Tampa Cultural Center Inc. "We need to get our funding under way and we can't do that without a site."

Although board members might not reach a final decision until they see a feasibility study late next month, "we're focusing on trying to make the site behind the fire station work for us," Woodbrook said Wednesday.

The four-acre parcel has two main drawbacks that deterred organizers last year. While its two front acres are big enough to build the 1,200-seat center, the back two are mostly conservation land and wetlands that would not allow enough parking.

Also problematic are high-voltage power lines that run adjacent to the property. Organizers are talking with TECO to see if the lines would pose problems to sound and video systems.

"The other site options would provide us with more valuable acreage," Woodbrook said. But "we wouldn't be as close to the heart of New Tampa, which is the Bruce B. Downs/interstate interchange."

The bottom line: "Timing is everything and beggars can't be choosers. Sometimes we have to make do with what's available without compromising our standards."

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