A team spokesman says no contract exists for the Enchanted Village to use Tampa Bay Center. Now, the entire event is in doubt.
By BRADY DENNIS
Published November 15, 2003
TAMPA - A Tampa Bay Buccaneers spokesman on Friday said the organizers of Holiday Enchanted Village were never given permission to use the abandoned Tampa Bay Center, a site they have advertised for weeks as home to an elaborate festival and concert series.
"Tampa Bay Center will not be used for this event," said Jeff Kamis, a spokesman for the Bucs organization, which owns the property. "There's not a contract. There's never been a contract. It's not happening."
Kamis said First Allied, a holding company, handles assets for the Malcolm Glazer family, and officials there had not approved a contract.
"What you just told us is news to us," said Fred Pirone, attorney for Bay Entertainment Group and Enchanted Village promoter Al Beronda.
Pirone referred to an Oct. 30 St. Petersburg Times story in which Kamis said the event was "legit" as far as he could tell and the Glazer family was "on board to help them in any way we can."
On Friday, Kamis said the Glazers initially were supportive of a positive community event, but problems had arisen with the Enchanted Village, and a contract never was signed.
Asked if organizers could present a contract and if the festival would proceed, asBeronda had vowed a day earlier, Pirone said, "I'm going to have to get back to you on that."
He did not call back Friday evening.
The Enchanted Village originally was advertised as a 26-day festival with nightly concerts, a Broadway dance production, an extreme sports show, a midway with rides, a holiday display with 1-million lights and other attractions all for less than $20 per day.
Organizers said they had sold more than 6,000 tickets and advertised in local media, touting such big-name performers as Tony Bennett, Michelle Branch, Boyz II Men, Kenny G and others.
Pirone said Thursday the event had been shortened by a week due to "logistics." A day later, the event's Web site listed its previously full concert schedule as "under construction."
But the site still advertised the event as beginning Dec. 10, and it still listed the venue as "Tampa Bay Park."
"Is (the festival) still happening? I don't know," Kamis said Friday. "But we know for sure it's not happening at (Tampa Bay Center)."
Concerns about the Enchanted Village surfaced weeks ago when a former employee, Mauricio Rosas, accused promoter Beronda of fraud and filed a complaint with Tampa police. The case remains under investigation.
Beronda said Rosas was disgruntled over being fired.
Records show Beronda has a lengthy arrest record, that past business ventures have ended in bankruptcy, that he owes nearly $1,200 in unpaid city parking tickets and that he has spelled his name various ways on public documents.
He has said the problems with the law were years ago, and are irrelevant, as are his past business dealings. He attributes the variations on his name to misinterpretations of his penmanship and misspellings by others.
Agents for some performers have said they haven't received a required deposit from Beronda. Also, Bay Entertainment Group has agreed to pay its landlord $1,800 and vacate its Cass Street offices following a dispute over the lease.
