Officials so desperately want a cinema downtown, that they might be willing to put a land or parking deal on the table.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published December 14, 2003
CLEARWATER - It's embarrassing, really.
Not to have a first-run movie theater.
Clearwater is the Tampa Bay area's third largest city, after all, with roughly 110,000 residents. Each year, 1.5-million tourists visit the beach. And two of the silver screen's biggest stars, Tom Cruise and John Travolta, are regulars downtown at the Church of Scientology's spiritual headquarters.
But the closest big screens are half an hour away, in Oldsmar and St. Petersburg.
So city officials, sensing near universal support for a local theater, are gearing up for a plan to woo cinema developers.
"Hell yeah, we need them," Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton said Friday. "We need a multiplex."
On Monday, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, city commissioners are expected to approve plans to lure developers downtown. On the menu of possible enticements are proposals for the city to assemble land for the project or even to build a new parking garage, according to City Manager Bill Horne.
"We don't really know what we've got to do," he said last week.
But by advertising the city's interest, and willingness to invest, officials hope to prove they're serious, Horne said.
Earlier this year, a parking shortage turned out to be the deal killer in plans to bring a 20-screen megaplex to Drew Street and U.S. 19.
Fort Lauderdale-based Muvico passed on the vacant Target in the Clearwater Collection shopping center after deciding the site didn't have nearly enough spaces to support an 80,000-square-foot cinema.
But city officials said they weren't overly disappointed.
As part of a plan to breathe life into the struggling downtown core, the city would prefer cinema developers start there. The target area is Cleveland Street between Osceola and Myrtle avenues.
City officials say a new theater could be built as far east as the area surrounding Town Lake, creating a bookend to redevelopment projects planned along the waterfront.
Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone said the city staff has identified half a dozen sites capable of supporting a theater, including the AmSouth building that was purchased recently by a group of investors.
Stone said existing parking garages downtown, used mostly during the day, could serve the needs of a movie theater, depending on where it gets built.
City Commissioner Frank Hibbard said he would prefer not to spend millions on new parking, if possible.
"It's silly to build a new garage if we can do it in another way," he said. "Maybe we need to look at sponsoring valet parking service. We can subsidize that."
The city has $1.5-million set aside for downtown parking. The money came from the Church of Scientology as payment in lieu of parking requirements on its new headquarters downtown.
Developer Greg Sembler predicted the city will have to dole out free or nearly free parking to attract a theater downtown.
In St. Petersburg, Sembler's company developed BayWalk, which has a 20-screen Muvico. There, he said, the city agreed to charge a dollar to park for anyone with a movie ticket stub, even during special events when prices go up substantially.
"That's the only way we could attract moviegoers," Sembler said.
Sembler said Clearwater is an attractive market for cinema developers because it is a "free zone," meaning there are no other theaters competing to show new releases.
Clearwater has been without a first-run movie theater since 2000, when cinemas at the Countryside and Clearwater malls shut down. The older movie complexes became obsolete after AMC opened its $13-million, 20-screen multiplex in Oldsmar.
The Clearwater Cinema Cafe on U.S. 19 at Sunset Point Road shows movies for discount prices after they have been screened at first-run theaters.
This fall, the city staff drafted a study that showed the market base to support a downtown theater stretches north to Dunedin and south to Belleair. Economic development director Reg Owens said downtown sites could handle a theater with 12 to 14 screens, which translates to 2,000 to 2,500 seats. A project that size would likely cost $10-million to $12-million to build, he said, not including the price of the land or parking.
Horne said city officials are talking with Sembler and other industry experts for tips.
"They have a wealth of information," he said. "They can help us."
Mayor Brian Aungst said he is willing to be flexible in considering any city investment.
"We have to just wait and see what the deal is," he said.
Likewise, Hamilton said he is open to considering any and all options.
"To me there are no absolutes ... We can't give the farm away, but we can help cultivate a few of the fields," he said. "I just think it's just unheard of, a city of our size not having movie theaters."
