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Kohl's to build store on Hollywood 20 site

The theater on Van Dyke Road will be razed to make way for Kohl's arrival in Tampa Bay.

By BILL COATS
Published December 2, 2005

LUTZ - The empty Hollywood 20 theater, which showed movies for only three years before closing, is to be demolished and replaced with a Kohl's department store.

Kohl's, based in Wisconsin, is one of the nation's fastest-growing apparel merchants, offering moderately priced clothing in settings similar to the Bealls stores.

Early this year not a single Kohl's was in Florida. But in recent months, it has opened seven stores in the Orlando region and three in greater Jacksonville. The chain has 732 stores and is expanding by 95 a year.

Tampa Bay may be next. In April, Kohl's filed notice of a land lease next to Clearwater's Countryside Mall. And in October, it filed a similar notice for the Hollywood 20 property on Van Dyke Road.

"They want to start as soon as they can get approvals for permits," said Bill Nye, a Zephyrhills real estate agent and partner in the trust that owns the empty theater. "They're anxious to move very rapidly."

Other real estate agents say Kohl's has been eyeballing sites in Wesley Chapel and Pinellas Park.

A Kohl's spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the chain's plans for Tampa Bay.

Nye's group paid $5.2-million for the 14-acre theater property two years ago. It recently signed a 20-year lease with Kohl's, with options to extend it up to 30 years.

Nye said the property drew interest from people representing fitness centers, theater chains and churches.

St. Joseph's Hospital, which is building an outpatient center next door, inquired about the property. So did the Hillsborough County School District, seeking land for a middle school; it chose property a mile to the west.

"I average probably a couple of calls a week," Nye said.

The Hollywood 20 theater was a creation - and casualty - of large-scale changes that swept through the cinema industry several years ago.

Cobb Theatres, a chain based in Birmingham, Ala., started building the multiplex in 1997. Then, in midyear, Regal Cinemas of Nashville acquired Cobb and the construction project. Regal, meanwhile, had signed to open another 20-screen theater in the Citrus Park mall.

So Regal eventually owned competing theaters 7 miles apart. Nationwide, the industry was overbuilt. Widespread closings ensued, mostly affecting older, smaller movie houses. When Regal closed the Hollywood 20 in 2000, nine months after the Citrus Park 20 opened, it was one of the largest shuttered.

Next door, the Northgate Square shopping center shuddered. A restaurant space had been added onto the end of the shopping center closest to the Hollywood 20, and Semolina International Pastas had moved in. Semolina, a Burger King and an ice cream shop all enjoyed business from movie-goers.

Semolina closed two months after Hollywood 20 closed.

Splash! An Ocean Grill opened in its place. Ever since, its owners have been wishing for a vibrant new neighbor to attract people. Kohl's fits the bill, said Chip Roehl, a Splash partner.

"It's fantastic news," he said. "The thought of having a traffic-generating retail neighbor after all these years is just wonderful."

Roehl also was optimistic about the opening of the St. Joseph's offices and a second shopping center under construction at Van Dyke and Dale Mabry Highway.

"We were just a couple of years ahead of our time, I guess," Roehl said.

- Bill Coats can be reached at 813 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 00:34:14]