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Arts Center Effort OK'd

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - The city council has approved a fundraising effort to build an arts center in the heart of Temple Terrace's downtown redevelopment project.

The estimated cost of a one-story, 22,000-square-foot center is $9.3 million, Mike Marshall, the city's redevelopment director, said July 15. The price for a two-story structure, with an 8,000-square-foot second floor, would run about $10.3 million.

The city is willing to commit $2.5 million in Community Investment Tax funds, and Pepin Distributing has offered to raise $2 million for the project. The remainder would come from a fundraising drive by a council-authorized citizens committee.

The city's redevelopment partners, Ram Development and Pinnacle Realty Advisors, will donate the space earmarked for the facility.

The center would include a theater that could be converted for use as council chambers and for weddings, conferences and other large gatherings. The facility also would have a lobby with an art gallery, rooms for other visual and performing arts activities, and space for the Greater Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce.

The city has a two-year window with Ram and Pinnacle to withdraw its plan to build the center.

"We're never going to know if we can raise the funds unless we go out and do it," said Councilman Ron Govin, who suggested revisiting the issue in 12 months to determine whether fundraising efforts have yielded enough to continue the process for another year.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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