The sounds of electric drills, clanging metal — general destruction really — started escaping the old, green load-in doors at Tampa Theatre on Monday morning.
The nearly century-old downtown Tampa icon — which has hosted more than its fair share of historic concerts, including a 1979 set from The Police — began a $6 million major renovation in the last week, and fans can expect new paint and plaster in the lobby, new windows, plus upgrades to drainage and electrical items.
Also on the agenda? New seats.
It’s the second time the seats have been replaced (1976 saw the installation of the red velvet chairs so many of us are used to), and you can now own seats from the theatre’s balcony.
“All this time people were telling us they hate the seats,” Jill Witecki, Tampa Theatre’s director of marketing & community relations said in a press conference. “Now they want to buy them.”
On Monday, as that very press conference wrapped up, Larry Schiller — owner of Tampa’s Schiller’s Salvage — was busy removing approximately 160 seats from the upper section of Tampa Theatre. He’s moving them to his shop in NoHo where he’ll sell them in sets of four and five (the way they are configured in the theatre).
There will be 30 sets of four-seat rows ($500) and just five sets of five-seat rows ($625) available.
“I’ll probably grab a few extra end seats in case people want ‘em,” Schiller, 58, told CL.
Call the shop at 813-443-4641 to get your grubby paws (and sweet tush) onto one.
This is the first major overhaul at Tampa Theatre in in nearly four decades, and the project is getting closer to raising the $6 million dollars it needs to complete it. Information on donating is available on tampatheatre.org.
This article appears in Nov 2-9, 2017.