The Tampa Theatre announced their plans to build a second, much smaller “microcinema” theater.
The “new intimate screening room,” called “T2,”will be located directly next door (at 711 Franklin St. in Tampa) and will only seat 40 to 50 people, in sharp contrast to the OG Tampa Theatre that seats 1,200. The nonprofit says the project is an effort to modernize the Tampa Theatre and give more flexibility in regards to screenings and programming.
“The addition of a second screen fundamentally changes our business model for the better,” says Tampa Theatre President & CEO John Bell. “There is a reason that a single-screen cinema hasn’t been built in 60 years. T2 will allow us to serve our community in new ways by doubling our ‘shelf space’ and giving us the kind of programming flexibility Tampa Theatre has never had before.”
The theater is expected to cost $1.3 million, with $650,000 of it being paid for through a grant by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners’ Capital Asset Preservation (CAP) program and other private donations.
The local architectural firm Kreher/Barna has started work on the designs for the theater with Boston Light & Sound “to create a superior viewing experience from the ground up.”
Construction begins spring 2020, and is expected to be completed in 2021.
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This article appears in Oct 17-24, 2019.