The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 36

12 NORTHWEST THE TAMPA TRIBUNE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1997 4 wv" VX fill I i. 1 if ran 'A I lit -1 h-: i ViHtV r- -fa 1 1 i JAY NOLANTribune photos Carlos Verdoni, left, and Mark Altman check their work on the exterior of the Hollywood 20 movie theater. Inside, they help install the last of the neon lights near the concession stand. Regal Cinema celebrates the grand opening of its new Hollywood 20 theater in Lutz, but not everyone is happy. IT nfffmfn) Til 3 7i Regal's director of marketing.

Seats are stacked so that just about every one has a clear view of the screen. And there's extra room in the aisles so moviegoers don't have to climb over each other, he said. "Kids can see over adults, folks wearing hats or with big hair," he said. With nearly 4,000 seats and parking for 1,300 cars, Hollywood 20 is rivaled only by AMC Regency Square 20 in Brandon, the largest movie theater in Florida with 20 screens and 4,500 seats. "I'm glad it's finally opening," said Carroll-wood resident Rebecca Robertson.

"I have three teenagers who love to go to the By CLOE CABRERA of The Tampa Tribune LUTZ Lutz has gone Hollywood. Hollywood 20, a state-of-the-art movie the- ater complex on Van Dyke Road and North Dale Mabry Highway in the Northgate Square shop-; ping plaza, celebrates its grand opening this weekend. While there are mixed feelings about the opening of a mega-theater in this semi-rural corner of Lutz, theater officials say film fans should be thrilled. Cushy, high-back chairs, wall-to-wall screens and high-tech surround-sound await theatergo- ers when the facility official- Layne, president of the Lutz Civic Association. Free T-shirts will be given to the first 100 ticket buyers each day of the grand opening weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

An invitation-only grand opening celebration continues tonight. Theater ticket prices will be $4.50 for children, senior citizens, and all shows before 6 p.m. Adult tickets after 6 p.m. are $6.50. There will be matinee shows daily.

Advance tickets will be available by credit card up to two days before a show. Earlier this year, Regal Cinema bought Hoi-' lywood 20 from Cobb Theater. Regal Cinemafe with headquarters in Knox-: is the third largest motion picture exhibitor jn the country, It operates screens in 240 theaters' in, 22 states. Cloe Cabrera covers Northwest neighborhoods. She i can be reached at 932-7200.

1 east corner of Van Dyke and Dale Mabry; another corner is owned by St. Joseph's Hospital, and a third is being eyed for a strip center. Some Lutz residents aren't happy to see the plans taking shape. "It's turned a corner that was commercial serving the community into a regional commercial center literally drawing people out here," said Jan Smith, a planning commissioner and Lutz resident. "I wish they'd done something different in keeping with the architecture out here." Resident Carol Priede is concerned about traffic.

"There are constantly accidents there," said Priede, who live off Van Dyke Road on Little Road. "I hope it doesn't make it worse'." 'FI! At least one resident plans to-stay away from the new theater. -j 'I have a big-screen television so I rent movies and watch them at home," said Denise sand this new facility will give them another complex also boasts three concession stands and j( a video game area. One of the theater's more unusual features is its stadium-style seating, said Paul Zacheretti, ue to choose from. p-i 1 The theater is the first big development 4 planned in the area to be completed.

Landown-: ers want to build a regional mall on the north 1 1 citrus park Growth overwhelming A- 1 pastoral history community's t-rom rage i tional golf club opens in November. Partners of Tam-' i ti i ri. i i jl I -t il. l.V i Everybody wants to know. how we feel because we're right in the middle of it Are you going to fight progress? All you're going to do is "get ulcers.

cjj 1 Vv 2 320-acre project just north of the mall. 1 surprisingly, the daily traffic jatns and hubbub of activity is a far cry froni the Way things used to, in Citrus Park. i "The woods had turkeys, bee hives, wild hogs, huckleberries and plenty of grass for cat- tie and horses," recalls Armitage. ''All around these woods out here there were moonshine stills," said Boleman, whose 10-acre farm is surrounded by tracts earmarked for development. "There's still some rims off over there where there i 3 JAY NOLANTribune photo Vince Mortellaro isn't happy with the development in Citrus Park that is eating away the rural way of life.

But his family sold most of their 10 acres of land to mall developers. Sunny Boleman counties. Nestled off Sheldon Road near the expressway and Gunn Highway, the mall is scheduled to open March 3, 1999. The project includes The Plaza at Citrus Park Town Center, a shopping center across the street. Developers anticipate a high-income clientele for both projects.

The median household income is estimated at $51,000 a year in the mall's target area. By comparison, the median income in Brandon TownCenter's trade area is roughly $39,000. Mallgoers in Citrus Park will be able to shop at Dillard's, Sears, JCPenney and Burdines, visit scores of smaller shops, eat at a food court or watch movies in a theater complex. About 4,000 people are expected to land jobs there or at the neighboring shopping center. Shoppers also may benefit from the presence of the District 3 Sheriffs Office headquarters on the mall's fringe.

The headquarters was moved earlier this year from Hutchison Road. Despite the stepped-up competition, some area businesses are elated the new mall is coming. "I think the mall is definitely going to help the community. It's going to draw people from south Tampa," said Wendy McCombs of The Wallpaper Wizard, 7620 Gunn Highway, "I think it will help our business." Tony Ficarotta, of T.P. Fig's Custom Golf, 7301 Ehrlich Road, predicted good times ahead.

"The area with the new high school and the mall and everything else I think it's going to be a booming area," he said. The same idea prompted physician Fred Lip-schutz's office to add another location at 7620 Gunn Highway. "There are lots of kids out here and there were no pediatricians," he said. While some are gung-ho about the development, I Boleman and her husband, Reese, have lived on Hixon Road since 1950, raising pecans, peaches, grapes and citrus and tending to geese, chickens and cows. "Everybody wants to know how we feel because we're right in the middle of it," Sunny Boleman said.

"Are you going to fight progress? All you're going to do is get ulcers." Reese Boleman, 72, puts it more simply: "I'm getting old. It doesn't make much difference." Florence McKay, 50, a secretary at Citrus Park Elementary, has lived in the community since she was 15. "We are no longer in a country atmosphere. I miss that part," she said. On the other hand, she loves the Veterans Expressway, a 15-mile toll road stretching from the Courtney Campbell Parkway to Dale Mabry Highway just north of Van Dyke Road.

McKay can zip down the expressway to Tampa International Airport or up to north Hillsborough County in minutes. The expressway also is appealing to developers. The new highway and reasonable land costs are drawing apartment developers to the community, said Michael Slater, of TRIAD Research Consulting Tampa Inc. "There is dirt available out there in the $5,000 to $7,000 (per unit) range." Slater estimates the potential renter demand in the area for the next 36 months is between 1,300 and 1,800 units. Planning for the Citrus Park Town Center began more than a decade ago.

Urban Retail Properties Co. of Chicago, which also developed Brandon TownCen-ter, waited to begin construction until the expressway was completed and more people had moved to west Hillsborough, east Pinellas and south Pasco I said Hart, noting accidents were frequent and people died. It "really was a wreck a week," agreed Joe Elena Weachter, associate agent at Rip Weachter Insurance Agency, 7620 Gunn Highway. "We're looking forward to having fewer fatalities and accidents." While change swirls all about them, people working in the heart of Citrus Park hope the county will transform that area into something special, Hart said. Some won't stick around.

Peter Otero, 70, of 7201 Gunn Highway, has seen enough. He plans to sell his acreage when the right deal comes through. "I was raised in the country. It's not country any more," he said. 'I work part time.

It takes me io minutes to get out of my driveway sometimes." Things aren't likely to improve, Otero said. "You know what happens when there is a mall," Otero said. "Look at Tampa Bay (Center) mall. It's always crowded." B.C. Manion covers Northwest communities.

She can be reached at 932-7200. others fret swelling crowds will make roads more dangerous. "I'm concerned for the safety of my students," said Carol Conda, principal at Citrus Park Elementary, 7700 Gunn Highway. About $30.5 million in road widenings are aimed at handling the mobs of motorists. Sheldon Road will be four lanes between Line-baugh Avenue and Paglen Road.

Sheldon also will be widened between Paglen and Gunn Highway. Gunn will be four lanes from Sheldon to Anderson roads. Paglen will be four lanes, from Sheldon to Ehrlich. Conda said she's not sure widening Gunn Highway is an improvement. "Before they widened it, it was a two-lane drag strip.

Now, it's a four-lane drag strip," she said. On the other hand, eliminating an intersection at Gunn Highway and Ehrlich Road will save lives, predicted Nathan Hart, a broker for Keystone Area Realty, 7611-C Ehrlich Road. "I'd sit here and just hear those brakes squeal,".