Movies could be in Carrollwood soon

Break out the searchlights and rope lines. It has been almost a decade since Tampa's Carrollwood neighborhood had any movie theaters of its own, darkened by big, stadium-style megaplexes that aren't really all that convenient to residents.

Now a family-oriented theater is returning to Main Street Shopping Center, on North Dale Mabry Highway just south of Village Drive, in a 20,500-square-foot space previously occupied by Carmike Cinemas. The reopening is scheduled for May 1, 2011.

“We've been soliciting theater operators to come back to Main Street for some time,” Mitchell Rice, CEO of RMC Property Group Inc., tells Coffee Talk. He says the new eight-screen theater will show first-run films and offer comfortable seating and more food options than just popcorn or other snacks.

The private operators of Channelside Cinemas 10 near downtown Tampa will run the new Main Street theaters. Rice describes them as “hands-on, seasoned professionals” who will cater to adult moviegoers with children, rather than teenagers.

Rice, who lives in Carrollwood, says the theaters should be a strong draw for other shops and restaurants at Main Street, which was developed in the late 1980s and has undergone extensive remodeling.

Between 20 and 25 jobs will be created by the theater reopening, according to Rice. The theater space previously housed a “relocation superstore” operated by Apartment Hunters that met its demise during the recession.

Interestingly, one of those megaplexes that led to the Main Street theater closing came and went over the last 10 years.

The Cobb Theatres Hollywood 20, near the intersection of Dale Mabry and Van Dyke Road, opened with great fanfare around the turn of the century, then fizzled in a matter of a few years as Tampa became over-screened. Kohl's Department Store stands in its place now.