'It's A Jewel In The Community'

It started out about 10 years ago to be a nice little community center.

By the time it opened in March, it had grown into something Carrollwood residents never imagined:

An $8 million-plus cultural center in the midst of Carrollwood Village, with a stage, dance floor, art studios, computer lab and conference rooms - along with an annex building and outdoor entertainment space.

"It's a jewel in the community," said Tom Jones, president of the Friends of the Carrollwood Cultural Center, the group that manages the venue.

"Everything just fell into place," he said.

The Cultural Center came about through a partnership with the Friends group and Hillsborough County. The county provided the money to buy and renovate two former churches at 4537 Lowell Road. Then, unable to manage the center itself, the county agreed to pay the Friends group $380,000 a year to run the place.

The Cultural Center was made possible by an advantageous set of circumstances that included the availability of property, county tax money, community support and a more stable economy.

"Now, with the budget cuts, it would be very difficult to start this initiative in other places," Jones said.

Already, less than six months after opening, the center is drawing hundreds of children and adults to summer camps, art programs, music lessons, concerts and more.

Executive Director Paul Berg said the community reaction "has been great."

"We've been very fortunate - a lot of community support in the form of volunteers, in the form of students coming for classes, patrons for events. It's been pretty incredible," he said.

The new facility has become the centerpiece of a community that has been a suburban oasis just north of Tampa since it began in 1959.

Carrollwood then was the largest major residential subdivision north of Hillsborough Avenue, sandwiched roughly between Dale Mabry Highway to the west and Armenia Avenue to the east.

Its convenience to downtown Tampa, Tampa International Airport and shopping developments quickly attracted homeowners and families.

But about the mid-1990s, residents began yearning for a community center of their own. They appealed to the county commission, and found support, said Jones, who at the time was president of the Carrollwood Area Association of Neighborhoods.

As plans progressed, the two church properties became available, including St. Mark Episcopal Church with its 20,000-square-foot building. Flush with space, the community groups started thinking bigger, Jones said.

"It has exceeded my expectations," he said.

So much so that the community center is in fact a countywide facility, Jones said, attracting patrons, students and members from throughout the area. It has more than 500 members, who pay a $50 annual fee or $90 for a family membership. Members get discounts on classes, and the center gets a little operating money, Jones said.

In January, they succeeded in hiring Berg as the director, luring him from Pensacola where he was executive director of the Arts Council of Northwest Florida. So far, he is encouraged by the response to the center's classes and events.

Summer camps for children sold out both weeks. A third session of art and music programs for adults and children began mid-July, with attendance up 70 percent from the first sessions in the spring, he said.

Three concerts have sold out the 212-seat theater. The grand opening on March 2 featured The Florida Orchestra and vocalist Deborah Horne from New York.

Berg said the center since has developed relationships and partnerships with The Florida Orchestra Guild, the North Tampa Arts League and New Tampa Players, who performed "Same Time, Next Year" on three weekends in July.

Jones said the center has filled a need in the Carrollwood community.

"A lot of people are happy that they don't have to drive downtown and then find parking," he said. "We have brought culture to the neighborhood."

CARROLLWOOD CULTURAL CENTER

WHERE: 4537 Lowell Road

PHONE: (813) 269-1310

CONTACTS: Paul Berg Executive Director; Laure Pericot Marketing Director; Helen Michaelson, Educational Outreach Director

WEB SITE: carrollwoodcenter.org