The Regent: beautiful, with room for enhancement

Members of the community got their first peek inside The Regent, which will be the venue for events ranging from weddings to dances.

And they liked what they saw.

"It's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous," Janine B. Nickerson, vice president of the Roundtable Charities of Greater Brandon, said to Sam Creasman, Roundtable Charities' president, and his wife, Carol.

"Isn't it pretty?" Brandon's honorary mayor, Lisa Rodriguez, asked about the large, wood-floored ballroom.

Along with a warming kitchen and bride's dressing suite, the ballroom covers just about the entire top floor of the nearly 30,000-square-foot building. The structure is owned by Hillsborough Community College and includes classrooms with the latest technology.

"It's a magnificent building," said Roxanne Tobaison, a Brandon League of Fine Arts and National League of American Pen Women member who dropped in to check it out.

More than 200 people attended the Jan. 15 open house.

Food, presented by the venue's eight approved caterers, was plentiful.

A warm atmosphere was created by Extravaganza Productions Inc.'s mood lighting and special furniture groupings.

George T. May IV, chairman of The Regent's board of directors, presented brief opening remarks, said Kristen Kerr of Brandon, executive director of the center.

"The open house surpassed my expectations and I'm thrilled," said Kerr, who showed people around the upper floor.

Daniel Berkowitz, manager of HCC programs at The Regent, gave tours of the venue's lower floor.

Because the community college owns and maintains the building, Berkowitz said he loves having "the autonomy to run the facility and also the backing of a strong college."

He described the school's aspirations not only to hold classes in, but also to rent out the college's six classrooms and multipurpose room.

"I'm very excited. There's a lot that can be done here," Berkowitz said. "The classrooms have Internet, VHS, DVD, ELMO overhead projectors, speakers in the ceilings and places to plug in laptops. We want to rent this space to companies, organizations and nonprofits for training, workshops, even conferences."

Said Mitch Burley, the owner and president of Mitch Burley Construction Inc. who oversaw the building project: "Brandon has needed something like this for a long time.

"Up to now, for weddings or big events held by groups like the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, area residents have always had to go to Tampa. This is going to be well-received and get lots of use."

It took about a year for the facility to be built, he said, although talk about a Brandon Community Advantage Center began years ago.

A weeklong design meeting in March 2008 was a vital link in the process. It included "caterers, arts people and county people to determine the needs a building like this could fill, if it were possible to get this built," Burley said.

Meletha Everett, membership chairwoman of the Greater Brandon Arts Council, attended the open house and expressed disappointment that although the arts council participated in the design meeting, it seemed their input was ignored.

"It is a beautiful facility," she said, but added, "We wanted a facility that could be used to display visual art and for performances or lectures ... with fold-away, tiered seating and a stage. This was not done."

The Regent was built "during a time when it was very difficult to raise money," Burley said. "A few things had to be deleted, because it was over budget - some stage lighting, some fold-out, tiered, auditorium-style seating - things that may be added later."

Other features of the venue could not be postponed, he said.

These compulsory elements - including steel-reinforced, concrete walls that can withstand 190-mile-per-hour winds, a backup generator, backup potable water well and wind protection for the air conditioners - allowed the building to be designated a Federal Emergency Management Agency hurricane shelter, Burley said. Those elements also brought in federal funding for the construction project.

"We eliminated things that could still be done after the building was finished," he said. "As use of the building generates income, these other things can be funded and added."

For information about The Regent, contact Kerr at (813) 541-1838 or kristen@ExperienceTheRegent.com; or Berkowitz at (813) 253-7845 or dberkowitz@hccfl.edu.