Clearwater officials settle on 4,000 seat capacity for new waterfront performance venue
By Veroica Brezina-Smith
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 5, 2019

After deliberation on what a new venue would look like and what its size would be has finally become more clear for Clearwater.

Clearwater city council members agreed for the new venue as part of Imagine Clearwater to have 4,000 seats and a covered roof during a meeting on April 4.

The amphitheater area only encompasses 4 acres in the overall proposed 66-acre waterfront destination. However, it's a key piece in attracting events from Ruth Eckerd Hall, the Florida Orchestra and more users.

Micah Maxwell, assistant city manager, showed the council members new renderings of the proposed venue, which gave a perspective of how a proposed venue with a retractable roof and 3,000 covered seat capacity would appear once completed.

"I'm not a fan of retractable," councilman Jay Polglaze said. He then asked about the size of the seats.

Maxwell said the seats were 28 inches, which is larger than standard.

"I haven't heard of a 28-inch chair ... It sounds like we could easily fit more chairs with less width," Polglaze suggested.

Councilmember David Allbritton also followed Polglaze's comment that the idea of having more seats seems feasible.

"I don't know for how many years we've been using folding chairs in Coachman Park and what we're trying to do is move into an improved facility to put these chairs undercover," Allbritton said.

The council was previously comparing the proposed venue to amphitheaters and bandshells such as the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Tennessee and Addison Circle Park in Addison, Texas, as well as more local venues from the St. Augustine Amphitheater to the Daytona Beach Bandshell.

Albritton had mentioned he spoke with those running the St. Augustine Amphitheater and that the venue started with 3,000 seats and had to add 1,700 more to make it feasible.

The motion unanimously passed for a design option to be presented for an iconic venue with a fixed roof that would cover no less than 4,000 seats.

The structure may cost more than $16.4 million. With bonding, it could cost the city $8.79 million by the fifth year, Micah said.

However, that does not include naming rights for the venue.

The design for a bandshell or amphitheater has been in discussion for months.

"We are behind on our own time table," Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos said.

"Many of you criticized us because we haven't completed the park yet," he added.

"This is the next step and while it may not be what you want for one particular segment, that's not even 10 percent of the park that will be impacted," he said, asking the public to continue to work with them and when the project is completed it will be something everyone would be proud of.

During public comment residents to local business owners commented in both favor and opposition of the project.

One of the speakers was Dan Shouvlin, owner of the Clear Sky on Cleveland restaurant, who was in favor of the board's motion.

"Being a restaurant owner, people do come here and speak of events and book hotel rooms so yes, you have my support," he said, adding an example of past failures the city had experienced.

"We have a chance to turn things around, people from everywhere will come to see that venue," Shouvlin said.

"Think bigger, we can't afford to mess this up."

Meanwhile, the remainder of the park is slated to include a garden area with rolling hills, ropes and bridges that will connect people with nature, playgrounds, a splash pad and new developments for the City Hall and Harvorview building sites.