St. Pete Times Forum Renovations

[Casey]

Yes, the coils are up and running. Very cool, especially with the arena lights dimmed in the pre-game. Great idea!

[John F]

While I can't say renovations of the West Plaza are over or not, I can say that the new stairwell entrance will e open to the public starting Thursday night (Bolts/Pens):

http://www.whosay.com/TBLightning/photos/93596

[TampaMike]

Not renovations related but, when has there been retail space on the ground floor of the Forum parking garage and why hasn't it been leased?

[Jasonhouse]

^It's been there since it was built. When I helped run that garage (among others) for the city a few years back, it used to drive me nuts.

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

^It's been there since it was built. When I helped run that garage (among others) for the city a few years back, it used to drive me nuts.

I honestly can't remember seeing it until yesterday. Or maybe I walked past it and thought it was just the bottom floor of parking and nothing else. But I can't believe it doesn't have a restaurant or something to show off the Lightning and Storm.

[Jasonhouse]

It's only ever been used for storage so far as I know. I don't understand why something can't go there. It's city owned, so why not lease it even part time? (during hockey season)

[TPAMAN]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

It's only even been used for storage so far as I know. I don't understand why something can't go there. It's city owned, so why not lease it even part time? (during hockey season)

If it's owned by the city, you would think they would offer very favorable pricing to stimulate some retail activity linking the convention center, garage, and forum. Maybe offer "x" amount of free rent to entice someone to move in???

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by TPAMAN

If it's owned by the city, you would think they would offer very favorable pricing to stimulate some retail activity linking the convention center, garage, and forum. Maybe offer "x" amount of free rent to entice someone to move in???

You would think....

[HARTride 2012]

Speaking of the garage...

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/...l-rnc-coverage

CNN to turn space inside Tampa's South Regional Parking Garage into its CNN Grill for RNC coverage

CNN plans to transform the first floor of the parking structure alongside the Tampa Bay Times Forum into its CNN Grill, a restaurant/bar/TV studio featuring its morning shows, special reports and a midnight telecast by Piers Morgan during the Republican National Convention.

The grill area, located inside the 1,450-space building officially known as the South Regional Garage, won't be where cars have been parked. A CNN spokeswoman says they'll use a storage area with windows looking out onto the plaza leading into the Forum.

"We looked at a lot of locations around the Tampa Bay Times Forum; literally, you have to pass the CNN Grill to get inside the forum," said Sam Feist, Washington D.C. bureau chief for CNN. "We really want to be as close as we can to the convention floor; it makes it an easy stopping place for the delegates as they come out of the convention or as they're going in...it will be both a place to eat and drink and a fully equipped broadcast center."

The cable channel has brought its CNN Grill concept to the political conventions since 2004; but in previous cases, they have taken over an existing eatery, added some CNN signage and converted the menu. That's what will happen in Charlotte, N.C. next month, when CNN takes over a Mexican cantina restaurant for its coverage of the Democratic party convention.

But in Tampa, CNN will build its grill from the ground up, converting an empty space into a home for its morning programs Early Start and Starting Point, as well as a midnight show featuring Morgan doing longform interviews and talks with political experts on the evening after each night of the convention.

New York restaurateur Danny Meyers' Union Square Hospitality Group will provide the food, and there will likely be more TV monitors and neon packed into the place than all but the biggest sports bars could contain.

"We will use the grill to spend time with Florida voters," Feist said. "We're going to bring in a group of undecided voters that we'll be visiting with throughout the week. At the end of the day, the political convention is really for the party faithful, but the people who decide this election will be undecided voters from a handful of states like Florida."

In the end, CNN hopes to turn its space into a hip hangout for notables at the convention; Feist still recalls fondly seeing then-presidential candidate John McCain's senior strategist Mark Salter - a guy known for blaming press bias for McCain's defeat in 2008 -- turn the CNN Grill into his hangout at the last RNC convention.

"In the middle of a campaign, the guy who is running the Republican nominee's campaign is a rock star," Feist said. "The delegates at that convention would have much rather spent time talking to Mark Salter than any Hollywood star, and you saw him every night...It's funny during a convention who the celebrities are."