The Tavares City Council this week chose a location in the downtown area for a new performing arts center, library and parking garage.
The council voted Wednesday to put the complex on several acres behind City Hall, running along East Maud Street. The decision does not mean that it will be built. It simply identifies the location and allows the city to continue studying the proposal with an eye toward a final vote on the project sometime next year.
At first glance, the site does not look large enough for such an ambitious collection of buildings, but City Administrator John Drury said there is ample room for all three.
Under the proposal, a three story parking garage would sit at the corner of East Maud Street and North St. Clair Abrams Avenue. A new, expanded library would be immediately to the west and the performing arts center would be immediately to the west of the library in an area now occupied by North Rockingham Avenue and the city parking lot behind Brü Tap House.
The actual size of the three buildings has yet to be determined, Drury said. That will happen in phase two, when a private consultant recommends the features of each building, including the number of seats for the performing arts center.
The seating for the center, as well as whether it will offer features like rising stages, balconies and more, will be determined by surveying other performing arts centers in Central Florida to determine what works and is needed.
The consultant is expected to bring back a full plan in about three months, Drury said.
Tavares Mayor Lori Pfister likes the location the council chose because it allows for all three buildings to be built, and visitors can come and go without driving on Main Street. That’s important, she said, because the city is trying to keep Main Street and the rest of its entertainment district pedestrian friendly.
The performing arts center plan is part of a grander, long-range effort to revitalize a downtown area that wilted more than a generation ago as shops and stores migrated to plazas along U.S. 441.
About eight years ago, the City Council approved a master plan that called for significant investment in the downtown to energize the area and attract new businesses and traffic.
Among the projects it has undertaken, the city council rebranded itself as America’s Seaplane City and created a seaplane base in the downtown area. Many of the city’s new aesthetic and recreational amenities play off that theme, including its signage and even its new children’s splash park.
The council also invested in a new train station to serve the local train attraction, and they commissioned the creation of the Pavilion on the Lake, a handsome waterfront venue that instantly became a high-demand destination for weddings, banquets and public gatherings.
The strategy seems to be paying dividends; sleek new restaurants, condominiums and apartments have been taking root along and around Main Street.
“The master plan basically says Tavares was once Anytown U.S.A., a town you come to to go to court or go to jail, and this will no longer be a town that you circumvent,” Drury said.
“Every time the city invested in itself, the private sector invested in the city,” he added.
Pfister agreed, and she believes the performing arts center is the next logical addition.
“Our downtown has become very vibrant. People love to come. You have restaurants, you have bands, there is life,” she said. “We have all the ingredients for a small-town destination except arts and culture. We’re lacking in that, but this addresses it.”