TAMPA

The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts has long been Tampa's showplace for music and theater, but now it wants to be the city's living room, too.

"We want it to be a gathering place," Straz president Judith Lisi said Tuesday, and not just for patrons with theater tickets.

To make that happen, the center is putting together a master plan for a range of new projects and enhancements designed to bring people to the Straz campus on the Hillsborough River.

Estimated cost: $65 million to $100 million. Fundraising would start after a feasibility study is done this year, and construction wouldn't begin until money is in hand.

The good news is that the Straz theaters themselves and their backstage operations were laid out well and are in good shape, so beyond some lighting and sound improvements, the core operations of the 29-year-old performing arts center don't need to be remodeled.

But the center's leadership says the outside of the theater — with its big expanses of concrete and hard right angles — could be made easier on the eye.

So potential changes include:

• A bigger, bolder entrance to the Straz campus near the Jaeb Theatre. Changes to the arrival plaza could include creating a corridor with a clear view all the way to the river.

• An iconic sculpture built on a platform in the river. It would be what people arriving at the Straz would see down that corridor from the entrance. They could walk out to the platform via a proposed extension of the Riverwalk. Straz executives hope it would be something like Sarasota's 26-foot-tall statue of a couple kissing at the end of World War II — a meeting spot and a backdrop for photos.

• A grand terrace on the river side of the Straz with more space for outdoor events.

• A new event pavilion with an eye-catching oval design, a riverfront restaurant and a performance hall with seating for 600 to 800 people. It would be at the southwest corner of the Straz campus, next to the foot of the Cass Street bridge, in an area that's now covered by shrubs and thus is not used by the public.

• A 10,000-square-foot expansion of the maxed-out Patel Conservatory for music, dance and theater, plus an expanded lobby.

"The current structure is all inward-looking," said Straz board chairman Gary Sasso, who three years ago led a conversation with local leaders on how to improve the Straz as a cultural attraction and point of pride for the city. "This is outward-reaching."

The Straz will soon seek a consultant to do a feasibility study that would explore potential sources of funding. That study could be completed by early 2017.

The city of Tampa owns the Straz building and rents it to the nonprofit organization that runs the performing arts center. Mayor Bob Buckhorn has been briefed on the plan and likes it.

"It's the right plan at the right time for the Straz," he said. "It maximizes the city's investment in the Riverwalk. Activates it. Energizes it."

But that doesn't mean he would commit taxpayer dollars to the project.

"I've told them from the beginning that my plate is full," he said. "This is going to have to be a largely private capital campaign."

Still, the center has a record of organizing successful, multiyear capital campaigns. It raised $33 million to create the Patel Conservatory in 2004. Straz leaders believe the state could provide a few million dollars over the course of a few years. Buckhorn's warning notwithstanding, the center also plans to explore any local funds or help that could be available.

"A patchwork quilt of funding," Lisi said. She expects fundraising to be the project's top challenge, followed by getting regulatory approvals for work in the river (early conversations with regulators have been encouraging, her staff says), phasing any construction so that it doesn't interfere with Straz performances, and securing adequate parking.

Gone from the plan is an idea discussed last year: underground parking. Too expensive, Straz administrators said.

"We do have a parking issue that's in search of a solution," Lisi said. "We don't have a good solution for it yet."

The Straz Center's plan isn't the only project proposed for the area, nor would it be the first to be built.

Next door, Miami-based American Land Ventures and Tampa developers Phillip Smith and Greg Minder plan to break ground this year on a 30-story tower with about 340 apartments and nearly 600 parking spaces.

First, however, the developers have to reconfigure Tyler and Cass streets to create the one-block footprint for the tower, and part of the street project will affect the Straz Center's entrance plaza. The road work is expected to occur this summer so that it won't conflict with the Straz Center's busiest season, said American Land Ventures CEO Granvil Tracy.

Once work on the tower starts, the $100 million-plus project is expected to take 24 months.

Contact Richard Danielson at rdanielson@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3403. Follow @Danielson_Times.