Big Change Coming to Spanish Springs!
 

Looks like you can kiss goodbye the Rialto Theater at Spanish Springs. The Villages will soon announce a big change for this area. Video is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxLM0s-tfvY

No provenance on the "discussion", so can anyone provide more sources for what is "claimed".

Not going to believe until my hair dresser says so.

Rumors, Rumors, Rumors.

:faint:

Not Rumors!!!
My barber told ME!!:jester::jester:

The Rialto is not staying closed forever and would not be surprised if this does happen.

I would NOT be surprised either.

If they can sort the parking out for all the proposed apartments, can't see the problem.
The Health Club seems a better idea for the old movie theater than a boarded up albatross.
Breathe new life into the square during the day.
The evenings will take care of themselves.

If it's true, I think it's a great idea. They have a dedicated parking lot in the back that can be gated off for residents only, they have a rear entrance into the building and a circular driveway back there, they could easily add some amenities (like a billiard room and community meeting room, card room, craft room etc) on the front of the second floor, which would mean noise reduction for everyone else in the building. The new gym in the theatre building is also a great idea, I've said so before.

If true, I'd applaud it. And once that's done, THEN they could maybe add some apartments to the Katie Belle building, but they'd need to section off reserved parking for residents in the back lot. Maybe off to the side in the back lot between Farmshed and the back of the bowling alley. With a reserved code-access covered carport for golf carts.

Certainly you can trust a guy that goes by the name son of Ma Barker.

Fred Barker- Ma Barker's youngest son if alive would be 121 yrs old this year. However Fred died along with Ma in a shootout with the FBI in 1935 at a camp a few doors down from Gator Joe's on Lake Weir. The bullet ridden house has been moved to Carney Island Park on Lake Weir in recent years for all to enjoy.

Time will tell.

Thinking the family always keeps plans to themselves until they choose to release info, why would they choose to announce through utube.

If this person is one of the contractors employees, guessing they would be toast.

However it has been discussed on TOTV more than once for awhile that the theater may be renovated into something else. So the utuber, May just be like many on this site, Just Guessing

Some Videos on his YouTube site, I’ve seen in TOTV……

I heard through a guy at my sub shop that his uncle knows a guy that said Katie Belle's is moving south of 44. He was told that if you buy a new house in a new section you get 25% all food items on Wednesday. Seems legit.....

Like the crop circles video on his site? I heard that the developer was able to purchase the land on the other side of the Turnpike cheap, because the farmers down there were spooked by crop circles. Maybe soon, we'll be hearing about old people buying TV houses down there - going for UFO rides? lol

The YouTube video was filmed by Goldwingnut, Don Wiley. He has a been a very reliable source of TV info. I will be surprised if it is not true.

The video linked in the op is not from Don Wiley. It’s from Sonofmabarker who is Ira Miller, a local real estate agent.

Really?
Didn't sound like him, and film work seems nowhere as professional as GWN.

WOW The voice sounds just like Don Wiley.

How will moving the health club over to a different building breath new life into the square during the day? Inquiring minds want to know?

I wouldn’t be against it if all the new apartments didn’t have amenity rights.

Get a new hearing aid, not even close to Don's voice or his manner of speaking.

MVP was bought out by Genesis so who knows but the existing building may be more suitable for apartments and part of the deal would be moving to the theatre. Just spitballing here. Genesis bought MVP Brownwood also

And there goes the parking spots on the second of the 4 sides of the square.

If as speculated in the film the old health club premises are turned into more shops, and with residents above, more people shopping and coming and going will increase daily footfall around the square. Plus ascetically, the square will look a little more attractive without the hoarding around the theater.
Whole place needs a face lift.
As for amenity rights.
If someone is paying an amenity fee for each apartment, why shouldn't residents have full amenity access?

There empty building space, why they want use some unused space into apartments. Over priced speciality stores won’t last IMO. LSL good example. Empty space.

Amenities rights? IMO As long as go to district and not developers, why? Cause the developers sold out amenities to districts 20 years ago.

Owning an apartment on Spanish Springs Square would be like owning a house with a lanai that is next to a pickle ball court. The developer will supply earplugs for the life of the bond...:)

The Developer will be owning, so you can stop worrying.

The thing about -that- building, is that there's enough room for a pool on the ground floor. They can have their own amenities.

And if they do, they could pay that amenity fee and be connected to the rest of the Villages amenities system (because village residents, in turn, would have access to the ones in their building as well). The people living over the old Katie Belle's building would also have access to those amenities - which would mean they wouldn't feel like they're stuck using only the sports pool or driving down Del Mar to get to the other pool off that end.

It'd make for a great temporary visit option for the Villages Real Estate, for folks who are interested in living in the northern, already fully developed and mature area, and don't want new construction. They can rent for a week or two (just like with the lifestyle visits but specifically intended for northern re-sales), get a golf cart, a guest pass, pool access, rec access, etc. Fully furnished. They'd get a slice of the Villages experience, and they'd be staying in a centrally located building that's right smack dab in the middle of the town square.

IN FACT (now that I think of it):

A hotel-style apartment short-term rental that's owned, operated, and directed by the Villages Real Estate for the purpose of attracting folks to buy re-sales in the northern half of the community...

Could be an amazing opportunity for VRE. Plus it keeps the short-term tenants out of established neighborhoods, meaning - you won't see a bunch of ne'er do wells trashing your neighbor's house just because they're only there for a week and want a cheap vacation. Could do rentals from 4 day minimum up to 15 day maximum. A gate pass coded for that building would get them their parking space and entry to the indoor pool room and other building-exclusive amenities. And again - if they add those 7 apartments over Katie Belle's they'd get access to the amenities in that building as well.

oh, You~! :icon_wink:

no matter what they build, i get the feeling it won't satisfy a certain group unless it's constructed around a lavish katie-belle's

EXCELLENT post :popcorn:

Simple answer, the area was fully built out over 20 years ago and the existing amenities were designed and sized for that population. The existing amenities in that area are already overcrowded and at best barely support the existing population, especially the nearby sports pool and executive courses. Adding more residential units with amenity rights, without any correspondingly increasing the amenities, is not in any way in the best interests of the existing residents of the area. The AAC really dropped the ball by granting amenity rights to approximately 150 additional residential units in an already mature area without any increase in available amenities. If the apartment dwellers didn’t have amenity rights and weren’t planning to use the amenities, they wouldn’t have to pay the fees so they would be happy. If they don’t want to buy without amenity rights, that means they plan on using the already overcrowded amenities, which is bad for existing residents. The job of the AAC is to look out for existing residents, and they clearly dropped the ball (no doubt under pressure from a very powerful outside party) by granting the additional amenity rights.

Are you saying since I don’t live in that area I can’t use the executive courses.. BTW never a problem getting a tee time near Spanish Springs. Much ado about nothing!

Well said. The comment that you responded to was off target.

???? Where was it stated that any Villager with amenity rights couldn’t use any executive course, regardless of location? And if someone wants to say that a comment is off target, please explain what comment you are referring to and why you feel it’s off target.

You said , executive courses were overcrowded.

Forcing us to buy new below 44?
 

Down grading hacienda country club and spanish springs feels like the villages OWNER is Forcing us to buy new below 44?

Overbuilding the amenities starts to make this less appealing maybe look at north Dallas again - Texas is awesome

If they pay amenity fees, I don't see a problem.

In the video the narrator mentioned that he was hoping that the theater would be modernized and made more comfortable for the patrons.
I unfortunately think movie theaters, like the drive-in will start disappearing in the near future.
It will come down to a profit issue. Many theaters main income was popcorn and candy, not the movies themselves.
Producer have also found that they can make money streaming their product without the hassle of distribution and piracy.
There are films today that were slated to go to theaters that have been diverted to the home screen. Though they make might make less per family, they increase comes by the number of families that would probably have never gone to the theater in the first place.
Today many people would prefer to watch a new release on their smaller screen in their underwear than go to a theater and depending on the size of their family it is a lot less expensive.

In the video the narrator mentioned that he was hoping that the theater would be modernized and made more comfortable for the patrons.
I unfortunately think movie theaters, like the drive-in will start disappearing in the near future.
It will come down to a profit issue. Many theaters main income was popcorn and candy, not the movies themselves.
Producer have also found that they can make money streaming their product without the hassle of distribution and piracy.
There are films today that were slated to go to theaters that have been diverted to the home screen. Though they make might make less per family, they increase comes by the number of families that would probably have never gone to the theater in the first place.
Today many people would prefer to watch a new release on their smaller screen in their underwear than go to a theater and depending on the size of their family it is a lot less expensive.