Westshore Plaza Approved To Be Demolished And Redeveloped

It looks like Westshore Plaza is officially going to be demolished! If you are a local resident, you have definitely noticed the area changing over the years. Many businesses have moved out of the mall including Sears, Victoria Secret and many more. Walking through the mall now seems like it's a ghost town compared to how vibrant it used to be. Only a few stores and restaurants seem to be keeping the area alive but now what you see there currently will all be demolished.

After many tries, the Tampa City Council has approved an Ohio-based developer Washington Prime Group to come in to redevelop Westshore Plaza. This is going to be a massive project. The Westshore Plaza Redevelopment Masterplan looks absolutely beautiful, exciting residents and travelers all over. The Washington Prime Group filed for bankruptcy a while back and after adding more capital they were finally approved to redevelop the area. The land alone takes up 53 acres located at 250 Westshore Plz, Tampa, FL 33609. According to TampaTomorrow, everything has already been planned and approved. They will be knocking everything down except for Macy's and the adjacent parking lot.

In its place an all-new 90,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel, a med spa, and even a bus station. Plus there will be an addition of 2,000 residential units as well. They plan on making this a huge indoor/outdoor space that is completely walkable with available retail and office space for rent. There will also be plenty of recreational and restaurant space as well. Check out the new renderings below to see what it will look like in the future...

A lot of Tampa shopping areas are supposedly getting some renovations. Earlier this month we talked about the possibility of Britton Plaza being re-done. A lot of our listeners agreed it needs a "face lift" but the Radiant Church and newly upgraded Publix probably won't be going anywhere. We'll keep you updated on that project here.

If there's one thing we love it's a good movie! Whether you're from the area or new to the area, there have been several famous movies filmed in Tampa Bay. With our warm weather and beautiful beaches, it's easy to pick a perfect time to film. Many of these movies you've seen before or maybe there's one of two you need to check out.

Filming a movie can be extremely time-consuming. A lot of movie companies like to shoot in Florida because of the many incentive programs. Most of the counties in the state don't over-tax these movie companies which in turn helps with potential tourism. In general, it takes around 3-4 months to shoot a normal movie. We know there are going to be some movies missing from this list like Cop and a Half, Smokey and the Bandit 2, The Infiltrator, and a few others.

Although traveling down to the state can be an undertaking for a film crew, Tampa Bay offers so many different advantages. We looked up several movies on IMDB and there were a ton of them that we didn't know were shot in the Bay area, then ranked them based on personal opinions and their Rotten Tomato score.

If you didn’t know, Tampa ranks #2 on the list of Florida family vacations! Out of 400 towns in Florida a recent study looked at hotel prices, number of restaurants, and amusement parks. Florida is undeniably one of the best vacation destinations in the entire world.

There are tons of reasons why Florida continues to attract millions of visitors every year. From its stunning beaches, vibrant cities, and diverse wildlife there’s always something fun to do. They have thrilling theme parks and offer a wide range of attractions for anyone’s travel interests and preferences.

Florida features vibrant cities with a diverse cultural scene all over the place. Miami is mainly known for its lively nightlife but still offers a lot of family-friendly things to do. Tampa offers the Tampa Museum of Art and Florida Aquarium as fun places for the family to enjoy. Don’t forget about their energetic sports scene with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida is known for it's Spring Break life style! It's definitely a hot spot for Spring Breakers every year and this movie was shot in St.Petersburg in the James Franco movie, ‘Spring Breakers’. In the trailer you can also see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Coral Reef Motel, located between RumFish Beach Resort and TradeWinds Island Grand, was also displayed in the movie. It has many famous actors featured like Selena Gomez and Vanessa Higgins.

Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike showcases Tampa Bay and it's beautiful beach scenery. Channing who went to school in Tampa showed off the area in his successful movie as well as The Amphitheatre at Ybor City. The film is a loose portrayal of Tatum’s real life experience of being a male stripper. His character Chan Crawford worked in Tampa before making it big in Hollywood.

Did you know that Honeymoon Island was portrayed as Puerto Rico in the 2004 movie The Punisher? This movie starred Thomas Jane alongside of John Travolta and cost a total of $30 million to make. They created high speed chases on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, US 19 and even I275. It's a fun movie to watch!

Derby Lane located in St. Petersburg was used in the 2001 action-comedy Ocean’s Eleven. They hired a whopping 2,800 local residents as extras for the scene featuring Brad Pitt. This famous movie is a favorite for moviegoers. If you haven't seen it definitely check it out because you'll love it.

The 2011 Disney movie ‘Dolphin Tale’ was actually inspired by the true story! It's about Winter a dolphin that loses its tail and thankfully gets a prosthetic replacement. The movie had famous actors Harry Connick, Jr. and Ashley Judd and was a success. They filmed a lot of the movie in Clearwater Aquarium.

A classic movie! The 1990 film Edward Scissorhands was shot around the Dade City and Wesley Chapel area. Tim Burton featured Lutz in his movie with all the houses looking the same. As a matter of fact, you can take a tour of the house that was featured in the movie.

Ever been to Lowry Park Zoo? Well the 1990’s classic film ‘Goodfellas’ was filmed there. When actors Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro play mobsters that are asked to carry out a job in Tampa, a lot goes wrong. In a famous scene where they dangle an indebted gambler over the lion's den that was filmed at the zoo.