TAMPA - Centro Ybor has been an underachiever for so long that some may wonder whether it's time to bulldoze the whole center.

But its Chicago-based owner is preparing its biggest renovation since opening eight years ago, hoping to re-energize it as a retail-office complex.

M&J Wilkow Ltd. hopes to tear out 10 movie theaters and convert that space into loft-style offices. The work hasn't started yet, and M&J Wilkow is still trying to decide how much it can afford to do. But, already the company is showing its future office space to potential tenants.

"We're going after creative firms, engineering firms, advertising firms - the kind of people who are attracted to Ybor anyway," M&J Wilkow partner David Harvey said.

Among elements of the plan are:

•Changes to the theaters. Harvey acknowledged that the 20-theater Muvico complex has never been especially busy, so he is planning to tear out the 10 theaters on the east end of the theater complex. Some of the remaining theaters will be upgraded with plusher seating and a bar area.

•New office complex. The offices won't be for everyone. Because of their movie theater roots, they will have 32-foot-high ceilings, said the project's architect, Donald Whallen of Tampa's Architecture & Interior Design Collaborative. Some tenants might want to add a mezzanine level with stairs to take advantage of the high ceilings, he said.

•Grand entrance. The office area entrance would feature a 48-foot-high atrium with a skylight. Part of the rear building, which the former International Bazaar store formerly used, would be gutted to allow for roughly 30 parking spaces for office workers, Whallen said.

All told, about 40,000 square feet of the rear building's 195,000 square feet would be converted under the plan, Whallen said. The plaza's other three buildings, including the historic Centro Espanol, would not be affected.

Other recent changes at the center have included the opening of Teatro on Seventh, a New American restaurant started by two former Bernini employees, and the future opening of a French crepe restaurant.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.