By B.C. MANION
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The show had a bit of everything: comedy, tragedy, a happy ending. Oh, and the Tate family of Davis Islands.

The five Tates were there, at the center of the pumped crowd enjoying a private screening of a premiere episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at Tampa Theatre.

It was the old cult fan flick “Rocky Horror Picture Show” - where audience members become part of the show - meets network TV.

This episode told the story of Tom and Cynthia Tate and their three children, Ryan, 21, Tommy, 15 and Loren, 11. And how they lost their home in a freak, tragic airplane crash June 12.

But it went beyond their loss. It peeked into their lives as a part of a tight-knit community and as a family - and what it meant to lose all that.

At times, the program had Cynthia laughing. At other times, crying. And sometimes, like many in the crowd, she was cheering.

WCI Communities, which built the Tates’ 3,400-square-foot home, held the screening to celebrate with the family and thank its crews and subcontractors for their work.

It was a posh affair, complete with Cuban sandwich spring rolls, seaweed and squid salad, skewers of vegetables, chicken and beef - all on buffets laden with food.

Before the episode, WFTS, ABC Action News did a live, one-hour broadcast from the theater. That got the audience revved for the main event. Not that it took any revving. When a reporter revealed that Ryan’s room had a University of Florida Gators theme, Ryan responded by doing the Gator chomp. That got the crowd chomping.

WCI employees appeared, and the crowd cheered. A familiar sight flickered up; more noise. A Tate did something funny; big laughs.

A few minutes into the program, the screen went blank. Groans. Someone had unplugged a cord. Juice restored, the party resumed.

Toward the end and the big “reveal,” the fans in plush seats joined those watching from the street three months ago in chanting “Move that bus.” Finally, the show’s signature bus, blocking the view of the Tates’ new home, rolled away.

Though showing the house and its contents in ruin, the program also had bright spots: a music video Loren’s friends made for her, Ryan’s reaction when he got a new truck, Tommy’s thrill at the sight of lockers salvaged from the fire.

The show covered every emotion for Cynthia, but after the screening, she said, the best thing of all was this: “We got to experience it with the people we love.”

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 259-7150.

By B.C. MANION, The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - She’s standing near the spot where she stood June 12, when she watched in horror through her living room window as a small airplane headed straight for her.

The room is a dining room now. It has a custom-built wooden table, hardwood floor and new, super-long couch. But Cynthia Tate still clearly sees the past.

It was raining hard and she was watching Doppler radar on TV when she heard a strange sound.

“It sounded like a missile. It was gone for a split second and then it was twice as loud.

“All of a sudden, in my window, in my view, was the airplane. It was coming right at me.”

The plane, which had been trying to land at nearby Peter O. Knight Airport, clipped a tree and veered.. It crashed into the yellow wood-frame house, between the sunroom and a bedroom.

It exploded in a blast of fire.

“You could smell and taste the fuel,” Cynthia remembers. “It was really hot. I felt like the air was on fire.”

She was home alone that day. Her husband, Tom, was working at Tate Brothers Pizza, a family business owned by his father and managed by Tom and his brother David.

The kids were gone, too. Ryan, 21, was at the Marines’ Camp Lejeune, having returned from military service in Iraq. Fifteen-year-old Tommy was at lacrosse camp at Johns Hopkins University. And Loren, 11, was down the street at a friend’s house.

Cynthia’s first thought was for whoever was in that plane.

“I thought, ‘I’ve got to show them how to get out of my house,’ but nobody was coming,” she says. As the heat grew more intense, she realized she had to save herself. “I started yelling, ‘I can’t help you. I can’t help you.’

“That’s when an angel came into the room and said, ‘Time to go.’”

When she emerged outside, she realized she’d left behind Vinny, Jack, Klia and Onyx, the family’s two dogs and two cats. It was too hot to go back for them.

A House Destroyed

A couple of days passed before the plane wreckage was removed and the family allowed to look inside.

Mold was already creeping up the walls and along the furniture. Every room had a burned-out ceiling and a hole in the roof above. Most of the family’s belongings were either ash, melted or soaked in jet fuel or water.

Cynthia’s cell phone, keys and driver’s license had melted onto the kitchen’s Corian countertop.

Tommy’s TV set had survived - but was stolen. So was the steering wheel from the family’s burned-out van. The Tates caught someone trying to take aluminum from the window frames.

Family photos, little gifts the children had made when they were younger, and the Legos and Beanie Babies that Cynthia and Tom were saving for future grandchildren - all destroyed.

The animals had all perished.

As overwhelming as their losses seemed, the Tates faced yet another. Their home was not insured. They might never have the money to rebuild in Davis Islands, the community where they’d lived and worked for 14 years. A community they love.

“Our coverage was lapsed,” Tom Tate says. “There are some questions as to why.”

It happened after the mortgage was refinanced.

Things began to take a turn for the better when a family friend nominated the Tates for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

On the morning of Jan. 7, a film crew rolled up to the house in Ballast Point where the Tates were staying with friends.

“Good morning, Tate family,” celebrity designer Ty Pennington called through a megaphone.

The family knew what the show’s signature line meant: They were going on vacation, and when they returned a week later, they’d have a new house.

While the Tates zip-lined over the rain forest of Costa Rica, painted gourds with tribespeople and visited a pineapple plantation, WCI Communities Inc. and an army of subcontractors went to work.

And the cameras rolled.

By Jan. 14, a 3,400-square-foot home filled with furniture and accessories sat at 629 E. Davis Blvd. The “Extreme Makeover” episode detailing the project aired Sunday night.

Designers Thought Of Everything

Some of the most special things in the house are not new.

Two chairs in the great room were rebuilt from four damaged in the fire. The original set of six once belonged to Tom’s parents.

A brass chest in the front room was cleaned and repaired, though it still bears reminders of the past. Open its drawers and the scent of smoke escapes.

Upstairs, in the couple’s bedroom, there’s a new copy of Cynthia’s 1979 Charlotte High School yearbook. There are restored wedding photos and a portrait of Ryan in his dress uniform.

There’s also an album of photographs taken of the Tates through the years. The “Extreme Makeover” folks collected them during a pizza party at the family shop: Bring a picture, get pizza.

And there’s an album of some of the family’s new memories, a collection of photos from their Costa Rica vacation.

In front of the house, a stone memorializes pilot Steve Huisman, who died in the crash, and co-pilot Sean Launder, who was burned but survived.

Those weren’t the only extreme details. The kitchen cupboards were stocked with pots and pans, Fiesta Ware, glasses, silverware. The pantry, refrigerator and freezer were loaded with food.

“They did basic things. Pasta. Butter. Lots of bread. Peanut butter and jelly. Yogurt.,” Cynthia says.

“The funniest thing was the frozen pizzas. That cracked us up.”

And, Of Course, The Big Stuff

The house itself is a marvel as well in its attention to detail.

Faux cypress beams grace the ceilings in the dining room, kitchen and great room.

Archways lead to the kitchen, which has black granite countertops, a bricked arch over the stove and an island where people can draw up a stool for a quick bite. One of Cynthia’s favorite features is the kitchen drawers. They don’t slam; they glide.

The great room is set up to host a crowd for movie- or game-watching on the big-screen, high-definition TV. A laundry room sports luxurious granite countertops, and the downstairs half-bath has sparkling blue glass mosaic tiles.

Tommy’s room, also downstairs, offers a cool hangout. Fourteen skateboards deck the walls, and a drum set invites visitors to try their hand.

In Loren’s room, she’s a star. Large black-and-white photographs of her decorate one wall. There’s a large, lighted makeup mirror, a stage with a microphone and a drop-down projector, too.

And both kids get their own bathrooms.

A wooden staircase with distinctive imported tile risers leads to the second floor and Tom and Cynthia’s bedroom. Cynthia loves the second-story balcony overlooking the home’s courtyard and offering a glimpse of cruise ships passing by.

A king-sized bed with an upholstered headboard, elegant side lights and massive bathroom with a sunken tub and walk-in shower are other highlights of the master bed and bath.

Outside, Tom likes the porch that wraps the house from front to back. An outdoor fireplace and small courtyard pool - good either for a dip or a fountain feature - are other surprises.

Across the courtyard from the house is the pool house, where Ryan lives when he’s home from school at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville. Honorably discharged from the Marines, he hopes to enter the University of Florida in the fall.

He has a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Designed by Pennington, the bedroom salutes Ryan’s stint in Iraq and plays on his passion for the Gators.

There are gators painted in camouflage colors, orange dressers and a framed Gator jersey signed by Coach Urban Meyer.

A New Beginning

Despite everything that’s happened, Cynthia says she often thinks of the events of June 12.

“I have to remember that. It just shows me how blessed I am - not because of all this [but because] I’m here. I could have lost my life that day.

“You don’t realize how blessed you are, until something like this has happened,” she says. “You look at the people who care about you and you know it’s all going to be OK.”

She’s still getting used to the fact that she has a new home and that she can put things away in their permanent places.

Tom remembers the feeling he got when he first walked through the new front door. He was struck by its heft and strength.

“You don’t think about a front door, but it sets the whole tone,” he says. “You open the door, you walk in, it’s like a whole new beginning.”

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 259-7150 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

By B.C. MANION, The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - When millions tune in to ‘’Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’’ on Sunday night, Bay area fans will finally get to see inside the Tate family’s new home on Davis Islands.

That includes $75,000 in furniture and accessories provided by Boyles Distinctive Furniture of Conover, N.C. The company has showrooms in North Carolina and South Carolina and ships internationally.

The Tate home was the second furnished by the company for the ABC reality show. The first was in Raleigh.

Boyles learned from that experience to send more than enough pieces - better to send some back to the showroom than to run out of time and furniture, says Dean Thompson, director of marketing.

The one-week start-to-finish construction and decorating schedule leaves no time for error. Ty Pennington and his “Extreme Makeover” crew worked around the clock in January to build and furnish the 3,400-square-foot Spanish Eclectic house.

Here’s a peek at some of the pieces you’ll see when the show airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

File Photo

By B.C. MANION
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Smoke drifts from the Tate family’s charred house on Davis Islands as firefighters douse it with water in the opening scenes of a short TV report produced by City of Tampa Television.

> Browse Photos

At the end of the show, Tom and Cynthia Tate and their children, Ryan, Tommy and Loren, are reacting to the 3,400-square-foot Spanish Eclectic home built for them by “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” ABC’s hit reality television show.

“Rebounding From Tragedy: A Davis Islands Makeover” debuts at 6 p.m. Saturday on CTTV.

The show, which lasts about 15 minutes, recounts the June 12 airplane accident that destroyed the Tates’ home and provides a glimpse into what it took to get a house built in seven days. Viewers see the old house coming down and the new one going up, and hear interviews with the people who made it happen and people who watched on the sidelines.

> Tell Us: Will you be watching?

It gives a sense of the horror that people experienced when the plane struck the Tates’ home and the joy the family and their friends felt when the new house was revealed on Jan. 14.

ABC plans to air the episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on March 4.

As the film begins, you see firefighters at work and hear the sounds of calls coming into in to the dispatcher.

“A plane just came in and crashed at the end of the runway,” one caller says. “The whole entire house is in flames,” says another.

Photo Gallery

“It was far beyond a normal day at Tampa Station 17,” firefighter Skeeter Thomas tells the filmmaker.

Chris Philips, who directed and produced the film for the city, had just finished lunch at Tate Brothers Pizza when the plane crashed. He saw a plume of smoke and decided to go see what it was.

“I saw a tail fin sticking out of the side of the house,” says Philips, an assistant television producer for the city.

He knew the firefighters’ efforts would make good footage, so he called in to his bosses and took off to get his gear.

The film would prove invaluable months later when Philips set about documenting Tampa’s weeklong home-building party. The city’s police, public works, transportation, solid waste, parks and recreation, and building and zoning departments all played a role, says Santiago Corrada, the city’s administrator of neighborhood services.

Besides coordinating their efforts, city staffers had to be discreet. They kept the secret that “Extreme Makeover” was coming, while holding meetings behind the scenes to prepare, Corrada says.

The Tampa Bay Film Commission worked behind the scenes for weeks, lining up everything from city services to connections for port-o-potties for “Extreme Makeover.” They Members also suggested good locations for great “beauty shots” of Tampa.

The CTTV program includes interviews with Tim Oak of WCI Communities Inc., the builder on the job; Paige Hemmis, a designer from “Extreme Makeover”; and Mayor Pam Iorio.

Philips, who grew up on Davis Islands, has a personal connection to the Tates. He worked at Tate Brothers Pizza while he was in college.

“They’re a great family,” he says of Tom, who works at the pizza parlor, and Cynthia, who owns a small hair salon.

“They’re both small-business owners They both “have worked very hard to have what they have,” he says.

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 259-7150 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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