One New Hospital Is Announced As WC’s First Hospital Gets A New Name

A second hospital could be coming to Wesley Chapel .

Officials from BayCare Pasco, a newly created not-for-profit organization established to develop and operate a proposed new 60-bed acute care hospital, met with county planners about opening its first Wesley Chapel location on an 111-acre site in the northeast quadrant of the planned I-75 and Overpass Rd. intersection.

Prior to meeting with Pasco County, BayCare received preliminary approval for its application to build the new hospital. 

The BayCare location will be ideal for the thousands of homes being built in the neighboring “connected city” (which is already home to residents in the Epperson development) as well as future growth on the west side of I-75.

“We know that the demand for health care services will continue to increase in that (Wesley Chapel) community, and we’re eager to bring more of BayCare’s clinical excellence to residents in this area,” said Tommy Inzina, president and CEO of BayCare, in a statement.

While it operates 15 hospitals in Tampa Bay — BayCare also operates a HealthHub in the Publix in Hollybrook Plaza on S.R. 54 — this will be the company’s first hospital located in Wesley Chapel.

BayCare Pasco says the proposed hospital will be state-of-the-art and have 30 medical/surgical beds (all private rooms with bath and showers), including 18 progressive care/intensive care beds with full capabilities, including eICU (virtual) monitoring; and 12 women’s services beds, including postpartum obstetric beds and nursery capabilities; as well as 30 observation beds to accommodate patients who need to be assessed for next steps in care.

The proposal also says the hospital will have an emergency department with 30 ER beds and four operating rooms

IT’S OFFICIAL: All Florida Hospital facilities made it official on Jan. 1, becoming AdventHealth as part of what the healthcare giant is calling a “new consumer-centric brand launch.”

The announcement of the name change was made in August, and became official with the new year.

The former Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) is now AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC), one of 30 Advent Health hospitals and freestanding departments in Florida. 

Based in Altamonte Springs, the company’s hospitals and other facilities are all now displaying the new name.

“This is an exciting time as we elevate our ability to connect communities with our expanded network of care,” said Mike Schultz, president and CEO of Advent Health’s West Florida Division. “This name change reinforces our commitment to provide a viable, affordable health care system and to continue our unique brand of inspired, compassionate whole-person care through clinical expertise and leading-edge innovation.”

AHWC currently is the only hospital located in Wesley Chapel. It opened as FHWC in 2012, and it continues to expand. 

In 2017, a massive expansion was completed that doubled the number of operating and emergency rooms, while adding 62 private inpatient rooms.

The hospital most recently completed a $2.8-million women’s health center, called Inspiration Place (see ad on pg. 2 of this issue), in December of 2017, and earlier this year, opened a 24-bed offsite emergency department on S.R. 54 near the Suncoast Pkwy.

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel’s adjacent 50,000- square-foot Health & Wellness Center continues to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews from local residents.

AdventHealth recently met with Pasco County planners to propose an additional three-story medical office building and future parking garage on nearly nine acres off Legacy Blvd., adjacent to AHWC.

Sprouts Farmers Market Coming To New Tampa!

After years of anticipation, New Tampa is finally getting a green grocer.

Sprouts Farmers Market, a popular Phoenix-based food chain that offers more than 19,000 healthy products, of which 90 percent are natural or organic, is coming to The Villages of Hunter’s Lake project currently beginning construction on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. across the street from the Hunter’s Green community.

The Villages of Hunter’s Lake is being built on roughly 14 acres of land, and will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. Cultural Center, a four-story, 241-unit multi-family project called The Haven at Hunter’s Lake, a retail shopping strip center that will include a restaurant and a dog park.

But a new Sprouts store may end up being the jewel of the project, with all the requests over the years by residents for a green or specialty grocer.

Sprouts announced recently it was adding the New Tampa location, as well as others in Seminole and Stuart.

The nearest Sprouts to New Tampa is the first one ever built in Florida, in Carrollwood. There are five other locations in Florida, located on S. Dale Mabry in South Tampa, Valrico, Sarasota, Palm Harbor and Winter Park.

We’ll have more details in our story in the next issue of the New Tampa Neighborhood News, hitting mailboxes Jan. 25.


Freedom knocks off Wharton 51-49

TAMPA – Unlike early-December’s lopsided, 19-point Wharton victory, Friday night’s boys basketball matchup between Freedom and the Wildcats was a back-and-forth affair, fitting of the neighborhood rivalry atmosphere on display in the Patriots’ gym. 

Everything that went wrong in the first meeting for Freedom — an early deficit that steadily grew, slip-ups on defense and poor decision making — has disappeared since the Dec. 4 meeting. The Patriots responded with an eight-game win streak leading to the rematch, including a tournament victory in the Calvary Christian Shootout over the holiday break. 

Friday, they made it nine-straight. After four fourth quarter lead changes, Patriot senior Xavier Betancourt stepped back from a pair of defenders to create space and drained a three-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining to give the Patriots a 51-49 victory.

The win pulled Freedom into a first-place tie with Wharton in Class 8, District.

“The first time when we lost (to Wharton) we didn’t really play like ourselves,” Betancourt said. “We came in nervous because of how packed and loud their gym was; this time we were prepared and hungry inside, wanting to let everything out.” 

Freedom (12-1, 8-1 in 8A-8) drew the game to a late tie at 46-all as Kevin Rodriguez (game-high 17 points) drained a three-pointer.

Jasper Floyd shoots over a Freedom defender.

Then with under a minute to play, the last swing of momentum to go Wharton’s way came via an impressive Carr Thiam (nine points) rejection of a Freedom layup attempt under the basket, and a breakaway basket-and-1 from Salim Richardson.

However, Freedom and a boisterous home-court fanbase was not to be denied as Trevian Hinson converted a late foul into two free throws to pull Freedom within 49-48, and Betancourt finished the lead changes with his game-winning three-pointer. 

“We used that loss to Wharton as motivation since that game, just like we’ve been motivated by the good things that have happened since,” Freedom coach Ken Angel said. “Anytime we play Wharton, it’s an emotion-filled game. These guys are neighborhood buddies, they see each other all the time, and everyone wants to win this game when we play.” 

Wharton (11-3, 8-1) got a team-high 14 points from Darin Green, and Jasper Floyd had 11 points in the loss.

For more on the game, make sure you check out our story in the Jan. 25 edition of the Neighborhood News.

New Fire Station Set To Open; Plus, A Smoother Ride For New Tampa Blvd.

New Tampa’s new fire station is ready to go.

According to Jason Penny, the public information officer for the Tampa Fire Rescue department, the newly constructed Fire Station No. 23 just south of County Line Rd. should be fully functional and staffed sometime in January, though no official date has been set for the new station’s ribbon cutting.

“For all intent and purposes, it is done,” Penny said. “We’re just putting the finishes touches on it and waiting for the certificate of occupancy.”

  Everything assigned to Fire Station 23 has already been hard at work since July. The truck, fire engine, rescue car and crew are currently working at stations in Ybor City (No. 4), on Hillsborough Ave. (No. 12) and off N. 30th St. near Busch Gardens (No. 13).

Station No. 23 will be New Tampa’s fourth fire station, but the first new station in our area since 2012.

It is expected to ease the pressure on Stations No. 21 and No. 22, which are both located on Cross Creek Blvd. Fire Station No. 23 is located right down County Line Rd. from Grand Hampton, which has roughly 900 homes, as well as other still developing communities in the area.

Station 23 also will be home to a new District Fire Chief responsible for coordinating efforts between all of New Tampa’s stations — Nos. 21, 22, 23 and No. 20 in Tampa Palms.

Tampa Now Repaving Parts Of New Tampa Blvd 

Work began right before Christmas on smoothing over some of the trouble spots on New Tampa Blvd.’s bike and pedestrian trail that runs through the West Meadows community.

The pathway has faced criticism from local residents for years due to its cracked, bumpy and uneven surface that makes bike riding and even walking potentially dangerous.

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera was alerted to the poor condition of the path by a Hunter’s Green resident who often biked the path, and Viera says he was shocked when he went to take a look.

“I hadn’t been on it in a long time, to be honest, so I was a little struck by the disrepair,” Viera says. He adds that he called Jean Duncan at the City of Tampa Transportation and Stormwater Services Department to see if something could be done.

Originally scheduled for the spring, the project was moved up and began on Dec. 13, and was expected to be completed this month. While it doesn’t appear to be the complete renovation of the path that some had hoped for, the worst parts on the path have now been paved over by asphalt.