James & Olga Frank of Coffee Latitudes Café. (Photos by Charmaine George)
We told you in our June issue that the owners of the Coffee Latitudes kiosk in the Shops at Wiregrass were planning to open the Coffee Latitudes Coffee Café & Wine Bar in the former location of Juice Factory (at 6431 E. County Line Rd., Suite 110, next to Max’s Pets).
Well, owners James and Olga Frank of Coffee Latitudes opened the brick-&-mortar location earlier this month and not only do they feature the all-organic, house-roasted, delicious coffee you grew to love at the mall (and at events like the monthly Market Elaine at The Grove), but also fresh sandwiches, baked goods and more — and the early reviews have been excellent.
Coffee Latitudes’ Deluxe Egg Sandwich.
James, who has culinary training and has previously owned other restaurants (including the Café Liberty on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. and Caffe Connection in Spring Hill), has brought those skills to this super-cute new café with delicious “Deluxe” bacon (or ham), egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches, as well as house-baked bagels imported from New York, flaky fresh-baked croissants and mini-waffles with syrup for breakfast.
For lunch, try “The Giacomo” Italian sub, chicken Caesar wrap or salad, “Not Your Mama’s Tuna” and “Turkey Do.” sandwich (with turkey breast, bacon, avocado and James’ own spicy Spartacus sauce) or grilled cheese (with bacon, ham or tomato), plus rotating fresh soups — Jannah recommends the creamy tomato bisque when it’s available.
Save room for dessert, as items like NY crumb cake, cinnamon rolls and bread pudding are house-made. Or, try a delicious fresh fruit cup with homemade marscapone cannoli cream (the cream also is served with crisp cannoli chips) and so much more.
But, considering that James has been home-roasting that delicious Coffee Latitudes coffee for 30 + years, you definitely need to try a cup.
“Ask what country we are brewing today when you do,” James says, with Guatemalan, Nicaraguan and Indonesian roasts served the days we’ve visited. There’s also cappuccino, hot or iced lattes and Chai lattes, Matcha green and other assorted teas, as well as tasty flavored hot chocolate (right). And, Olga and James say they should also be selling wine in 6-8 weeks.
“Once we get the cafe menu perfect, we’ll be adding unique wines,” James says.
Visit CoffeeLatitudes.com or call (813) 575-8000 for more info. Or, just stop in and please tell James and Olga I sent you.— GN
The “Turkey Do” sandwich has sliced turkey, avocado & a kick.Hhouse-made NY crumb cake (left), bread pudding & fresh fruit cup.
Grand Hampton residents hail the new traffic light as a much-needed safety improvement; while others complain about its timing.
The map shows the new traffic signal at the main entrance to the Grand Hampton community on County Line Rd., the location of the Grand Hampton back gate & the existing traffic signals at Northwood Palms Blvd., Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., Imperial Oak (IO) Blvd. & Aronwood Blvd. (Google map modified by NN)
Back in the spring of 2004, left and right turn lanes were constructed on County Line Rd, leading into the then-brand-new, 600-acre community of Grand Hampton. Even back then, news reports talked about the delays and “bothersome” lane closures along County Line Rd to accommodate these changes, and the “rapid growth” of the area was causing inconvenience for a few long-time locals. Sounds like some things never change, right?
Well, some 20 years later, the residents of Grand Hampton (which today has a little more than 1,000 homes) got something new out front on County Line Rd. — a traffic signal. The signal was recently constructed, and then put into full operation on July 30. The county put it in “flash mode” for a week prior, and put up temporary electronic signs to alert motorists to the change in the traffic pattern.
When the new signal became fully operational, some local residents on social media expressed their frustration with it — citing long initial backups. Others, especially people living in Grand Hampton, countered that they saw the new signal as a necessary safety improvement and defended the county’s decision to put one up at that location.
Several local residents said that there have been serious crashes at that intersection over the years, and with the growing population in the new and existing communities along County Line Rd., including Woodside Trace and Belle Chase (see map), plus The Hammocks townhomes and the North Tampa Christian Academy and Creative Times Academy of Wesley Chapel, that risk would just continue to grow with an increasing number of cars passing the intersection everyday.
Why NOW?
A signal was first installed less than a mile down the street at Northwood Palms Blvd., at the entrance to the Northwood community (in early 2015), which helped in the interim, because when that signal turned green for the Northwood side street, it would create some gaps in the westbound traffic in front of Grand Hampton.
That was important, because in order to find a gap to make a left turn out into traffic at the Grand Hampton Dr. entrance to the community, both the east and west approaches have to be clear at the same time, and that can be challenging and tricky for motorists to safely judge on a busy two-lane “rural” road. That’s why the engineering signal warrants for a two-lane undivided road are traditionally lower, than say for a four-lane divided road that might have a median opening cars can pull into, pause, and check if the other direction is clear is safely proceed.
As more support businesses have been getting constructed to the west, including places like the Tampa Premium Outlets, Costco, Aldi, etc., residents began making more lefts out at Grand Hampton Dr. than they used to, gradually changing the traffic pattern over time, reducing the effectiveness of the “down stream” signal at Northwood Palms Dr. to provide relief. This also increased the through volumes on County Line Rd.
Traffic does back up on County Line Rd. at the new Grand Hampton Signal. (Photo by Charmaine George)
In 2018, in an effort to try and help make it a little easier to get out of Grand Hampton, the county reduced the speed limit along the corridor from 55 miles per hour to 45 mph. This was around the same time that the North Tampa Christian Academy finished construction.
But, even with those improvements, the corridor still retained its original high speed rural characteristic; as a two-lane undivided road with narrow lanes, no shoulders, no curb and gutter and, most critically, no sidewalks or bike lanes. Unfortunately, because the road still “felt” the same, speeds stayed on the higher side, and even though it’s been six years, some online commenters joked (at least we hope they were joking) that they didn’t even know the speed limit was ever reduced to 45 mph.
Accordingly, those who live in Grand Hampton had been reaching out to Hillsborough County for years about adding a signal for themselves, due to growing and continual concerns. And in his June 10 town hall meeting at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (as we reported in our June 25 New Tampa issue), County Commissioner Ken Hagan said he was pleased that he was able to get funding for that need and mentioned that construction (of the now active signal) would be completed at the end of June.
Although County Line Rd. serves both Pasco County and Hillsborough, any issues or problems with the new signal can be reported to Hillsborough County, the entity that is responsible for monitoring and adjusting the signal’s timing and detection.
The chart above shows the letter grades received by all eleven public schools located in New Tampa after both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
As the 2024-25 School Year gets under way, schools are learning how they fared last year, according to state measurements.
The Florida Department of Education (FDoE) released school grades for the 2023-24 school year on July 24, assigning a “B” grade for Hillsborough County Schools as a whole. Hillsborough has maintained a B rating since 2016.
All of New Tampa’s schools earned either an A, B, or C grade.
While eight of the 11 New Tampa public schools maintained the same grade as last year, Liberty Middle School improved from a B to an A. Two schools dropped a letter grade, with both Heritage and Tampa Palms Elementary (TPE) schools moving from an A to a B.
TPE principal Angela Gluth explained the disappointing letter grade change.
“While we look forward to the results of state testing, we were disappointed to have missed an A grade by 1 percentage point,” she says. “However, the scores that make up the state grade do not fully represent the growth and progress we have seen our students make throughout the course of the school year.”
She explains that TPE actually showed gains in proficiency for math students in grades 3-5 and also in 5th grade science, when compared with the previous school year. She says the school also, “celebrates the growth of student learners in primary grades, which are not reflected in the school grade report.”
Gluth adds, “We are excited to start this new school year and can’t wait to build on the achievements our students have made.”
Five New Tampa schools maintained their A status, including Benito Middle School, Chiles Elementary, Clark Elementary, Hunter’s Green Elementary and Pride Elementary.
Benito’s history of As goes all the way back to 2002.
Principal Brent Williams says it’s definitely a team effort that helps create such consistently excellent performance.
“I’m extremely proud of the kids,” he says, “and we also have an awesome staff here. They work extremely hard and we always try to provide opportunities for kids to think outside the box and make school fun.”
Williams says a new opportunity for student growth this year is that Benito is now a Cambridge Lower Secondary School. This is an affiliation that already had been established at Liberty.
The Cambridge Lower Secondary designation helps prepare students to take Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) courses in high school. Upon completion of an AICE diploma, which is offered at both of New Tampa’s high schools, a student receives a Florida Bright Futures scholarship, which can pay for up to 100% of college tuition.
Williams says the hard work of teachers and students at Benito, and the support of families, is what helps the school continue to grow and improve every year.
Hillsborough County Superintendent of Schools Van Ayres echoes this sentiment in a statement about school grades.
“We couldn’t have done this without the Hillsborough County community,” he says. “We are excited with our momentum and are ready for the new year to start so we can continue our work.”
The friendly, professional staff at Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort includes (l.-r) Gabi Diaz (guest relations), esthetician & brow artist Lorena Muñoz, esthetician Cassidy Sirmans, spa director & esthetician Kyymara Rosey Scott, esthetician Makya Kendrick & senior spa coordinator Valeria Medina. (Photo by Charmaine George)
There are only a handful of true resort spas in the Tampa Bay area, icons such as Safety Harbor Resort & Spa and Innisbrook. Guests staying at these spas are in for much more than a quick massage or facial at a strip mall. Instead, they experience a true resort where they can relax by the pool, eat lunch on the terrazzo and get away for complete rejuvenation.
Now, Wesley Chapel’s only resort spa is open once again at Saddlebrook Resort, thanks to Kyymara Rosey Scott, owner of Esthetics813.
After the Saddlebrook spa closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it sat motionless for almost four years. That was until September of last year, when Kyymara reopened the 7,000-sq.-ft.. space, now known as Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook, located at 5700 Saddlebrook Way, a short drive from S.R. 54 near Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. through the Saddlebrook neighborhood.
Local residents and resort guests alike can experience a variety of luxurious spa services, including massages, facials, skin treatments, waxing, microdermabrasion, brow sculpting, spray tans and more in one of the spa’s 14 treatment rooms.
Indulge yourself with a luxurious spa facial!
“We’ve been able to make the spa super cozy and intimate,” says Kyymara. “Every person who works here knows the clients come first. We stay on top of our game as far as how we make people feel, helping them improve themselves esthetically, and how they feel inside.”
She says that in addition to spa treatments, she also offers workshops and events to help people truly experience wellness. “It’s not just applying lipstick,” she says. “It’s everything, feeling whole on the inside and the outside.”
Kyymara explains the spa’s slogan, “Look Great Bare-Faced Naked.”
“When you’re not wearing makeup, you don’t have to put up walls and barriers and filters,” she says. “Who you are is enough to make you great.”
Often, she says, guests look in the mirror after a treatment and say, “What did you do? I look so beautiful!”
But Kyymara insists all she does at the spa is reveal someone’s natural beauty. “This is you,” she says. “That glow is your happiness.”
The Move To A New Location
Kyymara opening her original location of Esthetics813 in the Windfair Professional Center in Wesley Chapel in 2013. As her business grew, she needed a larger space and, in 2019, Esthetics813 moved to a storefront on BBD at County Line Rd.
Just a few months later, she had to close the doors and wait out the pandemic.
Although she was able to reopen Esthetics813, Saddlebrook struggled to do the same. Kyymara had had her eye on the resort and knew that if anyone could make the most of the spa’s potential, it was her.
Walking into that long-dormant space was emotional for Kyymara.
Relax with a glass of champagne at the spa’s outdoor area.
“It was like going into a museum,” she explained. “Everything was the way it was when they told them to close. There were rooms with bowls set up for facials and manicure materials that had sat there for four years.”
She was thrilled when she was able to come to an agreement with Saddlebrook to reopen Esthetics813 at the resort, which finally happened in September of last year, after months of updating and refreshing the space.
Although Kyymara was originally hoping to keep the location on BBD open, she ended up closing it, acknowledging it was too hard for her personally to run both locations.
She says the Saddlebrook location offers much more for her guests anyway.
“In terms of space and privacy, it’s totally different,” Kyymara says. “We have different types of saunas and a wet room where we can do true body scrubs and wraps. I can give my guests everything they need in terms of wellness — massages, body scrubs, facials and more — whether they come in for an hour or the whole day. It’s so versatile.”
The staff includes senior spa coordinator, Valeria Medina, and spa manager, Arely Rosas, plus four massage therapists, four estheticians — including one who specializes in both makeup and permanent brow makeup, a manicurist and a cosmetologist.
While Kyymara’s husband, Kurt Wickiser, isn’t technically on staff, she says he is hugely supportive of the business, including serving as the de facto maintenance man, fixing anything that breaks or needs attention.
Kyymara says that most of her clients from the previous location have moved with her to Saddlebrook. Although it’s a little harder to get to, they love it once they try it.
Among the 14 treatment rooms at Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook are the infrared sauna (above) and the licensed massage room (Below)
“It’s a gorgeous drive,” she says. “You get through that gate and it’s a beautiful two and a half minutes until you get to the spa and hand over your keys.”
The spa is valet only, with Esthetics813 paying for the valet service with any spa service of one hour or more.
Once you enter the spa, your treatment begins with 30 minutes in the sauna to just relax.
“Slow down, put on a robe, and sink in to the sauna,” she says, “then come in and get your service.”
While this level of luxury may seem out-of-reach for some, clients say the prices are extremely reasonable. Kyymara offers discounts and contests for free services on social media, and also offers a program to give bonuses to guests who refer friends.
Melissa D. is a client who started at Esthetics813 in 2015 and moved with Kyymara twice.
“When I leave, I feel absolutely gorgeous,” Melissa says. “You feel like you’re in the lap of luxury for a reasonable price.”
She says the drive is farther than the previous location, but it’s quicker than you think.
“And then, when you get there, it’s just a beautiful place,” Melissa says. “You’re by the golf course, you can go swimming in the pool, you don’t have to worry about parking. You just go down the steps and it feels like a grand experience.”
She says her facials are always customized just for her, with remarkable results.
“When you feel good,” Melissa says, “it really does affect all of the areas of your life.”
Nathan Erickson got his first facial when a girlfriend gave him a gift certificate as a gift.
“Now I go every month,” he says. “It’s always a great experience. Kyymara is so easy to get along with, and the results are amazing!”
In fact, he says, sometimes he doesn’t even book a specific facial. He comes in and lets Kyymara suggest the best treatment for his skin.
“It was already awesome,” he says, “and the new location is even better.”
Esthetics 813-The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort is open Mon., Wed., Thur. & Fri., 10 a.m. –6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sat. & and Sun. For more information, follow “Esthetics813 – The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort” on Facebook or Instagram, call (813) 474-4486, visit Esthetics813TheSpaAtSaddlebrook.com.
The planned City of Tampa park in the K-Bar Ranch community is adjacent to neighborhoods in the community, so the city will be including two access points (in purple) with a gate at the western entrance for neighborhood access & emergency use only to keep the park traffic coming in & out of the main (east) entrance only. See the map below for more information (Source: City of Tampa)
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera told a crowd of 50-60 people — most of whom were K-Bar Ranch residents — that he has been working to build a city park in K-Bar Ranch almost since the day he first took office in 2016.
Viera hosted yet another of his ever-present New Tampa Town Hall meetings on Aug. 7 to discuss the park, which is located completely in K-Bar and which the city now has about $1 million in its fiscal 2025 budget for the park’s design.
In addition to Viera, Brad Suder, the superintendent of the city’s planning design natural resources division, and city manager Heather Wolf-Erickson also were on hand, representing Tampa’s Parks & Recreation Department. Co-hosting the meeting with Viera was Dist. 67 State Representative (and Florida House minority leader) Fentrice Driskell, who will try to secure some state funding for when the park is ready to be built.
The meeting was held at the Mahadevia Education Center on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., in the West Meadows community.
“Now that we have the design in the budget,” Councilman Viera said, “the next step will be to get community’s input, to see what facilities the residents want to see included in the park.”
One of the features Viera said was already being talked about being included in this park is a cricket field, “and now is the time to push for that issue.”
To that end, many of the residents who attended the meeting were there in support of cricket, a sport that originated in England that is hugely popular not only in India, but with New Tampa’s sizable Indian population, which Viera said has been pushing him to include a regulation cricket pitch and facility in the K-Bar park’s design “basically since I was elected.”
Among those in attendance were Nagesh Nayak and Prahlad Madabhushi, the president and managing director, respectively, of the Tampa Premier League (TPL), which currently is based at the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd., but which doesn’t have an actual cricket pitch.
To start the discussion, Viera touted the $9- $10 million total he has gotten for recreation facilities in New Tampa since taking office eight years ago, including the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center, the expansion of the recreation facilities behind Liberty Middle School (working with the Hillsborough School District) and the City of Tampa All-Abilities Park. Viera said, “I couldn’t have done this without the help of these folks — Brad Suder and Heather Wolf-Erickson.”
Wolf-Erickson said that designing a park is, “a long process that won’t get accomplished tonight, but when it’s built, that’s when it gets handed over to my team and we do the operations, to keep the park beautiful and packed, and handle the waiting lists and all that we do for the (city) parks here in New Tampa.”
She added that, “The design phase is such fun, so I hope you all will sit back, relax and enjoy that design phase, but just realize that whatever you think (the park) is going to be, it’s going to be a hybrid of what everybody wants. That’s the beautiful part about it. It will represent the whole community.”
Wolf-Erickson also said that Suder, who was involved in the design of every city recreation facility in New Tampa, also was responsible for the design of the Tampa Riverwalk downtown and so many other facilities city-wide.
“Luis didn’t mention the New Tampa Nature Park (near I-75), but it is one of my favorite parks that I’ve designed,” Suder said, “but these are all labors of love. And, I’ve been working on the K-Bar park since 2012.”
Suder added that the K-Bar park started out as a county-city cooperative. It was supposed to be in the northern portion of the community, “but we ran into some issues where we couldn’t accept what the developer wanted to give us. The county went to a different site and the [K-Bar] park went silent for a while. I knew K-Bar was building and building, but we were promised park land. We were originally only offered a donation of 15 acres with an option to purchase 15 more at market value. But ultimately, we were offered this 65 acres, which was originally a borrow pit, but because of the lakes that were dug in K-Bar, we ended up with hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of soil — and we tested every truckload of that soil — and we ended up with a suitable park site to start the design process.”
What About Cricket?
“We have heard that cricket is a very popular and desired amenity to have at this park for New Tampa,” Suder said. “The problem is that most of our parks don’t support the square acreage that’s needed for cricket. But, in this case, we believe we have the acreage to make it work in this park, along with the other needs that we hear about tonight.”
He added, “Councilman Viera calls me a friend, but he did fight to get this going and I applaud him for that. And now, we’ve got it going.”
Suder also noted that once the money for the park’s design becomes available and the city can hire a consultant to work with, “We will start the public participation process, so we can hear all of the elements the community wants — the community as a whole. It can’t focus only on K-Bar residents, but that is a part of the discussion.” He did say, however, that the design funds probably won’t be available until late November, or several weeks after the fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. “Then, it will take several more weeks to hire the consultant. And, the actual design phase will likely take a little more than a year to complete.”
Brad Suder (left) & Heather Wolf-Erickson of the City of Tampa attended the meeting to get input from the residents in attendance about the K-Bar Ranch park’s design at a Town Hall meeting on Aug. 7.
Viera noted that there is no money in the current city budget for construction of the park. “We really need that half-cent Community Investment Tax to continue,” Viera said. “That’s where the money to build the park would most likely come from.”
Suder then mentioned that, “We envision asking for about $5 million, maybe a little bit more, in a couple of years, when the design process is done, for what will essentially be Phase 1 of the park.”
And, even though the county had envisioned a sports megaplex, Suder said that with the new site, “We realized that a megaplex for sports probably isn’t the idea here, for many reasons — one is public safety, including concerns about getting fire rescue in there if anything happens and clogging up the roads with, say, 18 teams for a tournament. That just wouldn’t work — we don’t want that much traffic going through there.”
So, Suder and his team came up with what he calls a “hybrid” model, “with one part neighborhood parks with passive uses like picnicking and enjoyment of nature, one part active, essentially sports, and a really nice playground for all of the families that live near here.”
The fourth component of the park Suder said he envisions is conservation.
“A lot of this property is old pasture land for cows, and we hope to add a lot of trees, with walking trails, to make something really nice.”
Viera then asked Prahlad Madabhushi to speak about cricket, “because Tampa is a very pluralistic city and the fact that we have many people asking for cricket speaks to that. And, the fact that the HOAs and CDDs in New Tampa are all supportive of it is another reason why New Tampa is so awesome.”
Madabhushi first gave a brief description of cricket and its origins in England, dating back to the 16th century, that is similar to baseball, “and a lot of people love it. If you ever come to watch a game, you will fall in love with it, too.”
Madabhushi also mentioned that with Florida’s climate, “We can play 11 or 12 months a year, which you can’t do in the northeast and other places.”
He also said that the TPL that he and Nayak run also has hosted tournaments, with players even coming from other countries to play, “Which could really put New Tampa on the map.”
Several of the K-Bar residents in attendance mentioned that they hoped the cricket pitch at the K-Bar park would not be used for tournaments, because of the neighborhood safety and traffic concerns Suder had mentioned.
Wolf-Erickson asked about what the needs would be to have the “proper” cricket pitch Madabhushi talked about during his presentation.
He said that the total size needed for one field would be about five acres. “If you can imagine two full-size football fields next to each other and draw a circle around it, that’s the size of a cricket pitch, Madabhushi said. “Soccer could be played there when it’s not being used for cricket. If you have enough flat ground and possibly lights, that would work.”
Having lights for playing cricket at night was a concern for some of the K-Bar residents.
But, Suder countered that the LED lights being used in new facilities being constructed today would not shine into the nearby houses.
K-Bar Ranch Homeowners Assn (HOA) president Patrick Leduc said that his community does support cricket at the park, “but if you could keep it low-density, without lights and without fencing it in, that would be fine. I think a fitness track around the outside would work. The thing that’s unique about this piece of land is that it’s open. There’s actually an absence of trees, which I call ‘Big Sky Country.’ You could widen the lake out there and use the dirt to make hills for the fitness track for kids to ride bikes and skateboards. I think it could be a unique place in the city’s park system.” He also noted that his ideas came from HOA discussions, “I didn’t come up with them myself.”
State House minority leader Fentrice Driskell (4th from left) and Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera (5th from left) were joined for a picture by local residents interested in adding a cricket field to the city’s planned park in K-Bar Ranch.
Leduc also mentioned that it would be important to control ingress and egress, especially at dusk. “All of the communities near the park are gated except Bassett Creek,” he said. “So, we’d like it if you could gate it and keep the ‘look’ of the park entrance similar to the community’s gated entrances.” He also said that if the lake could be widened and allow fishing, since no fishing is allowed at other lakes and ponds in the community, “I think the kids who live here would love it.”
One K-Bar resident, who said his home backs up to the park, said he appreciates that the park will be low-density because of the nature and animals that are out there now.
“I can look out at that property and see bald eagles and 20 deer at a time,” he said. “That is so special in an area that is growing so quickly. It needs to be preserved.”
Another resident asked about the possibility of tennis or pickleball courts being included at the park, but Leduc said that K-Bar is getting pickleball at its Amenity Center, “and we want there to be a synergy between what we have in K-Bar and this city park.”
Other residents expressed concerns about the traffic, but Viera promised that before the design is improved, Tampa’s Mobility Dept. will be brought in to assess the ways to control the traffic at the park. “That’s all a part of this process.”
Suder added, “The signage will emphasize the main entrance (see map above), so that the other entrance will be for residents and emergencies only.”
And, although she spent most of her time at the meeting just listening, Rep. Driskell aid, “We will get this project over the finish line together.”
