When the new library opens, sometime in 2025, it will have access from both Mystic Oak Blvd. (bottom road) and Seven Oaks Elementary. (Renderings provided by Pasco County)
It’s not happening right away, but by sometime in 2025, Wesley Chapel will be home to two Pasco County public libraries.
The recently remodeled and completely revamped New River Library reopened on S.R. 54 — to rave reviews — last year.
But, wait until you get a look at the new 14,000-sq.-ft. Wesley Chapel Seven Oaks Library, which is now under permitting review and should begin building next to Seven Oaks Elementary by early 2024.
According to Pasco County public information officer Sarah Andeara, the county is in the process of evaluating and selecting a contractor for the award of the $10-million contract later this year.
“The groundbreaking of the Wesley Chapel Seven Oaks Library is expected in early 2024 and the project will take approximately 16 months to complete,” Andeara says. “The architecture firm of Fleischman Garcia Maslowski has provided the building’s design and the $10 million budgeted by the county is expected to cover the design, construction, furniture, equipment and collection materials.”
In addition to books, audiobooks, and DVDs, the new library will feature public computers, printers, a separate children’s area, collaborative spaces, a gallery wall in the lobby, an outdoor reading porch, a multi-purpose room for “makerspace” and other activities, a meeting room, and study rooms. Drive-up services also will be available at this location.
The Wesley Chapel Seven Oaks Library’s design has been provided by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architects.
The Wesley Chapel Seven Oaks library’s unique multipurpose makerspace room, with a designated outdoor mobile makerspace area, will provide all kinds of activities from Pasco’s other library makerspaces to the Wesley Chapel community. Some examples of these activities include woodworking, music and multimedia recording, ceramics and pottery, cooking, gardening, and more.
After receiving input from the local community, it was decided that the best use of the new library’s makerspace space would be to go with a multipurpose room option.
The intent for the multipurpose room is for it to serve as a “launch pad” for a mobile makerspace — which is expected to be a mobile van outfitted with a wide variety of different classic makerspace activities, such as woodworking activities, gardening, cooking, musical instruments, and recording options, as well as STEM activities.
For more information about the Wesley Chapel Seven Oaks Library, visit PascoLibraries.org.
We previously told you that both Slim Chickens (at 27244 Wesley Chapel Blvd.) and Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar (at 25026 Wesley Chapel Blvd. extension) were both expected to open soon, with Slim Chickens perhaps ready to open before our Sept. 19 New Tampa issue hit mailboxes. Both restaurants have now announced their new planned opening dates.
According to Jared, one of the franchise owners of Slim Chickens on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (just north of Old Pasco Rd.), although the restaurant’s gas hookup was completed, the threat of Hurricane Idalia caused additional delays and Jared says that the 225+-unit home of hand-breaded chicken tenders, sandwiches and nuggets (photo) and mason jar desserts is now expecting to open on or around Thursday, September 28. For more information, visit SlimChickens.com.
Meanwhile, Shuckin’ Shack was previously set to open on Sept. 16, with a special North Tampa Bay Chamber VIP preview expected to take place on Sept. 12. Unfortunately, Shuckin’ Shack suffered similar Hurricane Idalia-related delays as Slim Chickens, but the soft opening — featuring a 15% discount for doctors, nurses, military & first responders — of the North Carolina-based chain’s 20th location is now expected on Monday, September 25. Look for a big photo spread of that opening day in our October 3 edition of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News! Visit TheShuckinShack.com or “Shuckin’ Shack Wesley Chapel” on Facebook for more information.—GN
The construction of the auto dispense towers at the New Tampa Walmart on BBD Blvd. should be completed and open for business by early 2024. (Photo by Joel Provenzano).
A few issues ago, we told you about the New Tampa Walmart’s drone delivery of a surprise reward for two teachers at Clark Elementary.
The New Tampa location is still one of very few Walmart stores nationwide, and one of fewer than ten in Florida, to offer drone deliveries.
But, for those who couldn’t help but notice the long-term construction at the New Tampa Walmart (especially anyone trying to access the store from Wharton High), the news about that construction is that the local Walmart store will be the first in Florida — and only the second in the country — to offer robotic/automated customer fulfillment pods for pickup orders. Walmart calls them “auto dispense towers” and the corresponding area inside the store as a Market Fulfillment Center (MFC).
Blue bins that have been loaded with groceries & other items into the Alphabot are then brought to the store’s Market Fulfillment Center. (Photo from Walmart Corp.) The track-and-rail system of bins inside the MFC at Bentonville, AR.
Items (including groceries) will be run in blue containers on a rail system that runs through (and inside of) the thick blue part of the ceiling structure, from inside the store, and then down to waiting vehicles parked under the awnings that cover the parking area (see top photo on this page).
Customers awaiting their pickup orders put in a code, and their groceries and other items are transported through the ceiling out the door in front of their vehicles. There are eight dedicated parking spaces for customers to pick up from these digital auto dispense towers. There also are an extra four loading spaces to the right of the large doors for ‘other’ customer orders — including for large items, etc., where employees will manually bring the items out to waiting vehicles.
The very large “fulfillment center” area behind the newly constructed pharmacy inside of Walmart is where products will be pulled in an automated fashion to fill orders. There will be refrigeration for cold items. Employees also will be back there to ensure orders are filled correctly.
A Walmart associate inputs data for an order in one of the blue bins filled with groceries. A filled blue bin being brought out to the w area.
It may be hard to understand how the auto dispensing works without being able to see it, so we have provided some photos from Walmart’s recently begun pilot program at its Store 100 in Bentonville, AR, near the company’s headquarters.
The MFC is built inside the store and is powered by a proprietary storage and retrieval system – named Alphabot. Walmart believes fulfillment through digitization and connecting its store and supply chain assets end to end will transform order fulfillment. And, along with it, the company believes, this should improve customer satisfaction and offer more opportunities for associates.
“This new order fulfillment system is truly game changing,” said Ryan Simpson, the store manager at Walmart’s Store 100. “Not only does it enhance the customer experience through quicker, more accurate online order fulfillment, it also provides us the runway to continue growing our business now and in the future.”
Once the fulfillment center opens, Walmart management believes that customers can expect to see the benefits of the MFC almost immediately.
A Walmart associate in Bentonville helps load a customer’s groceries. (All photos from Walmart Corp.)
MFCs will significantly increase the number of orders the store is able to fulfill in a day, promising faster fulfillment with lower substitutions. Walmart+ members have even more to look forward to, with free unlimited delivery. MFCs also improve the in-store shopping experience by freeing up associates to help customers shopping in-store.
“I love the MFC,” says Gilbert Giron, MFC digital team lead at Walmart. “The dedicated space allows us to concentrate on picking items for our online customers. I feel confident that the items our associates are looking for are going to be there when a customer wants them. I know our team is providing our customers with great service.”
When Will Ours Open?
Walmart began the permitting process for the New Tampa store’s new addition back in the fall of 2021.
According to the plans filed, the inside portion of the new MFC area will take up approximately 27,000 sq. ft. inside the Walmart building. This will be one of the first operational ones in the nation with this new technology.
The staff at the New Tampa Walmart stated that they expect the new system to be open for customers by sometime early in 2024. They explained that once the construction has been completed, they will need to test the system and run trials to smooth out any kinks.
We are giving you another chance to win a FREE dining prize of $100, $60 or $35 to the restaurant of your choice! One entry per person, per question. Please vote for your Favorite Burger Place in (or near) New Tampa & Wesley Chapel by clicking HERE!This is always one of the toughest categories because so many restaurants serve burgers that people like — and we only ask you to name one as your favorite.
Whether or not you already answered any of our other dining questions, you’re still eligible to have a second chance to enter and win free dining by also telling us your Favorite Latin Restaurant in New Tampa OR Wesley Chapel.
Each time you answer a different Dining Survey question, you’ll receive an additional chance to win one of our FREE dining prizes — to the restaurant of your choice located anywhere in the Tampa Bay area!
All we’ve been asking you to do is to please check the zip codes of the restaurants you choose, but that has still been something of a problem for several of the people who have entered so far.
Please don’t forget that we include restaurants located in Lutz (either on Wesley Chapel Blvd., S.R. 56 or S.R. 54, within two miles of I-75) as Wesley Chapel eateries; and those located in the Palms Connection Plaza on E. Bearss Ave. and the Oak Ramble Plaza on BBD Blvd. (both are located in zip code 33613) as acceptable places to vote for in New Tampa.
Please also be sure to completely fill out the entry forms, whether from our print publications, on our website or by email, because we have had a few people — out of almost 900 total entries so far — try to enter with just their first name only, and others who took the time to send us an entry without naming any restaurants.
Despite those issues, it definitely appears (as we expected) that more of you like this year’s format — with no more than two questions for you to answer in each issue — than in the recent past, when we asked a full page of questions for you to answer in multiple issues.
Remember, whether you enter by mail, email or on our website, there is never any purchase necessary to enter and win, but we do need your first AND last name, the community you live in, your daytime telephone number and a valid email address to be eligible to win any of our FREE dining prizes — and please enter all of your Survey entries by no later than November 1 to be eligible to win prizes!
As always, there’s no purchase necessary to enter or win a prize. All we ask is that you follow the following rules:
1. Enter by filling out the entry form in the issue or HERE.
2. You can mail us your filled-out entry form (send it to “2023 Neighborhood News Dining Contest,” 2604 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Suite 102D, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544) or email it to us at Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. *Note-Entries filled out on our website do not need to be mailed or emailed to us.
3. Please check the addresses and zip codes of the restaurants you choose, as we will only consider votes for restaurants in zip code 33543, 33544 and 33545 (Wesley Chapel), 33647, the portion of zip code 33559 (Lutz) and in the Oak Ramble Plaza (33613) as valid votes.
4. In order to be eligible to win any of our free dining prizes to the restaurant of your choice, your entry form with a response to at least one of our questions over the next five months must include your full name, the community you live in (Hunter’s Green, Grand Hampton, etc.), a daytime phone number where you can be reached and your valid email address.
We look forward to seeing how this year’s contest shakes out. Good luck! — GN
When I visited the Mochinut Korean-style donut and rice hot dog (not a misprint) place at 11401 N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace for the first time — to sample what has been announced as coming to the former location of Mahana Fresh on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. — I got a few surprises.
First of all, the donuts, which are now served at more than 130 locations around the country, and are available in a rotating variety of flavors — from caramel churro (below) to lavender — are light, airy and definitely taste nothing like Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts. The rice flour hot dogs sound…interesting…too, although I’ve yet to sample them. The bigger surprise was that not only is New Tampa getting a Mochinut store, so is the Lutz/Wesley Chapel area across from the Tampa Premium Outlets, as Mochinut also is opening soon in the former Pho 54 Vietnamese restaurant/boba tea location in the same plaza as Mellow Mushroom and Astro Craft Ice Cream.
All Mochinut locations also serve a variety of boba teas, by the way. Best of all, both new locations are likely to open by about the first week in October.
For more information, visit or call the Temple Terrace location at (813) 374- 5781 and please tell them that I sent you. Or, visit Mochinut.com.
