Metro Development Group Principal Kartik Goyani Says The Unique Communityโs 50-Year Plan Is Right On Track In Year 8
With Wesley Chapel already growing by leaps and bounds, the area known as the Connected City (CC) โ conceived by Metro Development Group as a partnership with Pasco County and approved by the State Legislature as a โspecial planning areaโ pilot program for the State of Florida โ is something completely unique.
Rather than just another collection of developers building nothing but more of the same subdivisions that Pasco seemingly will continue to approve until there is no more vacant land within the countyโs nearly 750 total square miles, Metro Development principal Kartik Goyani says that, when it comes to CC, there is a 50-year plan in place to be more than just another series of individual developments of single-family homes, apartments and retail strip centers.
Despite what some critics are claiming, Goyani says that CC, โ aka the โFirst Smart Gigabit Community in the U.S.,โ which was approved in 2015 and began development with Metroโs Epperson community in 2017 โ is only in year eight of that 50-year plan and, in his estimation, the 7,800- acre CC development is indeed proceeding according to plan.
Before we get into the discussion of what is or isnโt happening in CC, here are some geographical facts, many of which may not be 100% clear from the map (above), which was provided to us by Metro.
The orange lines on the map indicate the boundaries of what is called CC, of which only the western boundary follows a specific roadway โ I-75.
The northern boundary extends to a little north of S.R. 52 in San Antonio, with several important commercial developments and yet another (as yet unnanounced) AdventHealth hospital to be located in this northernmost section. Goyani says AdventHealth has owned that property since 2019 or 2020.
Curley Rd. forms most of the CCโs eastern border, although a portion of it extends east of Curley โ between Elam Rd. to the north and just north of the eastern portion of Overpass Rd. to the south. It is worth noting that the Watergrass community, which includes property both north and south of that eastern extension of Overpass Rd., is not part of CC.
And, speaking of Overpass Rd., everything north of it from I-75 to the entrance of Epperson is within the CC boundary, but that boundary also extends south of Overpass to include all of the Epperson development, but not the pre-existing Palm Cove or Bridgewater communities.
How It All Got Started
Of course, knowing the boundaries of CC doesnโt really give you any insight into why Metro Development decided to create a massive employment center where people could live, work and play in a portion of Pasco County that was super-rural, not even suburban, when Metro first proposed the idea of the CC to the county and the state in 2014.
According to Goyani, it all started with internet speed. He says that before the Covid- 19 pandemic hit in 2020, the last economic slowdown was in 2008, but as business started to pick back up in 2009-10, Pasco Countyโs goal was to transform the county from a sleepy bedroom community, with thousands of residents leaving the county to work in Tampa, into a thriving self-sustaining economic center of its own.
And, even though other developers may not have been thinking about how to plan for a better future, Goyani says, โWe knew from our own experience during the 2008-09 downturn, that before the next downturn hits, we wanted to offer something that it seemed no one else was even interested in โ faster internet. So, in 2014, we launched Ultrafi (Metroโs own bundled internet and cable service with ultra-fast internet speeds, up to 10 Gigabits per second) in our Park Creek community in Riverview and planned to include it in Epperson (the first development in CC).โ
He says that โeveryone asked us โWhy are you focusing on something that technology companies should do? No oneโs asking us for faster internet, because they only have one connected device at home.โ
Goyaniโs response is that, โWe knew that to retrofit a community for faster internet would be very expensive. So, we laid fiber lines everywhere that could get insanely fast speeds at prices we all can afford. We talked to Google fiber (which wasnโt interested in Pasco County), AT&T, Verizon…and they all said no one wants faster speeds, so we did it ourselves.โ
He adds, โCould we use technology for the greater good? Could we create a new community from the internet up?โ
In other words, although Metroโs intent, when the CC pilot program was approved by the state in 2015, was to also have the CC connected by walkways and multimodal transportation opportunities, the developerโs primary focus was the internet. โFrom a fundamental standpoint,โ he says, โcounties and developers usually focus on the physical infrastructure โ roads, water lines, waste water, electrical โ because you canโt have a community without those, but no one else was working on the digital infrastructure. Thatโs how this story ended up evolving.โ
But, speaking of physical infrastructure, Goyani says that when CC began development, no other developers were interested in improving S.R. 52 or creating an Overpass Rd. interchange off I-75.
โBut, by bringing the CC to Pasco, S.R. 52 is now vastly improved and the Overpass Rd. intersection is open, meaning that the physical infrastructure for the CC is now in place. That is a big reason why we have been able to attract so many employment centers to this development.โ
He also notes that while most large-scale developments at that time were offering huge 10,000-20,000-sq.-ft. clubhouses or โamenity centersโ that were intended to provide the communityโs โsocial infrastructure,โ Metro saw that during the last economic downturn, โpeople had to decide between being able to afford their mortgage or paying for the maintenance of a 20,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse for the use of the residents only. That just didnโt make sense to me.โ
Goyani says he wanted to create something that could benefit the entire region, โthatโs why we put the first Metro Lagoonยฎ in the U.S. in our Epperson community. Nobody was putting these lagoons in a community. We felt that connecting the digital, physical and social aspects โ and the โWowโ factor of the lagoons โ would help put Pasco County on the map.โ
He also says that Metro didnโt even own all of Epperson. โWe only own the southern half,โ he says. โBut we did own Mirada, where we put the second CC lagoon amenity (that is roughly twice the size of the lagoon in Epperson, and the largest such lagoon in the U.S.; photo above right).โ He also said that the two lagoons in CC have attracted 1.2 million people combined since they opened.
One of the problems for Goyani and Metro is that the 900-acre Epperson community, with roughly 3,000 residences at buildout, and the 2,000-acre Mirada development with 4,5000 residences, represent less than 40% of the 7,800 acres and only about 20% of the planned residences in the CC, so a lot of the CC plan approved by the state and county is not under Metroโs control.
Commercial/Health Care
Putting the number of residences aside, among the things Goyani is most proud of with the CC is the amount of new non-residential square footage that is planned, especially when it comes to health care.
โBack when we started planning the CC,โ Goyani says, โwe looked at the amount of new commercial construction for all of Pasco County and I believe the total amount from east to west at that time was only 3000,000 sq. ft. So, as we started planning for the future, the county administrator told us that he wanted to see at least 3 million sq. ft. of commercial over the 50-year plan for the Connected City. Back then, I thought that was unreasonable, with only 300,000 sq. ft. under construction for the whole county, but I agreed that if weโre going to create an economic engine for Pasco, we have to look forward.โ
He adds, โWe started talking to the stakeholders in the area and said, โThis is a 50-year plan and we need to set up large areas where we can get people both living and working and over time, that 50-year goal went from 3 million sq. ft. to 12 million. And, if we could get that done by 2065, everyone would probably be happy, right? But, do you know how many sq. ft. of non-residential is already under development in CC? How does 8 million sq. ft. sound? And, itโs all already approved, having groundbreakings…with real dollars being spent, in 2025.โ
Iโll admit that number shocked me. It includes not only the Johns Hopkins All Childrenโs Hospital that just broke ground in the Wildcat-Bailes property in CCโs southwest corner, but also the aforementioned, not-yet-announced AdventHealth hospital just north of S.R. 52, as well as a large BayCare medical office complex that will not only help staff the expandable BayCare Wesley Chapel Hospital a few miles south of CC, but also focus on wellness to help people live healthier and longer.
Another major commercial project within the CC is the Double Branch/Pasco Town Center, a 965-acre mixed-use project just east of I-75 at S.R. 52 that is already under development that will include up to 4.5 million sq. ft. of industrial space at its build-out. Phase 1 of the project, which is expected to begin delivering finished buildings later this year, includes three industrial buildings totalling nearly 500,000 sq. ft. There also are plans for 1 million sq. ft. of office space, a 1.6.-million-sq.-ft. distribution center and a 400,000-sq.-ft. โcross-dock facility,โ which is a logistics hub designed for the rapid transfer of goods to minimize storage time. Double Branch is being developed by Columnar Investments, which also is planning to have 500,000 sq. ft. of retail uses, 3,500 residential units and 200 acres of parks and trails.
Some of the other privately owned portions of CC also have commercial entitlements (or are asking for them from the county), such as the Abbey Crossings/Park 52 Logistics piece that will bring 500,000 sq. ft. of light industrial uses to north of S.R. 52 and neighborhood commercial and a hotel to south of 52.
Goyani says that, โOther smart people have seen what weโre doing within the CC boundary, so why not buy land outside of CC for less money and bet on the success of that project in the future? And people quickly gobbled up pieces of that land,โ including Target, which bought a large chunk for a distribution center just north of CC.
The Education Piece
Also located on the outskirts of CC is the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation (photo), which started in 2022 with a high school and now has grades K-8. Two years earlier, Innovation Preparatory Academy (aka InPrep), a charter school, opened for the 2020-21 school year and Prodigy at Epperson Early Learning Center is now open south of the CC border just south of InPrep.
โNone of the CC land owners were at the table telling the Pasco School District, โtake my land for a school,โ or โtake my land for a park,โ Goyani said. โIn fact, I was told that those property owners all said โNoโ and we had no control over that.โ
And, Goyani, who said he comes from a very poor family in India, is a big believer in education. His parents shipped him off to the U.S. with a $500 one-way ticket at age 21 to find a way to pay to get a Masterโs degree, which he did, in Construction Management, in the School of Engineering, from prestigious Purdue University, even though, he claims, โI wasnโt really a smart kid. But, I am very passionate about education and my goal is to have one of the best universities in the country, either in CC or in [Metroโs other Pasco development in Land OโLakes] Angeline (more on Angeline below).โ
Goyani also said that last year, Metro commissioned a study by PFM Financial Advisors LLC out of Orlando, which showed that Pasco County is now โthe fastest growing commercial corridor in Florida. There is now 30-plus million sq. ft. of non-residential uses in different stages, which is more than any other county in the state of Florida, and Iโm like, โWow, that is exciting. Maybe weโre onto something here. If I were to bet, Iโd say weโre going to run out of commercial entitlements throughout the Connected City because I think more is still going to happen, based on the plans.โ
A big part of that 30 million sq. ft. is Angeline, which Goyani says was created as our round two of turning Pasco into an economic engine, with the Moffitt Cancer Center owning 775 acres (to be called Speros FL), with plans to build 16 million sq. ft. of lab, medical offices manufacturing and clinical space that will be twice the size of downtown Tampa. โWe also ave a working farm in Angeline that is open to the public, and plans for a 150-acre regional park,โ Goyani says. โInstead of only developing for people living in a community, we open important elements of our projects to the public, to create a more regional impact. I donโt know any other developers who do that.โ
But, What About…
Goyani also is aware that CC as a whole has its detractors, especially the Facebook group known as โPasco Connected City Residents Group (PCCRG),โ which was started by Realtorยฎ and CC resident Michael Pultorak, whom we have featured in these pages before. Pultorakโs group quickly built up to 1,600 members, as he and the group members have consistently appeared at Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and Planning Commission meetings to ask questions and/or complain about the way CC is being developed, even though many of the concerns expressed have been about the development plans of some of the land owners other than Metro in CC. Pultorak has already met with four of the five Pasco commissioners to discuss his concerns, the first three of which below do also revolve around Metroโs portions of the development:
โข The open space & recreational areas detailed in the CC Master Plan have been moved to east of Handcart Rd. (outside of the CC boundaries)
โข The walking/jogging trails promised to Mirada and Epperson residents were not delivered and the trails were not placed in the engineering plans nor created in the execution of the development
โข The innovative lagoons are private and for-profit amenities
But, Goyani says that between 2015, when the CC was approved by the state, through 2017, when Metro began building Epperson, there were more than a dozen public meetings held with stakeholders and local residents to discuss the CC plan โ โSome had upwards of 300 people attending,โ Goyani says โ and any concerns about the CC plan was taken into account โto plan for a better future.โ
Other concerns of the PCCRG include:
โข There are no promised cultural facilities or libraries of any kind planned in CC
โข Stormwater concerns at the head of the Cypress Creek watershed with upcoming CC development applications
โข King Lake (a 263-acre lake and the largest body of water in CC) flooding issues for current CC residents. (Note – Pultorak says that King Lake has been beyond flood stage since Metro began digging the nearby Epperson lagoon)
โข Planned roadways within CC that topographical maps show will be under water
โข No schools actually located within the CC boundaries (Goyani says that InPrep and Prodigy actually are within the CC boundaries)
โข The large park planned to be within CC has been moved to the adjacent Villages of Pasadena Hills special planning area
โข Multi-family apartments and townhomes being approved by the Pasco BCC that are in portions of CC that, according to the Master Plan approved by the state, should not be allowed
โข The approved plan for the five Special Planning Area (SPA) Zones within CC has not been adhered to by Pasco, especially with regards to approvals for multi-family apartments
โWe are not against responsible growth & development,โ Pultorak says. โHowever, developers need to be held accountable to the residents of Pasco County to fulfill the promises they make before they take profits and move on or, unexpectedly cause flooding of existing residents and communities. Thatโs why we formed this group.โ
Where We Are Now
Many of the concerns outlined above were presented in our recent story (in our Jan. 21 edition) about CC, when the Planning Commission first voted to send the Tall Timbers MPUD on to the BOC for final approval. After giving the nod to Tall Timbers 4-3 on Jan. 9, however, the Planning Commission then voted 6-1 at the same meeting to put a one-year moratorium on all future CC development agreements, site approvals, building permits and zoning changes.
But, since the Planning Commission is only an advisory panel, the final say on both Tall Timbers and any possible CC moratorium still lies with the BCC. Those votes were originally supposed to be held at the BOC meeting on Feb. 11, but the discussions and votes have now been continued twice โ first to Mar. 11 and now until the BCC meeting on Tuesday, May 6. On Apr. 9, however, the county staff was set to provide the CC presentation requested since 2023 by Commissioners Seth Weightman and Board chair Kathryn Starkey. Unfortunately, that workshop took place after we went to press and was not open to public comment. We will update this story with any new information after we attend that meeting.
Even if the BCC does vote for a CC moratorium, however, it would have pretty much nothing to do with Metroโs ongoing development of Epperson and Mirada, since those communities are both already fully approved with hundreds of residents already living in each and the two lagoons themselves already in place.
And, while Goyani canโt speak to what the other CC land owners are doing, his primary response to most of the complaints is that, โWe are only still in year eight of a 50-year plan. We knew before we started that it would be hard to make everyone happy with this unique development but we believe โ and we are proud โ that we are helping to put Pasco County on the map with CC.โ
