Regents Park Dr. & Pebble Creek Dr. Resurfacing Nears Completion 

Research by Joel Provenzano 

A portion of Regents Park Dr. that has been resurfaced. 

For many months now, the residents of New Tampa’s Pebble Creek subdivision have had to deal with the ongoing resurfacing of the community’s two main thoroughfares — Regents Park Dr. and Pebble Creek Dr. 

The portion of Regents Park Dr. near BBD Blvd. where the Roadway Resurfacing signs are located are the only portions of the roadway not yet resurfaced. 

As of the last few weeks, however, all but about 0.2 miles of the 2.3-mile stretch of the circular Regents Park Dr. — from its northern Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. terminus to its southern BBD connection — have been resurfaced, with only about 0.1 mile at each terminus of the roadway closest to BBD now completed. 

Likewise, all but a couple of hundred feet — again, the portion closest to BBD — of Pebble Creek Dr. also has been completed. 

According to Chris Wilkerson, a senior media relations strategist with Hillsborough County, the Pebble Creek Roadway Resurfacing project represents 4.78 total lane miles of the county’s 285 total lane miles and $1.995 million of the $35-million Roadway Pavement Preservation plan of county-maintained roads approved by the county commissioners in 2021. 

Although most of the actual repaving has been completed, Wilkerson says the remaining work on this project includes paving entrances, stripping and signage, tree planting and the installation of traffic beacons and that the anticipated completion of everything, minus the traffic beacons, is early December 2023. 

The cones shown above are now gone & the patches shown are now covered 

“There is a long lead time on the traffic beacons,” he adds, however, “so final completion will be early spring 2024.” 

The project also includes brand new bike lanes in the sections of the roads that are wide enough. Public works officials say that in sections where there isn’t room, there may be shared road markings for bicyclists. 

Although it has taken a while, the county has done a great job of resurfacing these two main roadways in Pebble Creek. If it’s been a while since you visited the community, it’s worth taking a drive to check out how much better the two roads are now. 

For more information about this and other county projects, visit HillsboroughCounty.org. 

NTBC’s Award Winners Include AHWC, Avalon Park WC & Parks Ford 

Congratulations go out to all of this year’s “Excellence in Business” award winners and finalists from Wesley Chapel. The annual honors were presented by the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) at its awards gala held at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant in The Grove on Nov. 17. 

Among this year’s award winners were Jennie Yingling of both Spinner Law and the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, who was honored with the “Community Hero” award; Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, which took home the “Excellence in Innovation” award; and to Parks Ford and AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, which (no pun intended) shared the “Innovation in Collaboration” honors (the first-ever tie for an NTBC award, according to Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy). Other winners included Pepin Academy (“Inclusivity”) and SOF Missions (“Integrity”). 

Jennie Yingling (“Community Hero”)
Avalon Park Wesley Chapel (“Excellence in Innovation”)
Parks Ford (“Innovation in Collaboration”)
AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (“Innovation in Collaboration”)
Pepin Academy (“Inclusivity”)
SOF Missions (“Integrity”)

Academy Sports + Outdoors Opens To Cheers & Lots Of Gift Card Winners! 

If I ever open a store, I hope I can do as good a job as Academy Sports + Outdoors, a nearly 300-store chain which opened its newest location next to PopStroke on the north side of S.R. 56, in front of Total Wine & More. 

From Fri.-Sun, Nov. 17-19, the first 150 people to visit received a free Academy Sports + Outdoors gift card valued anywhere from $20 to a whopping $500. According to Academy’s regional marketing specialist for Florida Michael Reynolds, a total of more than $14,000 in gift cards were given away and just the prospect of winning one of the two big $500 cards given away each day certainly had everyone in attendance excited about the Wesley Chapel area’s newest sporting goods store. 

In fact, Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I were on hand to witness the two $500 winners on Friday, including Kalyn Saliba (top left photo), who said that although she’s not particularly “sporty” herself, her husband and sons had shopped at the Academy store in Louisiana, where they lived for several years before moving back to Florida. 

“But, I’m a big fan of Academy now,” Kalyn said after she posed with her giant gift card and called her husband, who didn’t believe she had really won. “No, really,” she said. “Let’s definitely go shopping here soon!” 

We also heard several $75 and $100 gift cards being given to some of the other early attendees, none of whom won less than $20, and most were quick to make purchases — including yours truly, who scooped a new pair of New Balance running shoes that were already 25% off before taking my $20 gift card into consideration. The athletic shoe department has lots of other options, including Asics, Brooks, Nike and more. 

I don’t know how long the opening 25% off prices will remain in effect, but there’s no doubt that Academy Sports + Outdoors has pretty much everything you need to be outfitted for everything from baseball to volleyball and brand names from Adidas to Yeti — all at outstanding prices. 

The outdoor department is huge and does include camping, fishing, hunting and hiking gear and even grills and turkey fryers. 

Academy Sports + Outdoors (25415 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz) is open every day except Thur. For more information, call (813) 953-4410 or visit Academy.com. 

Rice & Beans Opens Its ‘Express’ Location On S.R. 54 

Congratulations to owners Cindy and David Cruz and their entire family (photo above) and staff on the opening — finally! — of their Rice-n-Beans Express location at 24726 S.R. 54 in Lutz, a mile or so west of the Tampa Premium Outlets. 

Although there are a few tables inside the new location, Rice-n-Beans Express is much more of a take-out place than the Rice-n-Beans Puerto Rico restaurant on Wesley Chapel Blvd., which has a large formal dining area, a full-liquor bar and live entertainment on the weekends. 

The great news is that the authentic Puerto Rican cuisine at the Express location is just as delicious as at the WC Blvd. restaurant. 

Jannah and I were happy to be invited to the private Friends & Family ribbon cutting event on Nov. 9, which included a great live DJ, free homemade sangria and samples of many of the new restaurant’s many menu items. 

Our favorites included the fritters/ empanadas, which include traditional beef (left photo), chicken and even ham & cheese options, as well as a unique spinach, artichoke and cheese version that had its own delicious flavor. 

We also loved the rotisserie chickens (photo below) that provide the centerpiece of the new Express location, the Cuban sandwiches and yes, both the red and the black beans and rice. 

Since that truly wonderful Grand Opening event, Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I have sampled quite a few other menu items at Rice-n-Beans Express, including the pernil (roast pork; left) entrée (which comes with your choice of one or two sides), the sweet plantains, the canoa (a plantain “canoe” stuffed with ground beef & shredded cheese), the yellow rice with pigeon peas, the yucca with mojo sauce and perhaps my favorite menu item at the full-service restaurant, the chichårrons (fried pork skin; bottom right photo). 

The rotisserie chickens are available in a variety of sizes, from quarter chickens with one or two sides to the “Familia Grande,” which includes two whole chickens, 32 ozs. of rice, 16 ozs. of beans and two additional large sides. There’s also a huge chicken & pork combo meal. 

Save room for dessert because the Puerto Rico Desserts case in the Express offers vanilla and Nutella tres leches and three varieties of flan. Decadent! 

 For more info, call (813) 428-5077 or visit “Rice N Beans” on Facebook and please tell them I sent you! -GN

Looking Back At The NTBC Ribbon-Cutting Events in November!

Sustain M.E Ribbon Cutting

The North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) stayed busy in November, with its annual Excellence in Business awards gala at Treble Makers on Nov. 17 (which we featured in our Nov 28 Wesley Chapel issue), as well as three ribbon-cutting events that didn’t make it into our print editions.

On Nov. 2, the Wesley Chapel Contract Postal Unit (CPU) on S.R. 54, which has been open for a few months now,  celebrated with an NTBC ribbon cutting. Owner Jevon Willians provided free food and beverages for about 40 guests and introduced attendees to the CPU’s many services, all of which are available at regular U.S. Post Office prices. For more information, call (813) 994-7522.

On Nov. 8, the StoreRightSelf Storage facility, located on Crystal Grove Blvd. (near the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 41 and Sunset Lane) in Lutz, introduced attendees to its 749 storage units, most of which are climate-controlled. Store Right also is opening a similar-sized storage facility the second week in December next to the new El Dorado furniture store near the intersection of S.R. 54, Wesley Chapel Blvd. and S.R. 56 in Land O’Lakes. For more info, call  (813) 567-8100 or visit StoreRight.com.

And, on Nov. 14, owner Gail Sickler’s Sustain M.E. on S.R. 56 (in the same plaza as Capital Tacos & Touch Nail Spa) officially finalized its re-branding of the store that previously was a location of Lüfka Refillables Zero Waste Store with its own NTBC ribbon-cutting event. The revamped refillables and health & beauty products store features a similar variety of all-natural products as did Lüfka, but with new products that are all locally sourced. For more info, call (8130 812-8219 or visit SustainMotherEarth.com.