Business News: New Name For Florida Hospital, New Developments

A potential new development, to be anchored by a pharmacy, could be headed for the corner of S.R. 54 and Curley Rd.

While development proceeds in the busy S.R. 56 corridor, from Culver’s going up east of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. to Blaze Pizza and others breaking ground to the west in the hectic Cypress Creek Town Center area, representatives from Stella Management Group met with Pasco County planning officials about a new proposed retail center on the northeast corner of Curley Rd. and S.R. 54 (see photo).

According to paperwork field with the county prior to a pre-application meeting on Aug. 6, the project is named Pasco C-Center, with approximately 32,500 square feet of leasable commercial/retail space.

The Pasco C-Center, according to a conceptual plan, will have a fast food restaurant with a drive-thru, a 14,698-sq.-ft. pharmacy with 49 parking spaces, a 4,000-sq.-ft. retail building divided for three businesses, and a 5,500-sq.-ft. retail building divided for four occupants, none of which had been announced at our press time.

Another 4,000-sq.-ft. building is labeled for retail/restaurant.

The conceptual plan also proposes two entrances/exits into the Pasco C-Center, one off S.R. 54 and the other off Curley Rd.

Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), we hardly knew ye.

Adventist Health Systems, the faith-based health care system that is the parent company of all of the Florida Hospitals, has announced that it is changing its corporate name to AdventHealth.

As a result, all of the Florida Hospitals, including FHWC, will get the name change, too, as well as a new logo (above).

On Jan. 2, 2019, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel will become AdventHealth Wesley Chapel.

“We are transforming to be a more consumer-focused health care system to better meet the needs of those we care for and the communities we serve,” says Terry Shaw, president/CEO for Adventist Health System. “Becoming AdventHealth allows us to be a fully integrated and distinguishable health system across all aspects of the care continuum, while also speaking to our Christian healing ministry, message of wholeness and our rich Seventh-Day Adventist roots.”

The Altamonte Springs-based Adventist Health Systems, which has nearly 50 campuses across the state — including seven in the Tampa Bay area — will kick off a transition campaign in September featuring TV and print ads in various markets across the country.

Changes to signage and visual elements at hospitals and other facilities are expected to take place in January, when the AdventHealth name is fully adopted.

NAILING IT: In the new Pleasant Plaza on the south side of S.R. 54, east of BBD, Starbucks and Pizza Hut are up and running, and according to Pasco County permitting records, a Sweet Nail Spa will be next.

And, right across the street on the north side of S.R. 54, Heartland Dental is nearing completion.

 

Casino Night Is Tonight!

The Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon will host another “Casino Night” at Wesley Chapel
Nissan (28519 SR 54), 7 p.m.-10 p.m.

Last year’s event (photo) was attended by at least 200 people and all net proceeds will benefit local nonprofit charities!

The donation to attend is $20 per person, which includes $1,000 in gaming chips, heavy hors d’oeuvres, live music, live and silent auctions, raffle prizes and more, all to benefit Clerks for a Cure (to help in the fight against breast cancer), the Rotary Club’s Wesley Chapel High School scholarship program and the Pasco Sheriff’s K9 Program.

There also will be a cash beer & wine bar provided by Time for Wine.

For tickets & more information, visit WCRotary.com.

Chick-Fil-A, Wawa, Aldi Update

There is no shortage of anticipation of what is coming next to Wesley Chapel, but rarely is there the level of consternation that there has been for previously reported projects involving Chick-Fil-A, Wawa and Aldi.

We’ve got one word for you: relax.

All three are still coming.

For those of you beginning to lose faith in the long-awaited Chick-Fil-A on S.R. 54, just east of Bruce B. Downs Blvd., the never-open-on-Sunday-but-always-delicious chain received its final approval for its second Wesley Chapel restaurant on July 27. While ground has been broken for a while, the constant sight of a dirt lot the past many months has been making a lot of people nervous, according to Facebook.

In between the Walgreens and Chick-Fil-A, Wawa should soon be going vertical as well. The popular gas and convenience store filed permit requests for store signs last week. With a Dunkin Donuts planned a few hundred feet to the east, and a Starbucks right across the street, we might soon be dubbing that stretch Coffee Corner.

And all you Aldi fans can let out a sigh of relief. After moving planned locations twice, the discount supermarket chain has settled on the southeast corner of S.R. 56 and Wesley Chapel Blvd., and the project is currently under review.

 

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday!

You can now add Ruby Tuesday to the list of New Tampa restaurants that have closed in recent years, as it joins Casa Ramos and Las Palmas this year alone. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Longtime New Tampa fixture Ruby Tuesday abruptly closed its doors in late July, which was a surprise to many local residents.

The restaurant, which boasted “Simple Fresh American Dining” and had arguably the best (only?) salad bar around, was located on the corner of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in front of the popular AMC Highwoods 20 movie theater.

While it didn’t lack for passing traffic, it apparently was lacking in paying customers, joining more than 100 Ruby Tuesdays across the country that have been shuttered over the last year.

According to RestaurantBusinessOnline.com, Ruby Tuesday has closed 400 locations in the past decade.

Based in Maryville, TN, the dining chain was purchased by NRD Capital last year, and named Ray Blanchette as CEO in January in an effort to turn the company around.

Visitors on July 22 were greeted by a printed sheet of paper taped to the inside of the front door, saying “This Location Has Closed,” and directing people to the Ruby Tuesday in Valrico.

The manager at the Valrico restaurant confirmed that the New Tampa location was closed for good, but declined to answer any other questions. Messages left at Ruby Tuesday’s corporate offices were not returned.

Ruby Tuesday joins a growing list of shuttered restaurants in New Tampa in the past two years.
This year alone, Tampa Palms Mexican restaurant Casa Ramos and Pebble Creek’s Las Palmas Spanish Café have closed their doors, joining others like Dairy Queen and Vuelo’s Mexican Grill on BBD, as well as Beef O’Brady’s on Cross Creek Blvd.

The Dairy Queen location has a new tenant that has yet to open, but is expected to

be a Jamaican restaurant, and the old Vuelo’s site (which was formerly a Romano’s Macaroni Grill) may have a new restaurant group interested in bringing something new to the area, but the others remain vacant.

And, speaking of places that have closed recently in New Tampa, the H.H. Gregg appliance and electronics store located in the Market Square plaza on Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms closed last year, and last month, the Staples store in the same plaza shut down.

 

Commissioners Hagan & Crist Favored To Swap Seats In November

Hillsborough County commisioner candidates Ken Hagan, Victor Crist and Ray Chiaramonte are among those hoping to advance beyond Tuesday’s primaries to the Nov. 6 election.

Two county commissioners with long-time ties to New Tampa — former resident Ken Hagan and current Tampa Palms resident Victor Crist — will be hoping to win their Primary Elections on Tuesday, August 28, in their efforts to effectively swap seats in the general election on Nov. 6.

Both have been term-limited out of their current positions.

Comm. Hagan, who is currently the District 5 commissioner, a countywide seat, is running in District 2, which represents all of New Tampa, as well as Lutz, Temple Terrace and Thonotosassa. Hagan held the Dist. 2 seat from 2002-10.

Comm. Crist, currently the Dist. 2 commissioner, is running for Hagan’s Dist. 5 seat.

Hagan, 50, has been one of the highest-profile commissioners in recent months, due to his role as the county’s lead negotiator in luring the Rays to Tampa to play in a proposed $892-million stadium in Ybor City.

For his primary race against first-time office seeker Chris Paradies, Hagan had raised a staggering $484,374 at our press time. Paradies, a Keystone resident who has been critical of Hagan’s position as a political lifer who attempts to avoid term limits by jumping seats in order to stay in office, had raised $27,523.

Ken Hagan

Hagan, who has often been viewed as a pro-development commissioner, has been active in seeking New Tampa’s support in his current campaign. He has co-hosted two local town hall meetings with Dist. 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and has been active in trying to get new parks built or expanded in K-Bar Ranch and Branchton Park off Morris Bridge Rd.

Hagan also proposed adding $250,000 to the county budget last year to speed up a potential connection of Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe.

In June, FloridaPolitics.com named Hagan the ninth most powerful politician in Tampa Bay.

Democrat Angela Birdsong, like Hagan, a Carrollwood resident, has raised $21,674, and she awaits the winner of Hagan vs. Paradies. Birdsong has recently picked up her efforts in New Tampa, as she seeks to expand her profile.

Crist, 61, is running against Angel S. Urbina Capo in countywide Dist. 5.

A longtime local fixture, Crist has been a strong proponent of a New Tampa Cultural Center, which is expected to finally come to fruition — by 2020. He championed, as did Hagan when he served in Dist. 2, the idea of a New Tampa “town center,” which is now under development at the Hunter’s Lake project across from Hunter’s Green.

Comm. Crist had raised $121,300 at our press time, while Capo, a 47-year-old cybersecurity consultant, was at $6,768.

Crist talks to a group at Hunter’s Green Country Club last year about plans for a New Tampa Cultural Center.

Crist’s profile, connections and list of accomplishments in government dwarf Capo’s, and he is favored to win the primary. In Nov. 6, the winner will face Joe Kotvas, who is not affiliated with any party, and whoever emerges from the Democratic primary between Mariella Smith and Elvis Piggott.

Smith, a fourth-generation Tampa native currently living in Ruskin, is a 64-year-old small business owner and has been a longtime citizen advocate and community leader who could present a formidable challenge to Crist should she defeat Piggott, a 30-year-old church pastor who had been out-raised $73,978 to $20,315.

A crowded field is seeking the District 7 seat, which also is countywide.

Four Democrats – Ray Chiaramonte, Mark Nash, Kimberly Overman and Sky White — are running. All have either governmental or activist experience.

Nash has held the edge in fund-raising, pulling in $82,768, but Chiaramonte wasn’t far behind at $74,876, followed by Overman ($54,410) and White ($9,718.22).

Chiaramonte, who stopped in at the Neighborhood News office to talk county politics with editor Gary Nager, has been the executive director of the county’s Planning Commission, Metropolitan Planning Organization and most recently, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA, from which he elected not to renew his contract last year).

He says that as a lifelong Hillsborough resident and regional transportation specialist, he is the candidate in the best position to help focus on the transportation issues throughout our area. Look for more of Gary’s interview with Chiaramonte in these pages if he wins the primary.

Republican Aakash Patel, however, has raised more than all of them combined. With a $381,594 war chest (that tops half a million dollars when you include money raised by his political committee, Elevate Tampa), Patel also has some big-time endorsements from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, State House Speaker Richard Corcoran, former Speaker Will Weatherford and Congressman Gus Bilirakis.

His opponent on August 28, attorney Todd Marks, had raised $138,866.

School Board primary elections also will be held, though not for New Tampa’s District 3 seat, currently held by Cindy Stuart. However, a countywide seat in District 6 (to replace April Griffin) is up for grabs, and a field of six candidates will contend for the spot on Primary Day.