If there is one hole in the growing Wesley Chapel dining scene, it might be the lack of a true seafood place.
That hole will be getting partially filled soon.
A Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar is in the process of being built in the same mini-plaza as the recently opened Chicken Salad Chick next to the Costco off S.R. 56 on the extension of Wesley Chapel Blvd.
The 4,162-sq.ft. oyster bar will have a 535-sq.-ft. patio and started the permitting process in July.
Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar has 10 locations in North Carolina and four in South Carolina, as well as single locations in Maryland, Georgia, Illinois and Texas.
The Wesley Chapel location, which is expected to be casual and no-frills like its other locations, is part of a Florida expansion that will add new restaurants in the Space Coast and Ocala areas.
Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar’s go-to items are the oysters on the half shell, although they also are served steamed and chargrilled. Other seafood items include scallops, ahi tuna, shrimp, snow crab legs and calamari, as well as American bar staples like chicken wings, burgers, fries and macaroni and cheese bites.
Tacos, po-boy sandwiches and shrimp ‘n grits also are on the menu, and, of course, beer and cocktails.
For more information, visit TheShuckinShack.com.
Also, in the same area, we told you in July but now it’s official — Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse, has posted a sign saying “Coming Soon!” in front of the At Home store just south and across the road from Costco.
Rodizio Grill was the first authentic Brazilian steakhouse or “churrascaria” in the U.S. established in 1995 by Ivan Utrera. There is a location in Sarasota.
For more information, visit RodizioGrill.com. — JCC
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) has big plans to expand its cancer services, breaking ground on Sept. 20 on a new facility at the southwest corner of Hueland Pond Blvd. and S.R. 56, just east of Beach House Assisted Living.
Currently located in a 5,000-sq.-ft. building on Tanic Dr. (off Cypress Ridge Blvd.), FCS’s new center will be two stories and 45,000 square feet. That is even larger than the 28,000-sq.-ft. Moffitt Cancer Center at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, which opened in May 2021.
The new FCS building will offer expanded cancer care patient access of the first floor, plus 27 exam rooms and more than 65 treatment chairs, with both semi-private and private infusion suites for those receiving chemo treatments.
The latest clinical trials also will be available at the new FCS center once it is established.
“We have a rich history in Florida, with almost 38 years of caring for cancer patients, and we are really proud of our mission of world class care close to home,” said chief operating officer Jason Coe (far left in photo). “This is what we do — we bring care close to home so patients don’t have to travel.”
The FCS building is expected to be completed by early 2024. — JCC
Townhalls and other community meetings may sound boring to many, but sometimes, they produce action that otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Alexandra Gilmore, a Tampa Palms resident since 2007, attended one hosted by Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and other city planners back in 2020 and when she took the mic, she wanted to know why there weren’t more — or any, actually — public basketball courts in New Tampa.
Her boys, Caleb and Bryce, had searched for places to play, but were always booted off the courts.
“You have to live in a community that has them, or a certain neighborhood, or have a membership somewhere,” Alexandra remembers telling city officials. She told Viera and the others there were courts and space behind Liberty Middle School that could be used but were fenced off to keep kids out.
“Why can’t those be public?,” she asked.
It was a great question, and one that finally got answered on Aug. 25, when the Tampa City Council voted 5-0 to pitch in with the Hillsborough County School District to spend $1 million to upgrade the aged tennis courts behind Liberty.
Gilmore had no idea her suggestion had even become a reality until the Neighborhood News called her.
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “You’re kidding me! This is absolutely amazing!”
Gilmore stayed in touch with Viera via email while the councilman did the pushing behind the scenes to initiate the project. The Tampa City Council agreed to enter into an interlocal agreement with the School District to improve some of the athletic facilities that adjoin Liberty and Freedom High.
The current facilities — six hard court tennis courts — between the two schools will receive a new design and a court cover to shield those playing from the elements.
The “all-fields facility,” as it is called, will feature three resurfaced and outfitted courts for basketball, tennis, pickleball or volleyball, depending on the needs. The other three existing tennis courts will be replaced by an artificial multi-purpose turf field and will be covered. Restrooms also will be a part of the new facility.
The School District will control access to the fields and their usage — most likely for recess and other school-related activities — during daytime hours when Liberty and Freedom are in session. The city will control public access in the evening hours and on weekends.
“Utilizing unused school space for recreation activities for the larger communities, including basketball…is going to be a great thing,” said Viera, who represents the New Tampa area in District 7.
The cost of upgrading the courts is expected to be roughly $1 million, and the City Council voted that the city would pay up to 50 percent, or $500,000, of those costs, using Capital Improvement Plan funds.
During the public comments portion of the City Council meeting, only one person, South Tampa’s Stephanie Poynter, commented and she was in favor of making the courts open to the public.
“If the City of Tampa is paying half for the basketball courts at Liberty and Freedom schools, those courts should be accessible 24 hours a day if the schools are not in session,” she said. “This is the only place I have ever lived where every single school has a fence between it and the kids who live around it. I’ll never understand that.”
Before the vote took place, the motion was pulled for discussion by District 3 Council member Lynn Hurtak. She favored the interlocal agreement, and asked that the city’s Parks & Recreation Department explore more opportunities like this.
“How when many of us when we were kids, that at our neighborhood school, after school, we could go play on the playground, in the field, on the basketball courts, do it on the weekends, do it all summer?,” Hurtak asked. “Now, with the advent of school shootings, many of those open spaces have been fenced off for student security, and they don’t allow the public to utilize those facilities, which is a bigger strain on our parks system. So, when I saw this interlocal agreement, I was really excited about it. “
Viera made a point of crediting Gilmore during the meeting.
“This is going to be a wonderful thing,” Viera told the Council.
Gilmore agrees.
“I remember a couple of people reached out to me after that meeting in 2020 to thank me,” said Gilmore, who was running for the Hillsborough County School Board at the time. “This will be great for kids in the local neighborhoods to have a place to play.”
Is the proposed recreation center at Cross Creek Park a slam dunk (preferably on an indoor basket in a potential air-conditioned facility!), as District 2 Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan hopes?
You would think so, considering the $8-million price tag and number of proposed amenities for what would be the first county-owned public indoor recreation center in New Tampa.
At the very least, it’s a three-point swish, according to online polling.
As the county proceeds on the new upgrades at Cross Creek Park, which is located next to Pride Elementary (at 19025 Bassett Creek Dr.), it continues to gauge support for the endeavor.
The project would potentially include things like an indoor facility for basketball, volleyball and pickleball (as well as senior and adult programming), bathrooms and after-school and summer programs for children, a new shaded playground and upgraded outdoor basketball court, a splash pad, a walking trail and more.
Of the 179 responses filled out online, 84% of respondents said they were in favor of the upgrades at the park, 10% were opposed and 7% percent said they were undecided.
When it came to what amenities respondents were most interested in, 66% wanted an upgraded playground, 64% favored a recreation center with programming, 59% wanted a walking trail, 55% wanted a splash pad and 35% chose some of the other amenities.
One of the respondents wrote that they would like to see more of the wide-open field — which gets a lot of use by people playing soccer, cricket, flag football and flying kites — preserved, despite early renderings showing that much of it would be eliminated and replaced by a retention pond under the county’s plan.
A lot of commentors agreed and suggested that the pond could be moved across the street to replace two overgrown baseball fields that are almost never used.
Others loved the idea of upgrades, and chimed in with their own suggestions, most of them advocating for a skate park, dog park or tennis courts.
However, when the county held a public input meeting on Aug. 15 in the lunchroom at Pride Elementary, only five residents, including two couples, attended. Most of the questions at that meeting centered around preserving the park’s green space.
Pride principal Paulette English attended the meeting that night, and voiced her support.
“I think it’s a very positive thing for the community and school as well,” English said. “It opens some after-school programs for kids that they don’t otherwise have access to, and having staff there will keep it a safer place for kids to be.”
English said that her school gets a lot of requests for after-school programs and club-type activities. The school offered a drama and tennis club this year “and it filled up just like that,” she said.
Pride has waiting lists of roughly 30 students for each of those clubs.
While Hagan said the online support for the rec center has been great, K-Bar Ranch resident Beth Bodai was one of the residents at an Aug. 22 community meeting in K-Bar Ranch attended by Hagan (story on pg. 4) who questioned whether the county would be able to handle a new park. Cross Creek Park has a dirt parking lot, overgrown baseball fields and no bathrooms, along with other issues.
“It sounds fantastic, but who will maintain it, because you haven’t maintained what you have now,” Bodai said.
Bodai also said that the park is often called the “Forgotten Park” by residents. She cited the dirt parking lot and lack of lighting at night, leading to a number of cars parking in the unpatrolled lot after dark, the porta-potties being turned over numerous times every weekend, and the playground equipment being too hot, due to a lack of shade, so that it can’t be used. “And the (baseball) fields are a disgrace,” she said.
Hagan explained that the county would maintain the upgraded park, at a cost of roughly $100,000 a year, and would employ full-time attendants.
He even said he would look into having the parking lot lights installed now.
However, another resident in attendance at the K-Bar Ranch meeting expressed concern the park would end up being a burden to taxpayers. And Bodai, who said she hopes the park is everything Hagan says it will be, is still a skeptic.
Hagan promised it would be a facility that K-Bar Ranch (a City of Tampa development) and the rest of New Tampa would be proud of. “I can tell you, If NT doesn’t want this facility, I promise you there are a million other communities that will,” he said.
Regardless of whether Cross Creek Park gets upgraded, the traffic and road study that comes with the planning could result in the kind of positive change that those who drive in the area have been seeking. Many of those who participated in the online forum (see next pg.) said the area’s already tangled transportation woes prevented them from fully supporting the new park.
If Hagan wants his slam dunk, that will have to be an issue that gets resolved in conjunction with a new rec center.
“And we understand that,” he says. “We’re taking a close look at everything.”
LOCALS CHIME IN Here are some of the online comments submitted for local (presumably) residents on what they think of the new upgrades proposed for Cross Creek Park, and what other things they would like to see at the park.
It would be great for the gym to have pickleball courts. Adding lights to the basketball courts would also be a plus, as a lot of kids play basketball there in the evenings. For being a little park it gets a lot of use. (Would) love to see these improvements going in.
New Tampa desperately needs public tennis courts and public soccer fields (doesn’t have to be regulation size). Benito soccer fields are under lock and key by the Chargers program and not available for public use.
There are no public tennis courts in this area. Need one in this park.
Please add a skate park!!
I think this is a brilliant plan! This is a major community that needs these improvements. The splash pad intrigues me the most. Considering we live in the Sunshine State, there aren’t many places to cool down for kids. I also agree with everyone on an updated playground with shade!
Park definitely needs an update. Splash pad would be great for those hot summers. None nearby.
Love this idea! The current playground is run down, it needs an upgrade as it’s used daily (by) neighborhood kids. An adjacent splash pad seems like a great idea, too, as those are popular in many other communities across Tampa. The area is in desperate need of lighting also.
I would like to see a dog park, and obviously more covered picnic tables with bathroom facilities
Many people use the extensive field space currently for field sports such as ultimate frisbee, football, soccer, cricket, baseball, kickball, and others. It appears that the proposed plan will cut down on field space to the point that field sports will not have enough space to be played. As a hub for local kids playing sports, this field space is particularly important as it is the only park with this space in the area.
Shaded play area is needed
Paved parking lot and shaded areas.
Why would we need additional basket ball courts while we have two existing courts?
Tennis court and a leveled kickball field
The parking lot needs to be paved and there needs to be restrooms. Shaded play area. Litter pick up not just trash can pickup because people can’t put trash in trash cans.
Please add more trees
The roadway is already too crowded by the park. Consideration would need to be taken if any changes are to be made, to deal with additional traffic.
The traffic by this area is already too much. This will cause too much congestion and people who live in Basset Creek will (have) too much traffic traveling in and out of their home area.
Please preserve the open field space at Cross Creek Park. Numerous individuals and organized groups regularly use the space for games and training. Move the retention pond, parking lot, and building across the street.
This “improvement” is a terrible idea. The park is already amazing and I use it all the time with my friends. We love the large field that we can play any sport on, as well as exercise. Sprint workouts, football, frisbee, kickball, baseball and many other sports are only possible because of these fields. You cannot play on a small field, rec center, or retention pond.
Paint the basketball courts so it’s smoother and not the basic concrete.
This is a great plan to upgrade the park. It does look very old.
Traffic is high speed through there, and there’s already school traffic. Plus additional traffic from current development in KBar 3 and 4. People currently can take their dogs there to exercise, and it would limit the park to children’s use primarily. There’s already a city park being developed in KBar and Mistflower (?) for kids.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan discusses a new park and traffic study at a recent meeting with K-Bar Ranch residents. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Like almost every school in Tampa, Pride Elementary has traffic issues during drop-off and pick-up times.
Residents in K-Bar Ranch whose children attend the school may be receiving some relief, as the city and county are conducting a number of projects and studies in the area.
In another of Tampa City Council member Luis Viera’s community meetings on Aug. 22, residents had many of their concerns addressed by a panel of experts that the District 7 representative assembled, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan (who represents the New Tampa area for the county in Dist. 2), Dist. 6 Hillsborough School Board member Karen Perez and transportation and mobility experts from the city and county.
The hour-long meeting seemed to provide the answers, or reassurance that answers were being sought, that came from roughly 50 residents in attendance.
• The long-awaited Meadow Pointe Blvd. connector to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is now open, officially. It opened Aug. 30, a week after the meeting, but those in attendance were already told it would only be a matter of days.
The new connection now allows area residents a quick 4- or 5-minute drive to S.R. 56, just east of the Shops at Wiregrass. AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Hospital, I-75 and the Winn-Dixie and Super Target on County Line Rd. also are now a much shorter trip.
Other connections which were planned for years are coming, Vik Bhide, the City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer said, but it may take a while for any of them to open. Other topics of discussion included:
• K-Bar residents still pine for a Kinnan St.-Mansfield Blvd. connection, which is now open only to emergency response vehicles and police. Area residents always bring up the topic, and this meeting was no different. They were told by Viera and Hagan to pin their hopes on the recent primary elections. Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, a strong opponent of the connection, is leaving office, and his anticipated replacement Seth Weightman (the Republican nominee facing only a write-in candidate on Nov. 8) may be more amenable to the idea of opening the connection to all traffic, although that remains an unlikely scenario.
• Street lights may be on the way for Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. past Pride and to entrances at both K-Bar Ranch and Live Oak Preserve. At past meetings, residents have complained that the street is dangerous due to speeders, which is heightened by the lack of lighting. According to Josh Bellotti, the Hillsborough County director of engineering and operations, the county is working closely with Tampa Electric (TECO) and coming up with designs. “A rough estimate is that in about six months, I think you’ll see lights,” Bellotti said.
• It was suggested that the school zone be extended around Pride Elementary, and speed limits in the area be made more uniform. That continues to be studied by the City of Tampa.
• A Hillsborough County traffic study is under way in advance of the possibility of a massive upgrade of Cross Creek Park, which would include an indoor recreation center, updated playgrounds and outdoor basketball courts, a new parking lot and other amenities. The rec center and other amenities, which will cost roughly $8-million, would be built next to Pride, an area of high traffic in the morning and afternoons.
“I want to address the community transportation problem on the front end so we don’t exacerbate it,” said Commissioner Hagan. “This is a real opportunity to improve the current situation.”
If there is one hole in the growing Wesley Chapel dining scene, it might be the lack of a true seafood place.
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) has big plans to expand its cancer services, breaking ground on Sept. 20 on a new facility at the southwest corner of Hueland Pond Blvd. and S.R. 56, just east of Beach House Assisted Living.
