Shops at Wiregrass Mall Offers Diversity With Latest Offerings

Vom Fass casks.
Vom Fass casks. Shops at Wiregrass Mall .
Vom Fass casks, coming soon to the Shops at Wiregrass Mall.

The Shops at Wiregrass mall in Wesley Chapel will welcome a handful of new stores in the coming months, and while Wiregrass officials aren’t looking to compete with bigger malls like Westfield Brandon, the latest batch of new choices for area shoppers gives the local mall a unique mix that general manager Greg Lenners thinks will continue to make it a prime destination.

Currently seeking an alcohol permit for tastings, Vom Fass is slated to open sometime this spring. Construction already has begun on the store, which will be near Macy’s and the mall’s Center Court.

Vom Fass, which takes it’s name from the German phrase “from the cask”, will offer premium culinary oils, traditional balsamic oils and vinegars, vinegar specialties, and exclusive fruit balsamic vinegars, as well as rare spirits and liqueurs and a boutique selection of wines. Many of the store’s products are cask-aged and stored in cask pyramids.

“What’s made us great for the community is the diverse mix of retailers we’ve always carried here,’’ Lenners said. “It’s kind of a unique blend of stores. We thought Vom Fass would be a perfect fit. No one in the area that has that kind of store.”

This will be the seventh Von Fass store in Florida; the closest ones are located in Sarasota and St. Petersburg.

Candy, 3D And More On Tap For Shops at Wiregrass Mall

Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop also is coming this spring, to Suite #115, near JC Penney.

Founded in 2007 in California, Rocket Fizz has become the largest and fastest-growing soda and candy shop brand in the country, according to its website. The 74 stores nationwide all offer a massive selection of candy, soda, retro and gag gifts, concert and movie posters and tin signs.

“A pretty cool concept, in my opinion,’’ Lenners said. “It’s got a 1950s, specialty convenience store feel to it.”

3D Musketeers Printing, offering custon color-printed three-dimensional figurines, is expected to open by the end of the month.

And as we were the first to report back in January, this fall will see the Wesley Chapel debut of Irish 31. The popular restaurant is referred to as “The People’s Pub” by their customers and dubbed “Irish-plus-gourmet” by Neighborhood News publisher and foodie Gary Nager.

Irish31 in Hyde Park. Shops at Wiregrass Mall.
Irish31 in Hyde Park. Construction has begun on a location at the Shops at Wiregrass Mall.

Irish 31 is being built next to Panera Bread. Lenners said he thinks the mall has already hit a home run with its food offerings, and Irish 31 only strengthens that opinion.

Visionworks, which has roughly 700 optical retail stores in 40 states, is expected to open this fall as well. Construction has begun on the building, which will be across from Moe’s Southwest Grill on the S.R. 56 side of the mall.

Another tenant will share that property (though Lenners was unable to announce it at our press time because the lease hasn’t been signed).

A few stores that have recently opened include Lola Perfume, located in Suite #160 (next to Hollister), and Soleciety Sneaker Boutique,which sells collectible athletic shoes from around the globe, in Suite #170 (next to Zales), and has only been open a few weeks.

For more information about the Shops at Wiregrass, visit TheShopsAtWiregrass.com.

Would Incorporating Wesley Chapel As A City Be Of Interest To You?

Russ Miller. Wesley Chapel Incorporation
Russ Miller

When Ernie Monaco, the director of planning for Pasco County, tossed out the idea — during a meeting to discuss borders — to representatives from the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) last month that they might want to revisit the idea of incorporation, he got the attention of Russ Miller.

“I was surprised to hear that from a county employee,’’ said Miller, often credited with creating the WCCC, although he says he was one of six co-founders, “just the loudest.”

The mention of incorporation took Miller, who was at the meeting to discuss Wesley Chapel’s boundaries, on a trip down memory lane.

In 2003, Miller and fellow WCCC member Jim Williams led a charge to incorporate Wesley Chapel, hoping to turn the quickly-growing Census Designated Place (CDP) into a full-fledged city, with its own government and its own rules, particularly in the areas of land use and zoning.

The incorporated municipality (which can be referred to as a city, town or village) of Wesley Chapel would have extended eight miles east and west from Cypress Creek Rd. to Morris Bridge Rd., and eight miles north and south from County Line Rd. to Elam Rd. (which is roughly three miles north of S.R. 54).

The proposed municipality would have included all of the developments in Wesley Chapel at the time — Lexington Oaks, Meadow Pointe, Northwood, Quail Hollow, New River Township, Saddlebrook and Seven Oaks.

Miller, who lived in Wesley Chapel from 1981-2009 before moving to Palatka, hired a firm to help with a feasibility study.

The effort, which at the time would have taken 11 percent of Pasco County’s land area and included 28,000 residents and 10,000 homes, didn’t get very far and ultimately failed.

Miller said the developers and local daily newspapers were against it, and time was short to get a referendum approved ahead of the 2004 elections.

Also, the idea of another layer of property taxes (to fund a potential city government) did not appeal to some residents, especially since Pasco was already requesting a 1-cent increase in the county sales tax to be on the 2004 ballot.

Even the WCCC effectively came out against incorporation.

“We were just a group of lay people who saw a benefit in incorporating Wesley Chapel,’’ Miller said. “But, we didn’t have the money to fight the developers and the people in the community who were against it, and we got negative press. I have people still say to me, ‘Why did you stop?’ Now, they’re sorry.”

Miller says he just recently threw out all of the paperwork from that failed attempt. However, he still thinks incorporation is the way to go, and doing so would surely settle the long-standing border dispute with Lutz-Land O’Lakes.

“It’s never bad to control your own destiny,’’ Miller says. “Residents get a total say on how the community’s future will look. Now, where is the power? The county government. And where are they located? West Pasco controls it.”

Could a Wesley Chapel incorporation effort succeed today?

In Pasco, 450,000 of the county’s 490,000 residents live in unincorporated areas, meaning decisions about their land, police and schools are made by the county government.

Pasco County only has six municipalities: the cities of New Port Richey, Port Richey, San Antonio, Dade City, Zephyrhills and the town of Saint Leo.

In the 2010 census, Wesley Chapel’s population was listed at 44,092, a number that has grown and at the time was already nearly three times greater than the next largest city (New Port Richey, 14,934) and more populous than all of the other cities and towns put together.

“Had we succeeded, Wesley Chapel (today) would be the biggest and most powerful city in the entire county,’’ Miller laments.

While the WCCC came out against the incorporation efforts in 2003, none of those members are among the more than 500 the Chamber claims today.

“We don’t have an official stance,’’ says WCCC CEO Hope Allen, but she said it may be revisited by the Chamber’s current Board of Directors.

Pulling off incorporation won’t necessarily be any easier today. It takes money and lawyers, a feasibility study that can take up to two years to complete and will need the support of the local State legislative delegation, who would then bring it to the full state legislature, which could then approve it through a special act and put it on a referendum on the ballot.

“I saw an awful lot of interest from the chamber leaders two weeks ago,’’ Miller says about the Feb. 19 meeting. “If they were serious, and wanted to spend the money to promote it, I’d give it a 50-50 chance. But, it’s got to be sold to the residents. And, you need a cast iron stomach and the financial wherewithal to fight the battles.

He adds, “I absolutely would like to live long enough to see the day when Wesley Chapel is incorporated!”

Wharton’s Terrific Trio Eyeing A State Girls Track Championship

By Andy Warrener

whartontrackFollowing an offseason fueled by disappointment, Wharton junior hurdler Aria Tate is ready to shine.

The budding star, already off to a great start in the track and field season, is looking ahead to a breakout season. She came close last year, almost capturing a state title in the 200 meters as a sophomore. But, in the time it practically takes Tate to blink her eyes, her shot at gold slipped away, as she finished second by .08 seconds.

This year, Tate will focus on her specialty — the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, an event she routinely wins in Hillsborough County and one in which her father, Heanon, thinks she can be a star when she gets to college.

Heanon, after all, would know. A pastor at Force of Life International in Tampa Palms, Heanon was a star running back at Gaffney High School in South Carolina before running the sprints and hurdles at South Carolina State.

Heanon’s son, Auden, was a star wide receiver for Wharton, and is now at Florida State.

He sees his daughter as having the same athletic potential.

“I think she could excel at the next level in the 400m hurdles,” Heanon said.

Tate will be one to watch today at the third annual Wharton Wildcat Invitational. Field events begin at 8:20 a.m., and the running finals start at 4:30 p.m. (or 45 minutes after the completion of prelims).

Heanon, who has volunteered with the track team since his family moved here from South Carolina four years ago, is a first-year full-time assistant coach under Wharton track coach Anthony Triana. The former college star helps out with all of the sprinters and hurdlers — his specialty — but he will keep a close eye on Aria.

Tate is fast becoming a top-flight hurdler. She was sixth at the state meet in the 100m hurdles last season as a sophomore, and just ran the 55-meter hurdles in 8.37 seconds at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational indoor meet in Gainesville in March. That was good enough for third-place in the 17-19 age group, behind Dunedin’s Olivia Welsh, who was third last year at the Class 2A State Championship, and Royal Palm Beach’s Faith Lee.

Holt1 copyFor Tate, who usually starts slow and relies on her strong finishes to win races, her 8.37 was an encouraging number for a shorter event, evidence she improved last offseason on her initial burst out of the blocks. Her best time in the 100 hurdles is 14.49, but that won’t be enough to win states.

What will help, however, will be Triana’s plan to give her some more rest in between events. Highly versatile and able to run 5-6 different races, last year’s meet schedule during the postseason could be grueling. Last season, Tate focused on the 100 hurdles and the 100 dash. Those events are practically back-to-back at a track meet, with only a brief respite, thanks to the boys 110-meter hurdles in between.

“I think my times would have been better if I would have had more time to rest (in between events),” Tate said. “You try to rest (in between the 100m hurdles and the 100m dash) but there’s just not that much time, you have to get back to the line for the race.”

The 100 and 330 hurdles, however, are separated by enough events that Tate will be fresh for both.

Tate’s excellence in the hurdles will make the Wharton girls track & field team even more dangerous this season. Along with fellow juniors Avonti Holt and Searra Woods, the trio have many of the sprinting events covered, and they also run on a 4×400 relay (seventh at state last year) together that should challenge the school record. Holt and Woods were both also on the 4x800m relay that took third at the state meet.

“Those three have been leaders on this team for the last three years and they each excel in their own way,” Triana says. “If we didn’t have any one of the three of them, it’d be a different team.”

The Wildcats opened their track season at the Wharton Quad Meet, running against Freedom, Wiregrass Ranch and Bloomingdale. Tate only competed in the 400-meter dash (which is expected to help her build endurance for the hurdles races in the bigger, more important meets) and finished a few seconds behind her teammate Woods. Wharton won 10 of the 16 events.

“The biggest key with our team is the versatility of those three,” Triana said. “These three can go up and cover eight events between them.”

Boys Not Too Shabby, Either

The Wharton boys may not have the star power the girls do, but they had a solid quad meet as well.

Sophomore Noah Damjanovic won the 1600- and 3200-meter runs (in 4:51.33 and 10:19.97, respectively), sophomores Sahil Deschenes and Dennarius Murphy finished 1-2 in the 800, and junior Desmond Williams ran a 45.71 to win the 300m hurdles.

FreedomTrackThe Freedom track and field program is re-building in 2016, with head coach Lyn Gross taking over both the boys and girls squads. Gross has been the boys coach for the last five years and takes over the full team with assistant Miranda Calloway. Gross, a two-time state champion as a member of the 4×100 relay team for Suwannee High School, says he has between 50 and 60 athletes out for the start of track season.

Returners Isiah Smith, Christian Simmons, Trent Burnett and Richard Lush will be looked to help try and keep pace with their New Tampa rivals at Wharton.

Smith captured the 200 at the Wharton Quad Meet, winning in 23.21 seconds, and Xaiver Hardy (with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches) and Demetrius Jones (5’-6”) finished 1-2 in the high jump for the top individual Patriot finishes, while the 4×100 and 4×400 relays teams also posted wins.

The Patriot boys could see some reinforcements now that the basketball team’s season ended with a loss to Bartow in the regional semifinals on Feb. 16. Gross said that he will most likely get Freedom hoops star Nasir Core out for the track team, particularly in the jumps, to help bolster the lineup.

On the girls side, Rachel Chapper will handle the jumps, and she specializes in the high jump. The junior was the only Patriot girl to win an event at the quad meet, jumping 4’-10” to win the high jump.

Sophomore middle distance runner Dana Elkalazani, who was part of Freedom’s state-qualifying 4×400 relay last season, was second in the 1600 (in a time of 5:43.58) and third in the 800 (2:32.46) at the Wharton quad meet.

 

Hunter’s Green Country Club’s Tennis & Athletic Center Is Getting A Makeover

niniIn the first six weeks of 2016, none of the 300 or so clubs under the Club Corp. of America (CCA) umbrella has grown as fast or added as many new members as Hunter’s Green Country Club, says general manager Dave Taylor.

That could just be the beginning of a great story. Taylor has revealed that HGCC’s Tennis & Athletic Center (TAC), tucked just inside the main gates of the Hunter’s Green community off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., and a few hundred yards southwest of the main clubhouse and Tom Fazio-designed golf course, is about to begin a “seven-figure renovation” that is going to do more than just put a fresh coat of paint on a facility that is starting to show its age a little bit.

“Before we’ve even done the renovations and before even any of this got out, we’ve had momentum with the club,’’ Taylor said. “We lead the entire company in member growth for the first six weeks of the year…it’s the first time Hunter’s Green has ever seen anything like that. So, that’s very good for us.”

Taylor says the TAC facelift, which follows the substantial renovations at the main clubhouse’s restaurant and bar area, known as Fazio’s Grille, will add amenities on par with some of the new housing developments (he used Estancia at Wiregrass Ranch as an example) going up in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel that offer lavish clubhouses and pools geared towards the family experience.

In addition to the 17 clay tennis courts, which aren’t included in the renovation plans, the TAC will soon boast things like a re-invented café with expanded hours and an emphasis on a quality menu, a new weight room, a new-look pool plus miniature golf and a water slide.

While you don’t have to live in Hunter’s Green to be a member of HGCC, the area within a five-mile radius continues to see growth — in much of Wesley Chapel and K-Bar Ranch in particular — thus making the market on comfort and family-friendly experiences competitive.

Taylor says the TAC’s Center Court Cafe will be completely rebuilt, with a more rustic scheme, bigger TVs, more events and better food. An outside area will be remodeled and will include a new fire pit. The pool will lose the long green awning that covers half of the deck area. They will be replaced by four individual cabanas with electricity, fans and poolside food and beverage service.

With the goal of having plenty to do for new families who can spend their weekends at the club , the kiddie pool is being replaced by a splash pad, all new furniture will line the deck and one of the highlights of the renovations — a 10-foot-high water slide with a 45-foot-long flume — will be added.

Taylor says the pool renovations should be completed by Memorial Day, where it will be unveiled for the TAC’s annual Memorial Day Bash, which he says draws the biggest crowd each year to the pool.

Next to the 25-meter junior Olympic heated pool (which is big enough that it hosts a multitude of junior and even high school swim meets), a small 6-hole miniature golf course will be built, and next to that will be an activity area with field turf for after-school campers and other on-site sports programs.

“Our membership is getting younger, and this is what they want,’’ Taylor says. “They want the splash pads and they want the water slides and they want the miniature golf. They want the ability to be able to have a café restaurant that is open with pool service so they can bring the kids and still hang out themselves.”

A former professional golfer on the PGA’s Nationwide Tour, Taylor joined Hunter’s Green in 2014 after stints as director of operations at East Lake Woodlands in Tarpon Springs and general manager at The Club at Hidden Creek in Navarre, FL. At Hidden Creek, he spearheaded the rebuilding and redesign of all 18 greens on the golf course, and at East Lake Woodlands, he helped improve service. At Hunter’s Green, he already has done similar work on the golf course and the club house.

“If you get the right employee partners, and get them happy, that carries over to the members, they start using the club more and the club is better off financially,’’ Taylor said. “If you don’t have the first two legs of the stool, the third won’t happen.”

The third leg, in this case, is the TAC.

The current café is expected to draw bigger crowds upon its completion sometime this summer. The exercise room will have all of its current equipment replaced by new more modern machines and weights. The spinning (indoor cycling) room, one of the TAC’s more popular destinations, will be re-done with all new cycles. The men’s and women’s locker rooms will get a fresh look as well, and the all-purpose room where exercise and yoga classes are held daily — the classes are included in the membership cost — also will be refinished.

Aesthetically, Taylor says the TAC will be a more welcoming facility, with a newly designed entrance, a larger pro shop and an open design with plenty to offer the family, inside and out.

“We’re providing a lifestyle,’’ says head tennis pro Allegra Campos. “It’s going to be a family-style, safe environment where everyone can get into the act.”

Taylor says he is currently going through the permitting process for the work to be done, and that he expects it all to be completed by the end of this summer.

“There’s a lot of excitement about it,’’ Taylor says. “(Some) people are still like, ‘Yeah yeah, we’ve heard it all before,’ but I tell them, ‘Look, it’s done, and it’s happening.’ We’re moving pretty quickly.”

The HGCC Tennis & Athletic Center is located at 18050 Hunters Oak Ct. For more information, visit ClubCorp.com/Clubs/Hunter-s-Green-Country-Club/Amenities/Tennis or call 973-4220. For membership information, call Ann Pereira at 973-1000, ext. 237.

WRH Cross Country Program ‘Wins’ $700 From ‘Wobble’

Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot officials recently presented a $700 check to the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) cross country teams, winners in the newly established team school competition at the yearly event.

At the third annual Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot 5K, held on Thanksgiving Day at the Shops of Wiregrass mall, the Bulls runners logged the fastest average time of any high school in the boys category (19 minutes, 11 seconds) for the 3.1-mile race.

WRH also won with the most number of participants with 38 runners. For winning both categories, the cross country program, coached by Don Howard, won the $700.

The check was presented to Coach Howard and his runners by Rotary Club of New Tampa (RCNT) president Lesley Zajac, RCNT secretary Craig DiCecco and FITniche (the running and fitness store in the mall) general manager Brian Brink, who all helped organize the yearly event.