The Grove Is Getting Back Into The Groove!

A mini golf course, being built by Ryan Mortti (who also happens to own the new Mahana Fresh restaurant in New Tampa), is currently in the design phase in The Grove at Wesley Chapel and could break ground by early September.

The course will be in front of The Grove theater and will be visible from I-75. According to Mortti, the course will feature a Hawaiian theme, with tiki huts and other tropical and water features.

By day, the course will keep golfers shielded from the sun with overhead sail shades and, at night, the holes will be illuminated with neon lights and glow-in-the-dark flags and balls.

“We’re looking to make it as comfortable as possible,” says Mortti. “We’d like to see at least 70 percent of it or so covered for shade.”

DON’T AXE ME WHEN: The Kilted Axe, plagued by permitting issues and a few aborted grand openings due to issues related to Covid-19, now has new owners.

Former minority partners in the Kilted Axe Brian and Rebecca DeCook have purchased the axe-throwing venue from previous primary owners Michael and Alicia Esenwein and hope to have it open sometime this month, with leagues beginning in mid-September.

The Kilted Axe, originally cast as a hip beer-and-wine bar and hangout for axe-throwing enthusiasts, as well as a venue for corporate events and leagues, was the first project to break ground within The Grove since the 200-acre retail development was purchased by developer Mark Gold, and it appeared ready to open on time back in January, when its original opening was scheduled. More than 3,700 people replied on Facebook that they were interested in attending that opening.

Permitting issues caused a delay in those plans, and a smaller, soft opening was held in February. An official ribbon cutting, later scheduled for March 7 and then moved to March 28, was then scrapped due to Covid-19 concerns.

The new owners say they plan to carry out the original plans. Rebecca says the most noticeable changes will be inside, where the facility’s original rustic look is getting a makeover into something more upscale and “more Armature Works-style, something that fits into the aesthetics here (at the Grove).”

Otherwise, the original vibe is expected to be the same.

“We plan on making the Kilted Axe something fun and something the community will get behind,” Brian says. “It’s going to be safe, healthy and fun. We think it’s a great business idea and that it’s going to be very successful.”

FEEL THE POWER: Power Martial Arts is the latest business to open in The Grove.

Owned by martial arts master instructors Matt Brown and his wife Lori, who have been teaching at Avalon Park and other locations in and around Wesley Chapel the past five years, Power Martial Arts began holding classes on July 20.

Matt, a 6th degree black belt (Lori is a 7th degree black belt), said he has been eyeing The Grove location for years, but due to inaction in the development, held off while teaching in Lake Bernadette in Zephyrhills and Avalon Park. “We think now that Mark bought the Grove, this is a really good location,” he says. 

The Browns started Power Martial Arts in 2006 in Billings, MT, before moving to Florida. They teach five different martial arts styles, from Jiu-Jitsu to Tang Soo Do, or Korean Karate. They offer classes for children, teens and adults, as well as family classes. Classes in other self-defense methods and anti-bullying safety also are available.

Power Martial Arts is located at 6027 Wesley Grove Blvd., Suite 201. For additional information, visit PowerMartialArts.com.

The Grove Theater Getting A Major Makeover

When CMX, the parent company of Cobb Theatres and CineBistro, filed for bankruptcy in April, citing the damage done by the coronavirus, it officially brought to an end Wesley Chapel’s popular movie theater in The Grove.

It also, however, has ushered in a new opportunity.

Developer Mark Gold, whose Mishorim Gold Properties owns The Grove, is remaking the popular 85,000-sq.-ft. movie theater into something that he says will be bigger and better.

“I am bringing something for the whole family,” he says. And, don’t worry, he adds, the new project will still be a movie theater, it’ll just be, “unlike any you have seen before.”

To name a few of the major changes: Instead of 16 movie screens (and roughly 3,000 seats), there will be 12 screens, with at least one or two dedicated to children. The additional space freed up by consolidating the screens will be used to create a video game area that Gold says will resemble the popular arcade and restaurant/bar Dave & Buster’s. There will be a sushi restaurant upstairs and one with more traditional American/theater food options below.

Outside, new landscaping and a mini-golf course will create an area for people to gather and make a night of it.

Gold says the entire facility will be redesigned, reimagined and most important, rejuvenated, and that there already are plans for an adjoining housing development featuring 540 townhomes and apartments.

“This is going to be an entertainment complex like no other,” says Tom Peck, the director of operations for The Grove Theater (working title).

The large arcade area — which, in most theaters, is just a small room set off to the side with a dozen or so games set up — will replace the current lobby, with games designed for teens and adults in one area, and games for younger players in another. 

At least one or two of the movie theaters will be modified to serve as a “kids zone,” with things like bean bag chairs and sofas for those watching the movie and a play area for those who’d rather climb through tubes and tunnels. The kids theater will be ideal, Gold says, for parents looking to watch a movie or enjoy dinner while their children watch something more suitable for their age.

Gold says he also is considering converting one theater into a ninja-style obstacle course for younger kids.

Before….
…and after.

The other movie theaters will carry the latest Hollywood releases and will be fitted with newer, and more comfortable, leather reclining chairs. There will be VIP theaters, will full-fledged dining options like the old CineBistro model. “The name won’t be there,” Peck says, “but the same concept will continue.”

You Still Have To Feel Safe

Gold says he is most pleased, however, with his plans to ensure safety. In an era where the Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything about the way the world does business, Gold promises that with each movie ticket, gaming pass and meal purchased, customers also will receive the one thing that will best allow them to enjoy the experience — peace of mind.

State-of-the-art cleaning equipment will be employed to keep the theater virus-free. There will be hospital-grade fog machines and ultraviolet lights to disinfect walls, floors, handles, seats and the air in between each movie, and temperature monitors at the front door that will keep those showing coronavirus symptoms from entering. 

Social distancing will be implemented, as will face masks, depending on the state of the virus when the theater opens.

“Our theater will be extremely safe,” Peck says. “It will have things in there no other company has ever been able to do because of the (costs associated with the) large number of theaters they control.” 

And, if you wonder what happens when (or if) Covid-19 finally passes, Gold says he is still playing the long game with his safety measures, because there will still be plenty of other germs out there and families will be looking to stay safer than ever in the future.

“Everyone is going to want to feel safer, more secure,” Gold says. “Even 2-4 years down the road. The idea is we will be much safer than your grocery store. This place will be 3,4, 5-times safer because we are taking all these steps.”

Only with these safety measures, Gold says, can he see his vision fulfilled, where families come out to play a round of miniature golf, enjoy a dinner together, see a movie and play some games afterwards. Instead of two hours in a theater, families can spend 4-5 hours enjoying a night of entertainment.

“It will have everything in one complex,” Gold says. “At a normal movie theater, maybe you go eat before you come, then see the movie and go somewhere else after. But, this will have everything. It’s going to be a real destination spot.”

The theater renovations, which Peck says could be completed sometime in September, are another part of a massive project at The Grove, which Gold purchased last September for $62.7 million. 

By the end of the year, The Grove is expected to have more than 60 converted and redesigned shipping containers open at the trendy KRATE by Gold Box container park, which is being built on nearly 7 acres of land just west of I-75 and east of The Grove’s big box retail stores like Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

A host of other restaurants, bars and businesses are opening now, or are expected to open soon in “The Village” portion of the 200-acre complex.

For leasing & other info, search “Grove At Wesley Chapel” on Facebook, call (407) 636-1266 or see the ad on pg. 1 of every issue of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

Teachers Concerned About Return To Classrooms

Danielle Biggs of Veterans Elementary was among many local teachers who protested having to return to brick-and-mortar schools later this month outside the July 21 Pasco School Board meeting. (Photo by Octavio Jones)

Her son had such a wonderful experience with his teachers in Pasco County that Danielle Biggs went back to school in her 20s to become one of them.

Today, she’s afraid that decision could kill her.

Like many teachers not just across the county but across the nation, Biggs, a mother of three, is preparing to get back into a Veterans Elementary classroom on August 24, when Pasco’s schools are scheduled to reopen. She is filled with trepidation, however, because she says the growing spread of Covid-19 poses a serious threat to her and her teachers and students.

“I don’t want my children to grow up without a mom because I chose to be an educator,” she says.

That is not hyperbole, she adds. While the numbers suggest that children catch the virus and are less affected by Covid-19 than adults, the fear of them spreading it to teachers (and students with underlying health conditions), and as a result the community, is frightening for Biggs.

There are countless layers and questions when it comes to reopening schools, as Florida continues to struggle with containing the virus, which is infecting more than 10,000 people a day in the Sunshine State and the death count continues to grow.

But namely, consider this: What happens if a teacher contracts the virus? What happens if a student passes it around?

And, what happens when/if someone — even one teacher or child — dies?

“It’s unsafe for us to open right now,” Biggs says. “This has me pretty emotional. The decision our governor is making is ultimately going to cost the lives of educators, and the lives of family members and students. And to me that is just unacceptable.”

Biggs’ fears are shared by other teachers. But, they have few choices. U.S. Pres. Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have pressed for schools to open, even threatening to withhold much-needed funds if they don’t, and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued a July 6 order (now being challenged in court) that a five-day-a-week traditional school option should available to all parents.

“I teach kids every day about science and repeated trials and tracking data, and what it really means to look at facts,” Biggs says. “But,what we’re getting is a lot of opinion. When the Governor says I believe that we need to do this, and it is not supported by data…and that’s not okay.”

Most teachers, citing concerns about children spreading the virus, overcrowded classrooms and keeping their students from simple things like sharing pencils or a hug, would rather see the first semester — at least until infection rate numbers decrease significantly — be online only.

They have staged protests across the state, and Biggs was one of dozens of Pasco teachers who protested outside the July 21 School Board meeting.

At that meeting, Browning told those listening that Pasco County had no choice but to follow Corcoran’s order, even though school districts in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties are opening with distance learning.

“They’re still in Phase 1, they have the latitude,” Browning said. “We are not given that latitude. We’re in Phase 2 of the Governor’s (reopening) order. In fact, the (Corcoran)’s emergency order specifically states that upon reopening in August, districts must open brick and mortar at least 5 days a week for all students. The order does not give districts any wiggle room to not open our schools. I don’t necessarily agree with the order, but it is an immaterial point.”

Teachers like Katy Powers and her husband Robert Mueller, fifth grade teachers at Denham Oaks and Sand Pine elementary schools, respectively, don’t find any solace in the Phase 2 argument, however. 

“We closed schools when we had 300 cases in the entire state,” Katy says. “We’re now here in July, and statewide we have 436,000 cases. And, that’s with kids being at home. It makes no sense to go back now.”

Robert Mueller and wife Katy Powers are both elementary school teachers in Pasco County and are concerned about returning to the classroom.

Powers and Mueller are so concerned about the dangers of returning to school — Katy has a blood pressure issue from a pregnancy three years ago that puts her at risk — they decided to put together their wills.

The United School Employees of Pasco (USEP) conducted a survey recently of its teachers and school-related personnel (SRP), and 75 percent of the 3,800 respondents felt the only way to safely begin school was through distance learning.

In a formal resolution on July 24, the USEP wrote, “In order to promote health and safety for students and staff, USEP will strongly advocate for the District to conduct schools in a Distance Learning only format until there is a 14-Day downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases.”

NOTE: After our deadline, the USEP announced it would file for a temporary injunction to the emergency order by the Department of Education. Also, in Hillsborough County, its School Board voted 5-2 in favor of online learning for the first four weeks, with plans to revisit on Sept. 8.

Colleen Beaudoin, the Pasco School Board chair, says the school year will not start online.

“A lot of people are saying they want to start “On time and online,” Beaudoin says, referring to a campaign touted by teachers as the best way forward. “That is currently not an option. One thing that is crystal clear is that we must follow the statute to receive funding, or nobody gets paid.”

Beaudoin says she has received emails from teachers who are fearful of returning to their classrooms before Covid-19 is under control, and “I’ve also heard from some (SRP) and teachers who have advocated for going back on time, (that they’re) worried about how to make ends meet.”

Biggs says of all the teachers she knows, maybe five percent have no issues about returning to school, while another five percent are looking into taking a leave of absence. The remaining 90 percent “are absolutely terrified and looking to find other opportunities.”

Many are trying to get one of the District’s online teaching positions. But, Browning says that about 65 percent of parents who made their declarations by Aug 1 wanted their kids to go back to brick-and-mortar classrooms, so there won’t be too many online jobs available.

Katy Powers will teach online, as well as in a pod at Denham Oaks. Robert applied for an online teaching position but didn’t get it, and will return to his classroom at Sand Pine.

Katy has resigned herself to the fact that schools will reopen Aug. 24, but she still hopes that Browning and the Board will look at the Covid-19 infection rates and fight harder for the safety of teachers and students.

“I’m just afraid it’ll come too late, after schools are opened, after someone passes away,” she says. “After it’s too late.”

New Tampa Road Projects Still On The Way!

A new roundabout for Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., a new coat of paving for New Tampa Blvd. and a number of new enhancements for Tampa Palms Blvd. remain in the New Tampa/District 7 pipeline for Fiscal Year 2021, according to Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.

Issues like lawsuits and Covid-19 have slowed some of the projects down.

“They’re coming, though,” Viera says. “They’re coming.”

One project that likely already would have been done, or certainly would’ve been underway by now, are the long-awaited repaving and enhancements of New Tampa Blvd., from the New Tampa Gateway Bridge to Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Long a prickly point with many West Meadows residents, the repaving was on the list of items that were supposed to be expedited after the All For Transportation (AFT) referendum passed in 2019, with 57 percent of voters agreeing to a one-cent sales tax increase to be used for transportation projects.

The New Tampa Blvd. project was slated to receive $1.3 million of the $280 million a year for 30 years the tax was expected to yield. However, Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White challenged the referendum language and it is now tied up in the Florida Supreme Court, which has yet to make a decision. A back-up plan for another referendum this fall has been postponed until 2022, as Covid-19 has taken precedence.

There is some good news — the New Tampa Blvd. project concept design is being funded by the City of Tampa. 

“However, it can’t be completed without AFT funds, which really stinks,” says Viera, who pushed hard for New Tampa to receive some immediate improvements due to its support for the referendum, only to see it get tied up in litigation. “Moving forward with the design means they are married to the idea. So, if the AFT money doesn’t come through, it will still be funded. It’s just going to be on a longer timeline.”

The same goes for Tampa Palms Blvd., which had a total of $700,000 earmarked for Complete Streets programming, which is a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) plan for improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety and “building the right road in the right place for the right purpose.”

The Tampa Palms Blvd. project is supposed to include operational improvements to its two Compton Dr. intersections —  namely potential roundabouts to replace four-way stops — as well as roadway improvements like enhanced crosswalks, sidewalks and bulb-outs (also called curb extensions) along the roadway’s 4-mile loop.

One project that won’t be held up by AFT funds is a roundabout currently being designed for the intersection of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and Highwoods Palm Way/Bridle Club Dr. 

The roundabout will help calm traffic at the busy intersection that leads out of the Highwoods Preserve Corporate Campus (home to thousands of employees at MetLife, Syniverse and T-Mobile) and, on the other side of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., the Equestrian Parc at Highwoods Preserve apartment complex.

The design is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with construction expected in 2021.

Outside The Box, Inside The Pod?

Although Hillsborough County is giving parents three choices for the upcoming fall semester, it really comes down to two choices — learn in a traditional classroom with other students, restoring the social interaction and face-to-face contact that are the stalwarts of education; or learn in a more isolated and individual-based online format at home that makes it easier to avoid contracting the virus and transmitting it to others.

However, there is a group of local parents considering something else — merging the classroom and online settings together in a unique collaboration that, they believe, will offer the best of both worlds.

Tampa Palms resident Jenni Wolgemuth, an Associate Professor of measurement and research at the USF College of Education and mother of a first- and fifth-grader, is helping to organize a group of 4-5 families whose children will learn online, but will learn together in a small “learning pod” overseen by a privately hired learning support specialist.

“A one-room school house,” Wolgemuth calls it. “It is an attempt to create a bubble around a group of families, all agreeing to similar standards of social distancing.”

That school house, or learning “pod,” that Wolgemuth has organized will have nine students in it. Four of the students are fifth graders, who would hopefully have the same teachers at the charter school they all attended last year.

The pod also will include two first-graders, a third grader, an eighth grader and a ninth-grader. The parents would rotate hosting and the kids would bring their lunches and eat together and have time for outdoor activities together, too.

Everyone would still be taught by their school’s teachers through the online platform and Zoom video classrooms used by their schools. However, the parents are already interviewing people to be a support specialist, who would monitor the pod from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and help the students with technology issues, staying on task and doing their assignments.

“Basically what we would have been doing if we had been home,” Wolgemuth says.

The idea was Wolgemuth’s brainchild and she says she began thinking about the learning pod solution before the Hillsborough School District issued its choices for parents. She thought the District was too comfortable with the idea that everything would be fine by August. “I’m a planner,” she says. “This was my plan A.”

She mentioned the concept to friends, but the response, at first, was tepid. She continued, however, to bring it up in conversations.

When she had a Zoom call with other parents after the choices were revealed by the District, there was still some hesitation. During that call with other mothers, however, one of the husbands, a doctor who works with Covid-19 patients, overheard the plan.

“That is a really good idea,” he said, and the plan started to take root.

There are still hoops to jump through for Wolgemuth and her group, which includes a second Tampa Palms family, two families from Lutz and another from Carrollwood. 

They will have to see how the pod works for the younger students, namely the two first graders. And, having nine or so computers using the same WiFi network could create issues that would need to be addressed.

Otherwise, Wolgemuth thinks the idea is the best fix for one semester, with the hopes that the coronavirus can be brought under control and that everyone can go back to their brick-and-mortar schools in January.