The buzz words are âdowntown,â âneo-traditionalâ and even Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightmanâs own term, âEatertainment,â but more and more large developments in the Wesley Chapel area are offering residents the opportunity to live, work, play and eat in or adjacent to their home communities.
We currently have The Grove at Wesley Chapel and its KRATE Container Park being surrounded by new apartment units, the Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel area will begin opening its first building â with locally owned restaurants and businesses on the ground floor and rental apartment units on the upper floors â by the early part of 2024 and the Wiregrass Ranch development will likely begin developing its long-planned Town Center area sometime sooner than later.
But, the concept of being able to eat and be entertained in your own backyard will soon not be limited to those new large-scale developments, as The Hub At Lexington will bring 40,000 square feet of âExperiential Dining & Entertainment,â including restaurants, retail shops and at what appears to be Shanks Indoor Golf & Bar (see pg. 18), to the northwest corner of Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Lexington Oaks Blvd. (see sign below), in front of the Sentosa apartments and is expected to begin building by a day or so after this issue reached your mailbox.
According to leasing agent Courtney Bissett- Hayes of Bissett McGrath Properties, The Hub at Lexington will include 15-20 local and regional restaurants in six buildings and an as-yet unknown entertainment venue, all with access to covered outdoor seating with 12 large artificial trees providing shade. Itâs being developed by Center Connect Development, which already has opened its The Hub at Bexley (but not yet with all of its businesses open) on S.R. 54 at Bexley Village Dr./Northpointe Pkwy., in front of the Bexley community near the Suncoast Pkwy. As shown on the sign below, the developer prides itself on providing âLive, Work & Playâ opportunities.
Jannah and I visited The Hub at Bexley (top photos) during its weekly Friday evening street fair and while itâs reminiscent of The Village at The Grove, the covered area provides great relief from our Florida heat and includes the now-open Grain & Berry and Thirsty Buffalo brewery, plus The Poke Company, The Blend Coffee & Cocktails, Taco Bus and downtown St. Pete favorite Bella Brava, as well as Duckweed Liquors, a fitness location and more coming soon.
Bissett-Hayes says that The Hub at Lexington is larger and will have twice as many artificial shade trees (12 vs. 6) as The Hub at Bexley.
For leasing information at The Hub at Lexington, call Courtney Bissett-Hayes at (813) 340-7936.
Wesley Chapel, New Tampa and the surrounding areas are â fortunately or unfortunately â known for being overrun by regional and national chain restaurants, nail salons, multi-story self-storage facilities and, of course, huge car wash buildings.
And, while some of these car wash facilities are locally owned and/or regional chains. the trend in this industry is in the growth of large conglomerates offering you the opportunity to have your car washed by giant machines in just a few minutes while you stay seated in your vehicle with the gear shift in âNeutralâ and the windows closed. Most of these car wash facilities offer recurring monthly memberships that the companies are hoping youâll use like many people do gym memberships â meaning they hope you use them as little as possible or not at all as you continue to pay each month for the equivalent price of two or three jacked-up individual washes.
While they are obviously profitable, why do we already have â and seem to need â so many of them?
Pretty much anytime Iâm on Facebook, I see someone in one of the many Wesley Chapel Facebook groups making a snide comment about how many car washes we have in and around our area.Â
Woodieâs Wash Shack, which opened on S.R. 54 in Feb. 2022, west of the Tampa Premium Outlets, plans to open a Wesley Chapel location on Oakley Blvd. near The Grove. (
So, why are there so many dang car washes? While some online critics believe theyâre all money laundering (no pun intended) fronts, the fact is that they are hugely profitable, especially when theyâre owned by a large national or regional company.
One industry official, who asked to not be identified for this story, says itâs because, âjust as McDonaldâs isnât really in the hamburger business, but in the real estate business (at least according to the 2016 movie âThe Founder,â starring Michael Keaton as McDonaldâs founder Ray Kroc), these big car wash conglomerates are buying up valuable land, putting a car wash on them and, many times, selling the land at a huge profit a few years later.â
However, Glen Stygar, a partner in Woodieâs Wash Shack, which has 16 Florida locations, including one that opened in Feb. 2022 on S.R. 54 in Lutz (less than a mile west of the Tampa Premium Outlets), says there are more reasons why car washes keep popping up in affluent areas across the country.
âFor one thing,â Stygar says, âpeople in todayâs fast-paced world no longer want to have to wash their cars themselves or pay someone a lot of money and spend many hours detailing their vehicles, and they donât have to as much anymore because they can get a membership at a local car wash and have their car washed as many times a month or a week as they want, for one low price.âÂ
He adds that memberships are the biggest reason places like Woodieâs and big chains like Mister Car Wash (with more than 400 locations nationwide, including several in our area) and Tidal Wave Auto Spa (with nearly 200, including one between Zaxbyâs and Aldi near Costco) continue to proliferate everywhere.
In fact, Woodieâs has another location planned (but not yet under construction) on Oakley Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, which will one day be a neighbor to the new Super Target store in The Grove.Â
Mister Car Wash has 400+ U.S locations, including this one in New Tampa and three more in & near Wesley Chapel.Â
As I mentioned on page 1 of this issue, it is very much like the fitness facility model that has worked for decades. Many people who buy a membership at an initially very low price (that goes up after a 1-3-month trial period) rarely or even never use that membership, but continue to pay month after month until they finally either cancel or begin using it enough to get their moneyâs worth. Stygar wouldnât say that Woodieâs hopes youâll never use your membership â and he did say that the companyâs policy is to never give you a hard time to cancel â but as someone who paid for a membership for three months and only used it twice in that time, I certainly can understand how this can be a profitable business model.
Car washes also arenât as labor-intensive as they once were â fewer people insist that someone dry their cars after they come out of the machine (and most offer you free cloths to dry your car yourself) â and while the vacuums also are free when you get your car washed, they no longer have people vacuuming your vehicle for you.
Mister Car Wash is the current local market leader, having taken over two local Clean Machine locations on BBD in New Tampa, and with two local locations on S.R. 54 (one in Wesley Chapel and one in Lutz), but there are currently ten drive-through membership-based car wash places in and around Wesley Chapel â and more are on the way.Â
Tidal Wave Auto Spa has 194 U.S. locations, including this one next to Costco and 12 total in Florida, with five more coming soon.Â
And of course, the list in the next column doesnât include the wash-it-yourself car washes, hand auto detailing places or drive-through car washes at local gas stations.
As for pricing, the cheapest prices we found among the membership car washes were at The Palms Car Wash on Post Oak Blvd., where a single âExpressâ wash costs just $5 and an Express membership is just $14.95 a month. The most expensive prices we found were at Tidal Wave, with the cheapest single wash being $12 and the most expensive being the Graph-X4 wash for $30. Monthly memberships at Tidal Wave range from $23.97 to $49.97 per month.
Weâll look into another local favorite â self-storage places â in a future issue.
The staff of the Spinner Law Firm at the firmâs 20th anniversary party on Oct. 5. (All photos by Charmaine George)Â
As the owner of a hyperlocal business that will celebrate its 30th anniversary in February of next year, I have seen a lot of businesses come and go over the years and celebrated many anniversaries with dozens of those businesses.
One of the companies I feel particularly close to is the Spinner Law Firm, headed by Charles S. (âCharlieâ) Spinner, Esq., which celebrated its 20th anniversary of serving the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel communities on Oct. 5.Â
North Tampa Bay Chamber president Hope Kennedy presents a Chamber Proclamation to Charlie Spinner.Â
Charlie talked about meeting his first employee, office administrator Vicki Portfolio, when both were walking their dogs in a park in early 2003. Vicki was in charge of the âBeer Schoolâ at the Busch Gardens Hospitality House at the time. Charlie was working for an insurance defense firm in downtown Tampa and told Vicki he was considering branching out on his own one day. Vicki told him that when he did start his own firm, âI want you to hire me as your legal assistant.â
âOK, what are your qualifications?,â Charlie replied.
âI donât have any. I teach Beer School.â
Attorney Charles Spinner and his firmâs first employee, Vicki Portfolio.Â
But, when Charlie did start his firm in New Tampa, where he lived with his then-wife-to-be Carrie, he immediately took out his first ad in the Neighborhood News and, âThe first call I got from that ad was from Vicki, asking me âWhen do I start?â The rest is history.âÂ
Jannah and I were among at least 100 people in attendance at the 20th anniversary event, so I got to hear that story, for the first time, in person, and I acknowledged that not only had Charlie been advertising continuously with us ever since, he definitely âhelped send (my) kids to college,â as he quipped during his short speech.
Charlie thanked every member of his now-much-larger staff, as well as Carrie and the coupleâs five kids, the Chamber and the local community.
Hope said that the Chamber was on hand when Charlie cut the ribbon at his new Wesley Chapel office five years ago, but noted that, âWe wanted to do something better, something more deserving, to celebrate your 20 years of service to the community.â
The proclamation read that âThrough the years, Spinner Law Firm has been committed to unwavering dedication and perseverance, making it a true pillar of our community…We commend Spinner Law Firm for this outstanding achievement, exceptional leadership and continuous growth.âÂ
Charlie Spinner with his wife Carrie and three of the coupleâs five children. More than 100 people attended the Spinner Law Firmâs 20th anniversary event.Â
Spinner then thanked every member of his outstanding staff, including community outreach director Jennie Yingling, who organized the event. He went on to thank Carrie and all of his children before watching Alvarezâs video on one of fellow Rotarian Troy Stevensonâs mobile billboard trucks.
âWhen I created Spinner Law Firm, I wanted to make a real connection with my clients, and with the community,â Charlie said during the video. That was followed by a number of clients and organizations who said the firm had helped them, all giving testimonials, including coaches from both Wiregrass Ranch and Cypress Creek high schools and Lisa Michaelangelo from the Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center, all of whom thanked Charlie and his firm for helping them.
Pickleball Tournament
Eight days after the 20th anniversary party, the Spinner Law Firm hosted the Spinner 20th Anniversary Pickleball Tournament at the Land OâLakes Recreation Center.
Although I wasnât in attendance at the tournament, and had not yet received a recap of who played and won the various awards, I do know that Charlie and his brother John, as well as Spinner Law Firm attorney Patrick Barnes all played in the tournament and, according to our photographer Charmaine George, a great time was clearly had by all.
The Spinner Law Firm, located at 2418 Cypress Glen Dr., in the Cypress Glen Professional Park, specializes in family estate planning and personal injury law. For more information, call (813) 991-5115, visit SpinnerLawFirm.com.
The Spinner Law Firm group at the 20th Anniversary Pickleball Tournament on Oct. 13. Spinner Law Firm attorneys Charlie Spinner and Patrick Barnes played each other during the tournament.Â
Enter Our 2023 Neighborhood News Dining Contest!
We are giving you another chance to win a FREE dining prize of $100, $60 or $35! One entry per person, per question. Please name your Favorite Bar in New Tampa OR Wesley Chapel! Mail your entry to â2023 Neighborhood News Dining Contestâ at 2604 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Suite 102D, Wesley Chapel 33544. Or, enter by clicking HERE or email the entry form to Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. Even if you already answered any previous questions, you can still enter again by clicking HERE!
Weâre just looking for your favorite place to enjoy a few cocktails, beer or wine, whether your favorite Bar or Tavern also serves food or not.
Each time you answer a different Dining Survey question, youâll receive an additional chance to win one of our FREE dining prizes â to the restaurant of your choice located anywhere in the Tampa Bay area! You all love free dining, right?Â
Note â Please donât forget that we include restaurants (and bars) located in Lutz (either on Wesley Chapel Blvd., S.R. 56 or S.R. 54, within two miles of I-75) as Wesley Chapel eateries; and those located in the Palms Connection Plaza on E. Bearss Ave. and the Oak Ramble Plaza on BBD Blvd. (both are located in zip code 33613) as acceptable places to vote for in New Tampa.
Please also be sure to completely fill out the entry forms, whether from our print publications, on our website or by email, because we have had a few people â out of more than 1,200 total entries so far â try to enter with just their first name only, and two others who took the time to send us an entry without naming any restaurants.
Despite those issues, it definitely appears (as we expected) that more of you like this yearâs format â with individual questions for you to answer in each issue â than in the recent past, when we asked you to answer a full page of questions across multiple issues all at once.
Remember, whether you enter by mail, email or on our website, there is never any purchase necessary to enter and win, but we do need your first AND last name, the community you live in, your daytime telephone number and a valid email address to be eligible to win any of our FREE dining prizes â and please enter all of your Survey entries by no later than November 1 to be eligible to win prizes! All winners will be announced in our December issues!Â
If you havenât yet answered ALL of this yearâs previous Survey questions, they are all available again by clicking on their titles below.
Dr. Edward McNamara of McNamara Health & Wellness in the Summergate Professional Center (behind Samâs Club) says , âDr. Mac, Mac, Macâs got your back, back, back!â (Photo by Charmaine George)Â
If youâre struggling with a newfound pain that is not going away or are still suffering from years of pain, despite trying medical or surgical treatments in the past, it never hurts to have a consultation with Edward McNamara, D.C., of McNamara Health & Wellness in the Summergate Professional Center (behind Samâs Club).
Dr. Edward McNamara, or âDr. Macâ (as many clients refer to him), has been a practicing Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) for more than 23 years. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Dr. McNamara earned his D.C. degree from Life University in Marietta, GA, in 1999. He first worked in the Destin and Orlando areas of Florida before coming to practice in Wesley Chapel in 2015.
Dr. Mac specializes in a variety of active release and massage therapies, as well as full spinal adjustments and exercise rehabilitation. He believes strongly in minimizing the use of drugs and surgeries.
âHuman beings were not born with too many parts and not enough pills,â says Dr. Mac. âSurgery and medications can help for a while, but then the body can become reliant on them. Itâs better to help the body heal itself.â
Although most people visit a chiropractor for back or neck pain, some other common conditions that Dr. Mac can help with include headaches and migraines, musculoskeletal pain, sinus pain, jaw (such as temporomandibular joint, or TMJ) pain, whiplash from car accidents, work-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and sport injuries.
âTrust is a big part of my job,â he says. â(Chiropractic medicine) is a touchy-feely business, so if youâre not comfortable with me, youâre not going to be receptive to my care. If you want to keep things quick, I can, but I am hands-on and I listen well. Generally, I spend time to get to know all about my patients, and they hear everything about me as well.â
Spend just five minutes talking to Dr. Mac and youâll hear some great stories. How he originally hailed from Buffalo, NY, to his ten years of service in the U.S. Air Force to working in the ceremonial honor guard at the White House during Ronald Reaganâs presidency, heâll put you at ease while heâs taking care of you.
âI believe in being personable, effective, affordable and family-oriented,â says Dr. Mac. To that end, he is always happy to accommodate patients with evening, weekend, holiday, emergency, and same-day appointments, in addition to his regular office hours.
Caring For Patients Of All Ages
Dr. Mac says he first got interested in chiropractic therapy in his youth after getting hurt while playing rugby. He now assists athletes, weightlifters, gymnasts, cheerleaders, dancers and more heal from their injuries faster and helping them increase their athletic performance. Chiropractic care can improve range of motion, flexibility, balance, coordination, reaction times, and speed.
Patient Peggy DâAlessandro recalls a positive experience when bringing her daughter to the office. âSo thankful for Dr. McNamara! My daughter hurt her back while cheerleading. After a few days, I began to worry because she was still in pain, so I brought her in to see him. Her pain was relieved in minutes and completely gone by the next day! It was her first time seeing a chiropractor so she was a little bit nervous, but he was so nice, made her laugh and really put her at ease. We both couldnât have been happier!â
In addition to adults and athletes, Dr. Mac has patients of all ages â from 6 months to 80 years old.Â
Dr. Edward & Sebastian McNamara (Photo provided by Dr. Edward McNamara)
âBeing born can be pretty traumatic for babies. I help infants with reflux, colic and infant adjustments, which are very different than the adjustments that I perform on adults,â he says. âSchool-aged children need help with pain from heavy backpacks, âcell phone neck,â minor sports injuries, scoliosis, and allergies (sinuses). Pregnant women often suffer aches and pains and chiropractic care before delivery can help reduce labor time. Seniors come to get relief from basic arthritic conditions.âÂ
Dr. Mac works alone, so you will always talk to and receive care from him directly. But, on some days, especially Saturdays, you may see his âpart-time receptionist,â aka his six-year-old son, Sebastian (photo). Often dressed up as Spiderman, Sebastian greets patients and works hard as the âface of the practiceâ to get his $1/hour paycheck that heâll cash with his dad later at the bank.
Dr. Mac loves to get involved in the community as well. âMy son plays hockey, so I am always supporting sport fund raisers for kids. I also am enthusiastic about helping those who are struggling with addiction,â shares Dr. Mac. If you visit the officeâs Facebook page, you will see that Dr. Mac loves to help out, from promoting various donation efforts to offering assistance to local families needing extra help during the holidays.
No matter how you interact with Dr. Mac, heâll always try to help you.
âThe one thing that was a constant in my life was chronic back pain for 20+ years. Dr. McNamara is the FIRST to really help me instead of just saying âsurgery or prescriptionâ and for that I am very grateful,â says patient Jay Forsythe in an online Google review.
Finally, patient Jorge Soto also posted on Google, âDr. Mac is Wesley Chapelâs most recommended chiropractor and for good reason. He is experienced, knowledgeable, skilled, gentle, effective and affordable. If you are still living in pain not knowing what to do or who to see, come to Dr. Mac. You wonât regret it.â
McNamara Health & Wellness is located at 27453 Cashford Cir., Suite #101, in Wesley Chapel. The office is open Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-11 a.m., and 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m., and Sat. by appointment. Call (813) 343-1680 or visit LutzChiro.com to schedule an appointment today. You also may visit âMcNamara Health & Wellnessâ on Facebook for the officeâs latest updates and special offers.Â
