While it may be a lot to ask for the new Village at Hunterโs Lake project to single-handedly save the sleepy restaurant scene in New Tampa, it sure seems like the developers are trying.
Fresh Kitchen, a south Tampa favorite with locations on S. Howard Ave. and W. Kennedy Blvd., is the latest restaurant to be announced as coming to the new development on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., right across New Tampa’s main thoroughfare from the entrance to Hunterโs Green.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias broke the news to a collection of local business leaders last month at the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC)โs Economic Development Briefing at Hunterโs Green Country Club on June.
Fresh Kitchen is owned by the Ciccio Restaurant Group, which also owns such notable restaurants as Taco Dirty, Green Lemon, betterBYRD and Ciccio Cali, which has a popular location in Tampa Palms.
Like Ciccio Cali, Fresh Kitchen focuses on healthy bowls, where patrons choose their base, protein, vegetable and any extras. Eliasโ announcement drew a round of positive chatter during the NTBC briefing.
Elias also said that Regency Centers has a BBQ concept coming, as well as a sub-and-wrap concept, although he didn’t name those restaurants.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias.
Along with the previously announced Via Italia Wood Fired Pizza, Poke Island Plus and Grain & Berry, that would mean six new restaurants (plus Starbucks) could be open by April of 2020 in New Tampa.
The Village at Hunterโs Lake also is likely to provide a boost to the social scene in New Tampa.
โWe certainly hope so,โ said Elias. โWe feel like we are responding to the needs of the area, which is really convenience. Hopefully, weโre able to attract the foot traffic over there, and they can hang out with their dogs at the dog parks, go to Starbucks, take a yoga class. Thatโs the goal, getting them to hang out at the center.โ
While Sprouts, the first green grocer to enter the New Tampa market, is the anchor of the retail strip, other occupants previously reported by the Neighborhood News are Banfield Pet Hospital, The Coder School, Hair Cuttery, Heartland Dental, Nationwide Vision Center, Pink & White Nails, Pure Beauty Salon and T-Mobile.
Elias added that a running store and a โyoga conceptโ also have signed leases.
Elias says the shell buildings should be completed by November, barring a persistent rainy season. Tenants can open whenever they are ready, though Elias suspects that most will open sometime around April 2020, when Sprouts is expected to be completed.
The Village at Hunterโs Lake will have a total of 71,397 sq. ft. of commercial space. The project also will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. New Tampa Cultural Center โ which is expected to break ground next year and open sometime in 2021 โ two dog parks and a four-story, 241-unit multi-family complex to be called The Haven at Hunterโs Lake
Itโs always difficult to know how a popular local mom & pop restaurant will go once the original owner sells the business. However, in the case of Full Circle Chicago Pizza, located in the Pebble Creek Collection, it seems that new owners Julia and Freddy Nova are off to a great start.
Freddy, who previously worked as a sous chef at the historic Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ, and Julia, continue to serve New Tampaโs most authentic Chicago-style deep-dish and thin-crust pizzas (and they now serve deep-dish pizza every day), but they also have expanded Full Circleโs already impressive menu.
My favorite dishes so far are the chicken & broccoli with garlic & oil shown above (with garlic knots) and the Chicago Italian beef sandwich with melted mozzarella. Iโve also been told that the jumbo wings and the Italian sausage parmigiana sandwiches also are excellent.
Full Circle Chicago Pizza (19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Unit B-2) is now open every day for lunch and dinner. For more info, call (813) 994-3700 or visit FullCircleChicagoPizza.com.
Why You Should Be A Samantha Taylor Fitness Sister!
As weโve chronicled in these pages several times, Samantha Taylor Fitness (STF) now has five Tampa Bay-area locations โ including one at 26908 Ridgebrook Dr, Suite 101, off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel.
Since all five locations are for women only, it can be tough for a man to understand why so many women love and appreciate Samantha and her amazing staff.
I understand it a little more clearly now, because I joined my wife Jannah (who trains at the Wesley Chapel STF studio) for Samanthaโs most recent celebration for her six-week challenge participants. Held at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Suncoast Pkwy. (off S.R. 54), Jannah and I were among 220 people in attendance, including many husbands/significant others of the participants, and Samantha said she had a waiting list because she had to close off attendance at that number.
Challenge participants from all five studios were on hand (having lost about 1,500 pounds between them in only six weeks!).They enjoyed a special Keto die-friendly dinner, but there was electricity in the air as Samantha and her sorority of women who work out together in classes (many also do one-on-one personal training), and her compassionate staffers, received a variety of honors.
Which women won which prizes (there were some great ones) wasnโt particularly important to me, but if youโre a woman who wants to get in better shape, feel and look better, in the company of others who share your goals, I now know that you canโt beat Samantha Taylor Fitness. What a great night!
โข I wasnโt particularly surprised to learn that Primebar in the Shops at Wiregrass mall had closed (the always-changing menu was never great and the drinks were the priciest in our area), but I was a little stunned that Union 72 BBQ next to and owned by members of the same group that also owns The Brass Tap, closed the same week.ย
โข Speaking of the mall, our friend Wendy OโNeill recently moved her Creativity Unpinned store from the former Gymboree location to the former Crazy 8 location. Congrats on the move, Wendy!
โข If youโre looking for something fun to do with the kids this summer, I suggest a visit to the Licciardello Stables equestrian center, located at 3007 Sunset Ln. (just east of Livingston Ave.) in nearby Lutz.
I was on hand for the North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting event at the stables, judging by the multitude of happy kids in attendance (photo, right), itโs worth checking out this summer! For more info, call (813) 951-1690 or visit LicciardelloStables.com and please tell them that Gary from the New Tampa Neighborhood News sent you!
The Morgan Auto Group is one of the biggest in the state, with 36 total dealerships, and certainly one of the biggest in the Tampa Bay area, with WC Nissan being the 12th under the Morgan umbrella (which also includes MINI of Wesley Chapel). โ GN
The husband-and-wife team of Eddie and Lourdes Bujarski have helped hundreds of young people learn how to safely prepare and cook food from all over the world during their 18 years of running the Culinary Arts Program at New Tampaโs Wharton High.
That era ended at Wharton in December of 2017, after the Bujarskis took over the newly revamped restaurant at the Heritage Isles Golf Club the month before. When Eddie told me that during my most recent visit to their BayScape Bistro, I wondered why they continued to work at Wharton even though they had already taken the reins at the open-to-the-public eatery inside Heritage Isles.
โWell, when youโre a teacher,โ Eddie told me, โyou definitely feel obligated to finish out the semester. We couldnโt just leave those kids like that.โ
That kind of commitment to their students is the same dedication the Bujarskis have brought not only to BayScape Bistro, but also to the local community โ especially the residents of Heritage Isles.
โWe found that the residents werenโt really eating at the restaurant unless they were golfers,โ Eddie says. โLourdes and I decided that we would have to change that to be successful here.โ
And, change that they have. Although BayScape Bistro has a simple and not overly diverse menu, the menu items are all made with the same commitment to quality the Bujarskis tried to instill in their culinary students, many of whom have gone on to post-secondary cooking schools like the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and Johnson & Wales University, and on to professional culinary careers.
In addition, at least 20 of those former students have worked at BayScape Bistro and several of them have told me how much they appreciate the Bujarskisโ no-nonsense approach to the restaurant business.
โThey really know what theyโre doing,โ says Tristan, a former Wharton culinary student now working on his four-year culinary degree at Johnson & Wales while he hones his craft at BayScape Bistro. Tristan was the amazing young chef creating unique, made-to-order pasta dishes during BayScapeโs recent Thursday night all-you-can-eat (for only $10 per person; $5 for kids under age 10!) sautรฉ station, one of the restaurantโs newer โDaily Signaturesโ.. ย
I can assure you that the smell of fresh garlic being heated in oil is enough to get you to try the pasta station, which gives you options like tender, grilled chicken, mojo pork, bacon, fresh spinach, tomatoes and much more, with your choice of pastas and a hearty marinara or creamy Alfredo sauce โ or try it โGaryโs Wayโ (registered trademark pending), with just the garlic and oil.
According to BayScapeโs online menu, Monday is โSautรฉ Night,โ but Eddie says it has been so popular that the night Jannah and I were there (Thursday is also Trivia Night at BayScape) was the โtryoutโ for Thursday.
Tuesday is โTake-Out Tuesday,โ where Eddie, Lourdes and their staff create different-each-week to-go packages which feed a family of four โ for only $20! I unfortunately missed the recent fried chicken Takeout Tuesday, but Eddie promised me there will be more.
Wednesday is Ladies NIght (with $1 glasses of wine for the ladies), but it also is โWings Wednesday,โ where anyone can get six Buffalo or mojo wings for only $5.
On Fiesta Friday, which was mine and Jannahโs first experience with Eddieโs loyal crowd of super-fun regulars who come for dinner and stay for karaoke, you can enjoy tacos, fajitas and other Mexican favorites. It was our Fiesta Friday visit that convinced us to have both my birthday party in January and my โGaryโs 25 Years of Neighborhood Newsโ celebration in April at BayScape, and I heard no complaints about the catering-style food at either of those events.
Saturday is โLive Music Night,โ with a rotating lineup of artists and groups performing. Eddie says itโs also the night where he usually serves a steakย or, occasionally, a fresh fish feature entrรฉe, although he admits he hasnโt yet found a supplier with the kind of fresh fish he wants at the right price.
Sunday is โFamily Night,โ where one kid eats for free for each adult entrรฉe purchased. The kids also are kept entertained with indoor games.
Jannah and I also have other favorites at BayScape, from the BayScape chef salad (with mojo pork, chicken and bacon and what Jannah says is the best ranch dressing around); the French dip sandwich with real au jus for dipping; the same tender roast beef also is available as a dinner plate with brown gravy; the grilled chicken club sandwich and the BayScape Cuban.ย Thereโs even a grilled veggie and cheese sandwich on the menu.
Breakfast, Too?
The picture above is the best breakfast Iโve had in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel. The thick-cut brioche French toast with two eggs perfectly over easy and the tastiest thick-cut bacon around with truly amazing cottage-fried potatoes and super- fresh (and delicious) fruit costs only $9.99. If you donโt need the French toast, the cost is only $7.99 with regular toast!ย
And, best of all, breakfast is served all day, so you can even have it for dinner if you have such a craving. Other breakfast dishes to try are the meat-loverโs hash, country fried chicken & eggs with pepper gravy, the โbreakfast in handโ sandwich, pancake breakfast, create-your-own omelets and even a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit and house-made granola.
Still More To Come!
Eddie and Lourdes promise that more items will be added to BayScape Bistroโs unique menu, based on customer demand and boy, considering the place hasnโt yet been open for two years, there are a lot of regular customers enjoying the restaurant and bar, which has some of the most reasonable premium alcohol mixed drink prices around.
Friday karaoke nights are always packed and most of the main portion of the restaurant was full for Trivia Thursday. And, with Takeout Tuesdays averaging at least 50 family-of-four meals every week, itโs obvious that Eddie and Lourdes are building something special in New Tampa, even though Heritage Isles is almost at the Morris Bridge Rd. eastern end of Cross Creek Blvd.
And, keep reading the Neighborhood News for more info about a family-oriented Back-to-School Business Expo, in conjunction with the North Tampa Bay Chamber, coming sometime in August! There will be food, games for the kids and booths available for kid-oriented business sponsors.
BayScape Bistro at Heritage Isles (10630 Plantation Bay Dr.) opens at 9 a.m. for breakfast (8 a.m. on Sat. & Sun.) and stays open for lunch & dinner until 9 p.m. (10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat.).
For info, call (813) 994-3445, visit BayScapeFlorida.com or see the ad on pg. 39 of this issue.
There could soon be more tenants to announce for the Village at Hunterโs Lake development currently under construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., across from the main entrance to the Hunterโs Green community.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias, who already has signed a dozen occupants for the retail/restaurant portion of the project, will be the guest speaker at the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerceโs Economic Development Briefing at Hunterโs Green Country Club on Thursday, June 20.
While Sprouts, the first green grocer to enter the New Tampa market, is the anchor of the retail strip, other occupants currently listed on the Regency Centers website are Banfield Pet Hospital, The Coder School, Grain & Berry, Hair Cuttery, Heartland Dental, Nationwide Vision Center, Pink & White Nails, Poke Island Plus, Pure Beauty Salon, Starbucks, T-Mobile and Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar.
There are, however, still six spaces available.
The Village at Hunterโs Lake will have 71,397 sq. ft. of commercial space. The project also will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. New Tampa Cultural Center, a dog park and a four-story, 241-unit multi-family complex to be called The Haven at Hunterโs Lake.
Addio, Chefs of Napoli?
Chefs of Napoli, an Italian restaurant that had been expected to open in the next few months at the old Beef OโBradyโs location in the Cross Creek Commons plaza off Morris Bridge Rd., is now unlikely to do so, after its owner was arrested last month and faces charges of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and lewd and lascivious battery.
While the primary trafficker was not named to avoid identifying the teenage victim, Luigi Barile, who founded the Chefs of Napoli restaurants in Spring Hill and Ocala, was one of nine men arrested on May 17 by the Hernando County Sheriffโs Office after a two-year investigation.
Hernando Sheriff Al Nienhuis said at a press conference that the victim had been sexually abused by the men for six months. He said Barile brought three of his friends to sexually assault the teenager.
โNot only did he use the services of our young victim, he also brought, at least one time, at least three of his friends with him,โ Nienhuis said. โAnd, all four of these men exchanged money for sex.โ
According to the Villages-News.com, Barile was released on a $25,000 bond โ $10,000 each on two counts of kidnapping/human trafficking and $5,000 on a count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
The Villages-News.com also reported that a number of special conditions had been placed on Barile, such as surrendering his passport, being placed on a GPS monitor and that he have no intentional contact with any child under 18. He also is not permitted to leave Hernando County.
Barile has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Time To Study…New Tampa
Students from the University of South Floridaโs School of Public Affairs will meet for the first time on Tuesday, July 16, as they begin a study to determine the reasons for the outmigration of a number of local businesses from the New Tampa area and to find a potential solution, if there is one.
The meeting will be held at either the New Tampa Regional Library or Compton Park in Tampa Palms. The group is comprised of graduate students working towards their Masterโs degrees in Urban and Regional Planning at USF. They will conduct a listening tour with local focus groups and businesses, as well as a field study.
USF School of Public Affairs director Ron Sanders told the Neighborhood News in April that if the study produces something concrete, it could lead to the city conducting something โmore extensive and sophisticated.โ
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera also will attend the first meeting.
โI think this has a lot of promise,โ Viera says. โIf there is a problem, hopefully we can figure that out. But, itโs definitely something we should look at now, sooner than later.โ
Brew Bus Coming!
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., the company behind Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Brew Bus Brewing, has officially announced that it has purchased the former Sports + Field location on S.R. 56. The new owners will convert Sports + Field into a brewery with a beer garden, full-service restaurant and event space.
The 34,000-sq.-ft., two-floor facility in Wesley Chapel originally opened in 2005 as a $10.5-million multi-purpose fitness center that trained professional athletes while also offering fitness programs for local residents. It closed in 2015.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brew Bus Brewing Inc., Anthony Derby, told the Neighborhood News last month that his company was taking a close look at the property, located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr., and saw a craft brewery as a missing part of the local Wesley Chapel/New Tampa bar/dining scene.
โWe are excited to expand our operations into Pasco County to provide the community with a family-friendly brewery, event and restaurant destination,โ Derby said in a statement. โBy this time next year, Pasco residents will not only be working in our expanded operation, but also enjoying our products a bit closer to home.โ
The completed deal is expected to create 46 new local jobs and more than $8.7 million in new capital investment in Pasco County.
โItโs great to reactivate a dormant property with high-paying manufacturing jobs in a unique industry,โ Bill Cronin, the president/CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, said in a press release. โA company like Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., is a win for the whole community, as they embody the โlive, work, playโ notion so important to our communityโs future economic growth.โ
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., created in 2011, currently operates both a brewery on N. Florida Ave. and buses that travel to breweries throughout the Tampa Bay area. In addition to brewing its own Brew Bus beer, the brand expanded in 2015, with the acquisition of Florida Avenue Brewing Co., in an effort to revive one of the areaโs most historic breweries. Both Brew Bus and Florida Avenue brands are distributed throughout the entire state of Florida.
โWe are happy to welcome Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., to Pasco,โ said District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. โNot only are they creating jobs, but their new tasting room and restaurant will be a great destination for residents and tourists alike. Breweries are a huge part of the tourism market.โ
For more information about Brew Bus Brewing, visit BrewBusUSA.com.
When we received the first installment of our funding from the Google News Initiative on January 14, we made a number of promises to our benefactors regarding the number of videos weโd put online, the number of people weโd hire to shoot, edit and be on-air talent for those videos and the equipment we would need to fulfill our commitments.
As this issue is reaching you, it has now been six months since we received that funding and Iโd have to say that we are right on track.
To me, the most important milestone for us to reach was the increase in the number of videos we would be releasing. Before our Google funding, we averaged one video every other week. But, we have now put out 41 videos in 21 weeks (with several videos in the can getting ready for release at out press time) since Jan. 14, or an average of at least two each week.
And, more and more of you are watching those videos. In the nearly three years since we first started Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Television (WCNT-tv) โ which we now call NeighborhoNewsOnline.net (search โNeighborhood Newsโ on Facebook or โWCNT-tvโ on YouTube) โ we have flown past one million total views and nearly two million people reached on Facebook.
The 41 videos we have put online since January alone have been viewed more than 210,000 times and have reached more than 354,000 people. Perhaps even more important is that those 41 videos have received a total of more than 36,000 โengagementsโ (Likes, Shares & Comments), or an average of more than 900 per video! How many local videos/posts do you know of that have had 1,000 engagements?
We continue to reach our biggest audience whenever we put out videos about food, as our two videos about the opening of the new Chick-fil-A on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel each garnered more than 12,000 views and combined reached more than 35,000 people. Our biggest reach this year has been achieved by our video about the new Smallcakes Cupcakery in Tampa Palms, which also had more than 12,000 views, and a reach of more than 22,000 people!
Even more recently, my โNeighborhood Dining Newsโ segment about Hummingbird Jerk House and Full Circle Pizza released on May 29 already has been viewed more than 7,000 times and reached more than 11,000 people.
En Espaรฑol, Tambien?
Although I also have several more lined up to start as this issue is reaching your mailbox, we currently have four print advertisers who have begun sponsoring our videos and online content, as part of their Video & Online โSubscriptionโ program, where each of them will receive a Video Business Feature.
Those advertisers are Total Air Solutions, Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam Edmonson, Omariโs Grill at Lexington Oaks Golf Club and KAP Medical Group. We have not yet released the Video Business Features for Total Air or Omariโs, but only the video for Omariโs had not yet been produced at our press time.
However, Total Air, which was our first โsubscriber,โ has already been shown as a sponsor of eight videos in seven weeks, and those videos have been viewed more than 50,000 times, with a Facebook reach of nearly 89,000 people and nearly 7,000 engagements. Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam has sponsored seven videos in six weeks, and those videos have been viewed more than 40,000 times, with a FB reach of more than 68,000 and more than 6,000 engagements. Omariโs had only sponsored two videos at our press time, but they had been viewed more than 7,000 times, with a FB reach of nearly 15,000, with nearly 700 engagements.
And, thanks to Omariโs co-owner Susana Herrera, who spent 20 years as a reporter and anchor in her native Colombia, including eight years on the Colombian CBN Network, our KAP Medical video was shot in English (with yours truly asking the questions) and in Spanish (with Susana interviewing fellow Latina Dr. Karina Parilo en Espaรฑol). We plan to do a lot more with Spanish language videos in the future, so stay tuned! For advertising information, call (813) 910-2575!
