If you were thinking there couldn’t possibly be more “stuff ” coming to Wesley Chapel this year (or at least by early 2027), think again.
Among the projects that are well underway but that we don’t have any kind of timelines for include:
• The completion of Mast Capital’s $92 million improvements to Saddlebrook Resort (above). We showed you the improvements that have already been completed in our last couple of issues, but there is still plenty more to come.
Since the Brew coffee shop and Rare 1981 restaurant opened, the Palm House Grill out by the resort’s revamped Superpool also recently opened. We’ll show you pictures of the Palm House’s food and beverages next issue. We also were told that all 27 holes of Saddlebrook’s golf courses also are open.
Still to come this year? The Sports Tavern off the resort’s lobby and the Saddlebrook National private club for members only. We’ll update you about all of these improvements in future issues.
Pinecrest Academy High School
Here & There, This & That…
Avalon Park — In addition to Phase 2 of Avalon Park’s downtown expected to begin building, Avalon Park Blvd., connecting the community’s single-family subdivisions with the downtown area, could be completed any day now and may even be open as you’re receiving this issue.
Pasco Fire Rescue Station No. 2
In addition, although the existing buildings at the Pinecrest Academy charter school are already serving kids in grades K-11, the separate, new Pinecrest Academy High School will open to grades 9-12 for the 2026-27 year, which will allow kids in Pinecrest Academy’s middle school (Grades 6-8) to have their own building.
Pasco Fire Rescue Station No. 2 — The much-needed new fire station on S.R. 54, less than a mile east of the new AdventHealth Meadow Pointe Emergency Room, should be ready to open before the end of this year.
New Walmart (Morris Bridge Rd @ S.R. 56)
New Walmart — Located southwest of the intersection of Morris Bridge Rd. and S.R. 56, Wesley Chapel’s second Walmart store hasn’t broken ground yet, so it’s possible that it may not be completed by the end of 2026, but it should at least begin building this year.
Two Rivers Updates — Even though Two Rivers is all technically located in Zephyrhills (with a portion in Thonotosassa south of the Pasco-Hillsborough county line), the private club to be called The Landing at Two Rivers is well under way and could be completed before the end of 2026. We have no further updates on the planned Peak Surf Park in Two Rivers, but will try to update that story in an upcoming issue. — GN
Dr. Neil Manimala, his wife Rachel and baby Mariam. (Photos provided by Dr. Neil Manimala)
Over the past few months, we’ve introduced you to a couple of candidates who hope to replace District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera in 2027.
There is an important mid-term election coming up later this year, however, so when Luis introduced me to local urologist Dr. Neil Manimala at a recent event in New Tampa and told me that Neil was running for the countywide District 5 Hillsborough County Commission seat currently occupied by Republican incumbent Donna Cameron Cepeda, I knew I wanted to talk to Neil about what made a successful doctor decide that he wanted to serve the public in a completely different way.
A lot of politicians will say that they’re running “for the right reasons,” but if you spent 90 minutes with Neil, the way I did a couple of weeks ago, you’d believe the way I do that his heart is 100% in the right place and that he genuinely plans to serve all constituents on both sides of the aisle in Hillsborough County.
First, A Little Background
Now 35 years old, Neil was raised in Valrico, even though his parents were both from Kerala in southern India and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. His parents raised Neil and his younger brother Nevin Catholic and he graduated from the King High International Baccalaureate program before attending USF.
He met his wife Rachel, a traveling registered nurse, online when she had just moved back to the area from Orlando. Rachel’s parents live in Easton Park in New Tampa, so Neil has spent a lot of time in our area and knows it well. The Manimalas recently welcomed their first child, their daughter Mariam, into the world.
Neil says that when he first went to USF, he was thinking about becoming an engineer. “I have a lot of respect for the computationally gifted folks, like my brother, who lives for statistics,” he told me, “but I realized that just wasn’t for me.”
He also thought about going into research. “I did a bunch of work at Moffitt and my mentor at the time was an M.D./Ph.D.,” Neil said, “but when I shadowed him seeing patients, the first patient we saw, about 20 years ago, was a guy who had lung cancer and, unfortunately, it was terminal. He had been under treatment by my mentor for about two years and it was during that visit that my mentor told him there was nothing more they could do, that they had exhausted all of the treatment options available at that time. The patient and his wife were in tears, but you could tell during that encounter that, despite the terrible news, they were glad that it was my mentor who delivered it — that even though the chance of a cure was shot, there was still dignity to be had. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t meant to be doing research behind a bench. I wanted to have that human-to-human interaction.”
He said he realized pretty early on that, “Even though you’re seeing some people during some of the darkest days of their lives — whether being told they have cancer or that their child had passed away — you also get to see people having some of the brightest days of their lives, hearing that their cancer is cured or that they can have kids again. That’s a huge gift.”
Neil says that his first taste of “politics” was in student government while in medical school in USF. “I was in one of the last cohorts in med school at the main Tampa campus before we moved to Water St. downtown, and my student government group was very instrumental, from the student perspective, in shaping that campus.”
Neil also did his residency with USF, but he was still in med school when he met Dr. Steven Specter (who isn’t an M.D., but has a Ph.D. in virology), who became another one of Neil’s mentors.
“I remember student government was advocating for more student parking spots at the med school and I said, ‘Dr. Specter, I’m just sick and tired of politics.’ And, he told me ‘Neil, as long as you have two or three people sitting in a room, you’re going to have politics. You have to find a way to navigate the politics to help the people who matter most to you.” And, for me, that’s the people of Hillsborough County.”
Hillsborough Health Care Plan
Neil with District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera
Neil also told me that one of the things that he plans to continue fighting for, that he first learned about while in residency, is the Hillsborough County Health Care Plan (HCHCP) through USF, which was originally funded by a half-cent ad valorem property tax but is now primarily funded by a sales tax.
But, with state lawmakers discussing rolling back property taxes this year, there is growing concern about the long-term stability of HCHCP, even though it isn’t still funded by property taxes.
“There are people ‘on the margins’ in this county who would never have access to top-of-the-line specialty physician care without that plan,” Neil said. “I currently serve on the Board overseeing that plan, which is how I first got into working with the county government. But, [HCHCP] has won awards nationwide for how it’s been taking care of people, and conservative estimates say that, for every dollar put into it, [the plan] brings back a return of $1.50 for all taxpayers. So, one of my priorities, if elected, will be to ensure it continues to be funded.”
Neil also is a supporter of improving public transportation. He told me that, “HART is the most underfunded public transportation agency in any major city. That’s an embarrassment. I hope to be able to work to build it out, rather than cut more routes, so that we are able to have some sort of regional bus rapid transit system.” He added that he remembers when then-Gov. Rick Scott turned down $2.4 billion in Federal funds for a high-speed rail connection between Tampa and Orlando.
“But, we need that kind of connection now, Neil said. “Just adding lanes to roadways creates what’s called ‘induced demand’ to build more homes and fill those lanes. Lane expansion should just be one tool in the toolbox, not the only tool.”
He also believes that if the goal is to get vehicles off our roadways, “Why don’t we use our waterways? There was a plan that would have created a ferry to connect East County with MacDill Air Force Base, which would take 2,000 cars off the road every day. But, it got axed because some people on the County Commission disagreed ideologically with the people who proposed the plan.”
He also said that, despite the partisan wave dominating state government, he hopes to, “build something sustainable where every citizen of this county sees that there’s something worth paying attention to on a local level. Let’s take care of all of our people and leave the partisan politics to Washington and Tallahassee.”
Before deciding to run for elected office himself, Neil helped a couple of candidates with their campaigns, including New Tampa resident and 2024 County Commission candidate Patricia Alonzo, who lost her bid to unseat long-time District 2 incumbent Ken Hagan.“Patricia is a good person, but she was running against a local powerhouse and got into the race late,” Neil said. “I have a lot of respect for Ken and, when he first ran, he had a one-year-old at home, so there are some parallels between us.”
He added, however, “While there are downsides to being in power for two decades, there’s also something to be said about having institutional knowledge about your job.”
Neil also said that even though the County Commission is currently five Republicans to two Democrats, “there are current Republican commissioners, including Hagan, that I know I can work with to find common ground on important issues.”
He also said that as a countywide candidate, he knows he has to appeal and answer to all 1.6 million people in the county, and he’s off to a great start — he doesn’t have a primary opponent and he’s secured endorsements from people like Dist. 14 U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, State House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell and Viera.
He’s also dominating the fund-raising side of his race, having raised more than $121,000 so far, compared with just $6,000 raised by Cepeda’s campaign. But, when Cepeda beat Mariella Smith for the Dist. 5 seat in 2022, Smith also out-raised Cepeda by a wide margin.
“I know money isn’t enough to win,” he said. “I also am getting out there to talk to people. I’m running to serve all of you.”
To find out more about Neil Manimala or donate to his campaign, visit NeilManimala.com.
The Jan. 9 ribbon-cutting event and Grand Opening of the Moffitt Speros Outpatient Center in Land O’Lakes. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Even though it’s located at least 20 miles from any part of New Tampa, perhaps the biggest news story in Pasco County for 2026 is the opening of the sprawling new 775-acre Speros FL campus of the Moffitt Cancer Center — the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida — located on Wilton Way in Land O’Lakes.
Moffitt Pres. & CEO Dr. Patrick Hwu
The first building to open in this amazing innovation hub, where science, technology and patient care will converge in the fight against cancer, is the 120,000-sq.-ft. Moffitt Speros Outpatient Center, which was introduced to an invited crowd on Jan. 9 with a huge event attended by an estimated 500 people, including Florida Secretary of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, State Senator Danny Burgess, State Rep. Kevin Steele, all five Pasco County Commissioners and 84-year-old former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives H. Lee Moffitt, the man who founded the nonprofit cancer center named for him.
The event included the following speakers:
Speros Pres. Dr. Josh Carpenter
• Dr. Patrick Hwu, the president & CEO of Moffitt, who noted that 2026 is the cancer center’s 40th anniversary year. Dr. Hwu also played the keyboards in the Speros band following the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He also noted that the next building to open in the Speros campus will be the Richard M. Schulze Proton Center, which will open in just a few months and will be home to one of only three proton radiation machines in Florida. That opening will be followed by the opening of the 100,000-sq.-ft. research center. Dr. Hwu also noted that the first patients will begin being treated at the outpatient center, “within a few weeks.”
Speros & Moffitt Board members Tim Adams and Marty Lanahan
• Dr. Josh Carpenter, the president of Speros who also is the VP & chief integration officer of Moffitt and who noted that Speros means “hope.” Dr. Carpenter thanked everyone who played a part — and those still playing a part — in the construction and opening of the many buildings coming to the Speros campus.
• Speros Board chair Marty Lanahan, the executive VP of First Horizon Bank, who introduced Moffitt Cancer Center’s Institute Board chair Tim Adams. Adams said that Lee Moffitt charged him with the task to cure cancer and sent him to Tallahassee in 2005 to talk to Simpson, who was then a State Senator who was going to be the president of the Florida Senate within three years. “Wilton told me that he’s had his eye on Moffitt for a long time,” Adams said, “but if we really want to cure cancer, you’re going to have to start thinking a lot bigger than a 20-acre campus in Tampa.”
Wilton Simpson H. Lee Moffitt
• Commissioner Simpson, who said he knew Pasco had the land to “do something like this and that people could fly into Tampa International from all over the world and be here in 30 minutes to get treatment. I’m very proud of the tens of thousands of lives, starting now, that we’re going to be saving on an annual basis. How many grandparents will now get to see their grandchildren get older? How many children are going to be cured? How many moms and dads will see their kids get married because of the work that Moffitt will be doing on this site?”
Debra Schulze
• H. Lee Moffitt himself, who said, “What a day! The reason we’re here is because of the hard work of every single person in this audience and I can not thank you enough for your dedication, zeal and vision to help us get to where we are today. I would like to thank and applaud the efforts of all of our friends that have worked for us since I started the cancer center 40 years ago and embraced our mission and contributed to the prevention and cure of cancer. By golly, we are making a difference and I appreciate all of your efforts in this quest!”
• The final speaker was Debra Schulze, speaking on behalf of her father Richard M. “Dick” Schulze, the founder of Best Buy Co., the largest electronics store in the U.S. Dick Schulze was unable to attend the event himself, but his family’s foundation supported the Speros Center with a $15-million investment in the campus’ Proton Therapy Center, “which is more than just advanced technology,” Debra Schulze said. “It is a place where skilled clinicians, dedicated researchers and hope-filled patients will come together in the pursuit of healing and progress. On behalf of my father, our family, and our foundation, thank you to the Moffitt leadership and staff. We are proud to stand alongside you and share in the excitement and the impact that this Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Therapy System Center will have on the future of cancer care.”
For more information about Moffitt’s Speros Outpatient Clinic and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Center (16370 Wilton Way, Land O’Lakes), visit Moffitt.org.
The Speros FL nurses The packed Speros FL lobby during the Jan. 9 Grand Opening event Aerial drone shot of the Speros FL campus
The area near The Grove at Wesley Chapel has been busy, with both the new Target store, Woody’s Wash Shack and now, the Belk Market all opening recently. And yes, there have still been many changes in the KRATE at The Grove container park, too.
But, while it’s possible that neither of these projects — both of which are located across Oakley Blvd. from the entrance to The Grove (both also are in front of the Avasa West apartments) — will be completed before the end of 2026 (since only one of them has broken ground), we also wanted to tell you about them.
Oakley Place Skilled Nursing Facility
We’ve already mentioned the planned 202-bed Oakley Place Skilled Nursing Facility at the northwest corner of Oakley Blvd. and Grove Isle Dr., but we recently heard that the facility may be getting ready to break ground soon. Of course, we’ll keep you updated, but a large additional skilled nursing facility would be a welcome addition to the area.
We also recently saw that The Goddard School-Oakley — which will be the second Goddard School private pre-school in Wesley Chapel (the other is off Bruce B. Downs Blvd., across from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel — has cleared the land in preparation of getting ready to build on the southwest corner of the same intersection, across from the Goddard School.
New Clubhouse At Valencia Ridge
The upscale Valencia Ridge community being developed by GL Homes (next to the builder’s successful Winding Ridge community) is getting an equally upscale 29,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse on a 7-acre recreational complex. The facility will include on-site dining, a poolside bar, sports lounge, racquet club & pro shop, resort-style pools, a shaded yoga garden, fitness center, exercise studio, massage room and more.
Swig #2 Coming To Epperson
The day before we went to press with this issue, correspondent Joel Provenzano found that Swig Drinks had received its site development placard from the county in December, which means that construction of the area’s second Swig (the other, of course, is between Academy Sports & PopStroke on the north side of S.R. 56) could begin any day now off Curley Rd. Joel said that plans for the new Swig were not downloadable at our press time, but we’ll keep you posted.
Whole Foods & Lifetime Fitness
And of course, we also had to show a drone shot of the progress on the new plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. north of Aronwood Blvd. in Meadow Pointe that will be home to both Whole Foods and Lifetime Fitness. We just provided a big update on this plaza — which also will have a Pop-Up Bagels, CAVA Mediterranean, Naked Farmer, Petfolk, Tox wellness spa & a nail salon in our Dec. issue or this would have been one of this issue’s biggest stories!
Feel free to let me know anything we’ve left out of this issue and we’ll try to cover it in our next edition! — GN
In 2025, the premiere residential ‘talk of the town’ in eastern Pasco County was Two Rivers — a community we covered numerous times in this publication, given its massive scale, located just outside the southeastern edge of Wesley Chapel.
Now that we’re in 2026, however, the excitement has shifted just outside of Wesley Chapel’s northeastern edge, to an even bigger development, the Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) — and one new community inside VOPH has positioned itself to literally be at the top of housing market.
If you think our area is fully flat, think again. What if we told you that this new community, known as Pasadena Ridge, delivers not only the views one might expect — water and conservation — but also adds stunning (for Florida) high-elevation ridgeline views, all visible from the same lots!
Previously, some of the best new development views you could get were from the limited number of lots inside Epperson overlooking King Lake — truly million-dollar views. Those are all occupied now, but in our opinion, the views from Pasadena Ridge are on another level — and are coming available on a first-come, first-served” basis.
On Dec. 4, we attended an event for real estate agents at the adjacent Handcart Garden Center, which is providing all of the landscaping for the community. We were taken on a tour of Pasadena Ridge in buses that looked just like trolleys.
Located on the east side of Handcart Rd., north of the rear entrance to the Watergrass community, Pasadena Ridge is shaping up to be something very unique. Honestly, we were so impressed with the brief views from the tour, that we drove back on Dec. 12 to get proper photos to share.
Not What We Expected
The Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) area is building fast, REALLY FAST, with multiple communities currently under construction.
Back in our September 2025 article, “Where Are The Villages Of Pasadena Hills & Why Should You Care?,” we first talked about Pasadena Ridge as an upcoming community in Pasadena Hills (Villages G & H), that was proposed to have 579 single family homes.
The ‘Ridge’ name has become very popular around Wesley Chapel; however, this “Ridge” community is not being done by GL Homes like the “The Ridge at Wiregrass,” “Winding Ridge,” and “Valencia Ridge” (all off S.R. 56), but is instead a new WestBay Community — with the creative tag line “Elevated Living.”
Very fitting, as Pasadena Ridge is located on top of a large (and somewhat steep) sprawling hill, which reaches a maximum height of 250’ above sea level. That might not seem like much to some from “up north,” but with the adjacent land to the north, east and west dropping away by 100’, new houses at the top of the hill’s ‘ridge’ will have the equivalent view of a 10-story building at sea level.
This means you can literally have a view that is unobstructed for miles — and those views are a breath of fresh air in what can seem like a monotony of perfectly flat new developments.
The community’s 250’ maximum height is actually pretty impressive, considering that the highest elevation in the entire region is only 305’ above sea level — a point on Clay Hill Rd, nearly 10 miles north of this Pasadena Ridge — and only 95’ shy of the state’s highest point, Britton Hill, located in the panhandle just south of the Alabama line.
The expansive ridge view photo (top photo) was taken at ground level, so you can imagine how much more impressive the view will be from a second story balcony, which is being offered by WestBay on some of their models (above photo).
The builder representatives at the event stated that these premium views will never change, as most of the land nearly a mile north of the development is protected wetland conservation (for the adjacent Buddy Lake).
If you’re interested in a house in Pasadena Ridge, you’ll definitely want to see the actual lots in person (not just on a map), as the elevations, grading and views from each lot vary wildly, but the best view we identified was looking north from the backyards of the lots along Peak Willow Trace — it honestly didn’t even feel like Florida.
The builder knows what they have, so their representative told us, “Expect to pay a substantial lot premium for the absolute best ones,” but unfortunately, pricing on those premiums have not been released yet.
What We Do Know
Pasadena Ridge offers homes by three builders — Homes by WestBay ($600k-$1M), Casa Fresca Homes ($300k-$500k) & Mattamy Homes ($300k+). Since this community is part of a VOPH model, parcels leading into the community off Handcart Rd. will be future commercial, and there is a future school site set aside within the development. The plan also shows a future Pasco County park site immediately to the west.
The development also promises to provide an amenities “club” and, while it does advertise a large resort-style pool, dog park, fitness center, pickleball courts, playground and event space, the cost of this club is not being absorbed by the CDD fee, as a separate club membership fee ($44.94/month) and club expenses fee ($115/month) will be charged once the club opens in 2027.
Add that to a $90.67 monthly HOA fee (which DOES include high-speed, 2-gigabit internet and trash) and up to a $217.66 monthly CDD fee for Casa Fresca, the only one we could currently find (Note-those fees could be higher for the WestBay homes, based on lot width), and monthly association fees could stack up quickly to $467/month ($5,610 annually), which is a little on the high side considering there’s no lagoon, restaurants or other standout amenities.
The only ones we’ve seen higher in a similar category, are the total association fees for Two Rivers West, due to the required “Landing Private Club” membership. But, when comparing, Two Rivers offers substantially more in a true club sense, including personal/poolside food & beverage service and a full restaurant, along with tennis clubs, spin instructors and other things not mentioned for Pasadena Ridge.
