‘Grand Hampton’ Series Headed To The Big Screen

Annette Simmons-Brown, who plays the evil Dr. Annette, and Antony Capers co-wrote the Season 3 premiere that shot part of its episode at the Tampa Theater on July 1. (Photos: Charmaine George)

Here’s something that Grand Hampton resident and multimedia artist Antony Capers never imagined happening when he started shooting his campy, convoluted and creepy YouTube-based horror series during the pandemic — “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series” is headed for the big screen.

What began as a 45-second video clip of Capers’ son Merric and became an online series with two seasons and 27 episodes filmed exclusively in the Grand Hampton community with local residents mostly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, is now going to have its Season 3 premiere — an hour-long movie — shown at the iconic Tampa Theater in downtown Tampa in October.

Part of that premiere was shot at the Tampa Theater Friday afternoon. 

Filmmaker Antony Capers (with hat) and some of the cast members of his “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series” at a recent table read.

Capers, a freelance designer who owns his own production company, Reelistic Tales, continues to be humbled by the rection to his horror series, which is about a community filled with people in the witness protection program, whose children are disappearing as part of an organ harvesting plot run by an evil doctor and assisted by strange alien creatures. The show has more than 250 subscribers and 15,000 views on YouTube. While it has allowed Capers to build strong friendships in the Grand Hampton community, his primary goal when he started the series, it also could pull open some curtains for the 46-year-old filmmaker. 

The first curtains to open will be those at the Tampa Theater. Last year, Capers attended a horror movie viewing of “The Conjuring 3,” starring Tampa’s Patrick Wilson, at the old movie house in downtown Tampa as part of a “Film Tampa Bay Presents” series showcasing the work of local writers, directors, actors and crew who are from the Tampa area.

During the Question-&-Answer session after the movie, Jill Witecki, the Tampa Theater’s marketing director, says there was a lot of discussion about the Tampa Theater’s mission to celebrate area films and filmmakers, and it struck a chord with the New Tampa filmmaker.

The next day, Capers and Annette Simmons-Brown, who plays the evil Dr. Annette, harvester of children’s lungs, in the series, emailed Witecki about the Grand Hampton project.

“It was fascinating to us,” Witecki says. “Not only because he was a local filmmaker, but because it was really something different. It was a great example of some of the creativity that came to light during the pandemic.”

Witecki says Tampa Theater officials and Capers had a number of conversations about working together. One idea was to have Capers speak to the theater’s summer campers. 

“The film camp program is learning how to do exactly what he did, which is take what’s around you, take the people and the locations, and turn it into a movie,” Witecki says.

The other idea was to fit “Grand Hampton: The Movie” into the theater’s October horror series, “The Nightmare on Franklin St.,” where classic horror movies have been shown the last two weeks of the month for the past nine years.

Antony Capers.

“It seemed to be a good fit,” she says.

Not only did Capers jump at the chance, but he also talked the theater into letting him film part of the premiere inside the Tampa Theater.

Capers and Simmons have written the script for the Season 3 premiere together. They wrote a small part for Witecki, as well. And, Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who attended the Season 2 premier at the Grand Hampton clubhouse and helped give the show some of its initial publicity, also has a small role.

While Season 2 had to end abruptly due to the opportunity with the Tampa Theater, Capers says it is giving him a chance to revamp the series. Instead of it focusing on one family — him and Merric — each episode will be a 45-minute tale about a different family, which Capers compares to the way the old “Tales of the Crypt” series was filmed.

Season 3 begins with the parents of Grand Hampton going on a date night to the Tampa Theater, and while they are gone….well, you’ll just have to watch.

“A lot of action takes place back home during date night,” Capers says. “The new way of doing ‘Grand Hampton’ is pretty cool, if it works. It’s still ‘Grand Hampton,’ still the same characters, no paid actors, still 100-percent community involvement. It’s just revamped.”

The opportunity at Tampa Theater has Capers dreaming big. 

He says a showing at an iconic theater will put new eyes on his series, which is a thrill. And, he’d love to get into the Sundance Film Festival, get on Netflix or even just get the chance to pitch the idea to a streaming service. 

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” he says. 

And, for Capers,  Simmons and other Grand Hampton cast members, the chance to be seen on the big screen and then answer questions from the audience about what it’s like making a series and a movie will be the thrill of a lifetime.

“Branching out at an iconic location like Tampa Theater is going to be great,” Capers says. “I can’t wait.”

To view all episodes of the series, visit YouTube.com and search “Grand Hampton: The Movie”.  

New Tampa Business Owners Find Opportunity At The KRATEs!

With rents sky-high & limited space available here, New Tampa entrepreneurs are finding success & happiness at the new container park in Wesley Chapel.

For entrepreneurs, finding a place to start a new business in New Tampa can be tricky. Space can be limited. Prices are high. New development is scarce.

At the new KRATE at The Grove container park in Wesley Chapel, however, the plan was to lure those entrepreneurs in with a flashy concept — a park filled with converted shipping containers with bright murals painted on the side — and a less expensive entry point, with some container rents beginning at roughly $1,500 a month.

After a wildly successful opening day, the container park continues to boom for many of its owners, including a group of current and former New Tampa residents.

Here are a few of them:

Nimesh & Felicia Desai, Blush Wine Room 

The Blush Wine Room has been an idea the Desais have been planning for the last five years, but finding the perfect location had been a major chore.

The 14-year Live Oak Preserve residents scoured Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in the hopes of finding a launching pad for their hip and trendy concept.

It was a call from from Bernadette Blauvelt, the owner of B Creative Painting Studio at The Village at Grove in Wesley Chapel, that turned their attention to the container park.

“She said ‘You have to come take a look,’” Felicia says. 

So they did. Although they had considered trying to get in a space at the The Village at Hunter’s Lake town center, the day after meeting with developer Mark Gold in late 2019, they signed a lease.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Covid-19 ended up wiping out her small business, two cafés in office buildings. 

But now, nearly three years later, the Blush Wine Room is one of the KRATEs’ hottest spots. The weekends are non-stop packed, as the bar’s offering of wine, wine tastings, wine-based cocktails (many served in pouches for those walking around), and a menu that includes homemade meatballs, truffle fries, cheese boards and a variety of chips and dips are in high demand. 

“It’s been crazy,” says Felicia, “But we love it. I have no complaints.”

Chris Ferraro & Brooke Wahlquist, Higher Flour 

The tenant list at the KRATEs is filled with entrepreneurs who had been looking for a decent entry point into a physical location to sell their dreams.

Chris and Brooke, who are engaged and live in Richmond Place, came up with a concept that combined his passion for holistic medicine (Delta 8 THC, in this case) and her baking skills to make delicious gourmet edibles.

However, their efforts to find a landlord willing to rent out space for their Higher Flour store stalled, due to the stigma still associated with CBD, even though it’s legal in 30 states, including Florida.

“We were actually denied from 12 other locations,” Chris says. “I had pretty much given up all hope of opening this awesome idea that we had.”

The very last place on his list was KRATE at the Grove which, at the time, was only a concept. Chris says his initial inquiry was rejected, but he pleaded for a meeting with Gold, who liked the idea once Chris explained to him that it wasn’t going to be a smoke shop.

Since opening on June 4, Chris says Higher Flour has been “killing it.” The success has already inspired him to consider adding more locations.

The store sells five different flavors of cookies, from the traditional chocolate chip to Ube, which is a purple yam popular in Filipino deserts. Each cookie has 25 mg of Delta 8 THC, roughly the same as you’d get in a gummy, although everyone’s mileage varies, Chris says.

“Thank God for Mark Gold,” says Chris, whose previous business, LitFit, specialized in online sales of pashminas and was successful until Covid-19 hit. He added that Gold’s green light “changed the entire course of my family’s history.”

Luis & Olimar Ledezma, Mojo Grill Latin Infusion 

Luis was the longtime general manager at the Wendy’s on BBD, and then managed the Inside The Box Café at Armature Works from 2018-20 until they raised the rent and forced him to look elsewhere.

Luis says at that moment, Olimar, a senior manager for a car insurance company, “challenged me” to start something. With his management skills, her talent as a chef (learned from culinary classes she took in Spain) and their experiences eating different cuisines while traveling around the world, it was time to take the plunge and “stop working for somebody else.”

So after reading about the container concept in the Neighborhood News in 2019, Luis wasted little time signing up for the chance to run his own business.

“It was a no-brainer deal,” he said. “The KRATE was a great concept.”

Olimar designed the menu at Mojo Grill. The result has been dishes like the Argentinian-inspired Chimichurri steak, the Uruguayan-inspired Choripan sandwich, Cuban-inspired nachos and a variety of other tasty Latin dishes. Drinks, too — Olimar makes a killer homemade sangria.

Like almost every restaurant container at KRATE, business has been hopping. The container is almost never empty and the weekends are a madhouse. 

“When you work hard and put your concept out there and deliver good flavors, people will come back,” Luis said.

This is “definitely” something Luis says he could not have pulled off in New Tampa. While living in Live oak Preserve for 10 years, he saw enough small restaurants turn over to discourage him.

“It would be much harder to become known without spending much more money,” he says. “I wouldn’t take that risk in an expensive brick-and-mortar. This is perfect.”

Sheila & Osman Haque, Life Essentials Refillery  

Sheila’s career in the zero-waste and better living business started on a boat, where she and her three daughters noticed trash floating in the water. That inspired her to start EmbraceLessWasteUSA.com, a website devoted to zero-waste, American-made products.

Haque, who lives in Cory Lake Isles, completed the Pasco Economic Development Council (EDC) business incubator program, and although she could use the EDC container on occasion to sell her products, she wanted her own store.

She put herself on the waiting list at the KRATEs while pursuing other opportunities. After passing on a few overpriced, high-rent options, Sheila says Life Essentials Refillery was ready to commit to a Trinity location.

Luckily, KRATE called and said there was an opening. “We were getting build-out pricing (in Trinity),” Sheila says. While she may be paying more per square foot at the smaller KRATE, she says, “the foot traffic is worth it.”

At Life Essentials Refillery, the Haques sell eco-friendly, healthy and locally-sourced items. In fact, Sheila says everything in the store is sourced from small American businesses.

Items like spices, herbs, teas and coffee are popular, as well as less toxic versions of things like detergent, soap and sunblock. But, because they also have a full kitchen, they are also able to sell food. You can bring in your own container and fill it with pasta, beans and candies, and there’s a gluten-free section to choose from as well. 

And if you want to make your own nutbutter, Sheila can help you do that, too.

“The interest so far is better than I expected,” Sheila says. “We’ve met people that come from Sarasota and Gainesville because there’s nothing like this close by.”

All of these KRATE businesses have their own websites and social media presences, as well as their own open hours, but for a complete listing of and more information about all of the KRATE businesses, visit KrateatTheGrove.com.

Local 2022 Campaign Season Heating Up

Fentrice Driskell, the new Democratic party leader of the Florida House, will headline a pair of townhalls in New Tampa over the next two weeks.

The first town hall will be at the New Tampa Regional Library on Thursday, June 30, at 6 p.m., followed by a town hall at Tampa Palms’ Compton Park on Wednesday, July 6, also at 6 p.m.

Rep. Driskell will be joined by District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and State Sen. Janet Cruz, who is seeking reelection in Senate District 14, a district that recently has been redrawn and now includes New Tampa.

Sen. Cruz, a Democrat, is running against Republican Jay Collins, who dropped his bid for Congress last week to challenge Cruz and picked up a quick endorsement from Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

That effectively forced Hunter’s Green resident and fellow Republican Shawn Harrison, who had filed to run against Cruz in April, from the race,

Like Cruz, Driskell is running in a redrawn district, although it still includes New Tampa and USF. Instead of House District 63, the seat she won in 2018 and 2020, Driskell is now looking to secure House District 67.

She will be opposed by Democrat Dawn Douglas, who filed to run in May, and Republican Lisette Bonano, who filed last year.

Bonano, an Army veteran, is a New Tampa resident.

For First-Time Business Owners, KRATE Is Special

Heidi Esquivel

Yummy Tablas

As a little girl in Costa Rica, Heidi Esquivel would make salads for her parents because it was all that was in the house.

She would pour her heart and soul into each bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, often cutting up red peppers to make them look fancy and shaping other simple vegetables to look like beautiful flowers.

“I wanted to make my mom and dad proud,” Heidi says. “It was my way of saying ‘I love you,’ with food.”

It took years for Heidi’s artistic skills to manifest themselves as a caterer specializing in elaborate and gorgeous charcuterie and cheese boards, but today, as the owner of Yummy Tablas at the KRATE at the Grove Container Park in Wesley Chapel, she has found her calling.

Although she started her business online during the pandemic, and grew a large following thanks to Instagram — “my best friend” she calls the social media app — she now has fulfilled a dream by owning a store of her own.

“To see the people come through the door, to see the faces, the reaction, it’s just wonderful,” Heidi says, pointing to a couple sitting outside, enjoying a glass of what she calls “the best wine at the KRATEs” on the outdoor patio. “It’s her birthday, so he brought her here for a little glass of wine. She is so happy. Those moments make me so happy.”

Developer Mark Gold says he didn’t start the KRATE just to fulfill his own personal dreams — he did it in part to help make the dreams of others more accessible.

When he announced his project in October 2019, offering converted shipping containers as business opportunities with monthly rents starting at around $1,500, he instantly received a flurry of emails and phone calls from small business owners. Or, in the case of Heidi, prospective first-time folks who couldn’t otherwise afford to rent a space for a business of their own.

In fact, roughly 30 percent of the nearly 50 businesses that make up KRATE at the Grove are run by first-timers. 

“I saw the price and the whole thing looked so cute, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can afford that!,’” Heidi says. “I came here right away and fell in love with the whole project. And now, I’m here.”

Before that, Heidi had struggled for years waiting for her opportunity, cleaning homes and working in construction. When she went out with husband Ronnie, a physician she married five years ago, and people asked what she did, she was mortified.

“It was so sad, it was embarrassing,” Heidi says. “I just didn’t want to continue saying that. I wanted to be somebody…I was almost 40 and I needed to find my passion.”

While entertaining friends and family, Heidi always presented her food with flair. Her guests always raved about her displays, and Ronnie also encouraged her to start her business online. 

Her concept of “grazing boards,” where friends and family could gather around while nibbling on meats, crackers, cheeses, fresh fruit and honey and jam, struck a chord with people during the pandemic, when people were stuck at home.

“My friends were right,” she says. “It just took off.”

But, when she read the first story about the KRATEs in the Neighborhood News, she knew a “little shop” is what she really wanted.

“Mark Gold was excited about it, and I’m so excited about it, too,” Heidi says. “To have people come and have some cheese and a glass of wine, share memories, laugh, tell stories, spend time with family….that’s what I’m really excited about.”

Tracy DiMillo

Urban Sweets

Heidi’s path is similar to Tracy DiMillo’s, who had built a large local following — in two different states — with her decadent desserts. She, too, was entertaining a friend when it was suggested in October 2019 that she open her own place.

“She asked me if I had read about this guy who just bought The Grove and was going to do containers,” Tracy says. “She sent me the link to the story, I read it on a Sunday, emailed them on Monday and was in their offices talking to them on Friday.”

On Dec. 6, 2019, Tracy and her husband John signed a lease for Urban Sweets, a KRATE container specializing in cupcakes and layered desserts.

It was a long journey for Tracy, a stay-at-home mom of three (now grown) children looking for an outlet.

It started in 1999 with a cake decorating class at Jo-Ann’s Fabrics in Brandon, but soon, Tracy was teaching the classes. A Tampa Palms resident at the time, she sold her desserts locally and online as Creative Cakes. When John, a salesman for a major alcohol distributor, was transferred to Fairfield, CT, she jumped on the just-taking-off cake pops craze with The Pop Shop, making and selling the treats out of a commercial kitchen.

The Dimillos moved back to Florida in 2015, with Tracy unsure what to do next. She baked for neighbors and parties and thought often of opening her own shop. She even had business cards made for Urban Sweets in 2018, “just to put it out into the universe and keep my dream moving forward.”

The Dimillos were fans of Sparkman Wharf, a smaller container park on Channelside Dr. in downtown Tampa that opened in late 2018. While strolling around the container park that year, she fell in love: “I told John I see myself in a container at Sparkman.”

A year later, however, Gold rolled into town. Like Heidi, Tracy also read the article in the Neighborhood News and was gobsmacked.

“If you have a dream, let’s make it happen,” Gold said at the time. “This is your mom-and-pop opportunity, your dream….I want to help people come to us. Let me help you.”

Those words hit Tracy like one of her cookie butter cake parfaits hitting your taste buds.

“I read it and I could swear he was talking to me,” Tracy said. “He said things like he was appealing to new business owners, appealing to smaller business owners….after wanting to open a store for 15 years, I just thought, this is it. I felt like it was a lightning bolt.”

In fact, that’s the exact phrase — “lightning bolt” — she used in her email to Gold to describe her interest. She didn’t even have her sugary concoctions thought out yet. But, she had a name, that box of business cards and she was ready. 

“I just knew, after 23 years, I felt like I knew what people liked.”

Urban Sweets opened in late May to positive reviews. With a few thousand people to please for the KRATES’ opening day on June 4 (see page 20), Tracy was eager for her official debut as a business owner. 

“It’s a dream come true,” Tracy says. “I know that sounds super cheesy, but that’s how I feel.”

Monica Russo

Maeberry Co.

Monica Russo has shared a similar dream for just as long, imagining herself as a clothing buyer since she was a little girl.

For years, she envisioned being a children’s clothing buyer for a big department store like Nordstrom or Dillard’s (and she worked at both for a time).

Pregnant and bed-ridden during Covid-19, Russo decided to become a buyer…for herself. In 2021, she started a website, MaeBerry Co., that sold children’s clothing and accessories.

Later that year, a friend told her about the KRATE at The Grove, and thought she should go all the way and open her own shop. So, she contacted the KRATE’s management, was put on a waiting list, and after twice declining because she wasn’t sure she was ready, she took the keys to her KRATE in January.

“I knew when they asked a third time, I had to do it,” Monica says. “I just went with what my heart was telling me.”

The decision has been the right one. With help from dad George Leach, who assisted getting the business going and chips in with babysitting, husband George Rocek and daughter Alyssa, who is 17 and works in the shop, business has been bustling.

Monica says business at MaeBerry Co. has been so good, in fact, she wishes she had chosen a larger container. Her eco-friendly infant and children’s clothing, many made with soft, breathable and chemical-free bamboo, and by high-end companies like Posh Peanut and Itzy Ritzy, have been popular among shoppers.

“This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Monica says. “So far it’s been everything I have dreamed of.”

Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. Is Nearing The Finish Line

As major road projects designed to ease congestion come to fruition this year — the Diverging Diamond Interchange at S.R. 56/I-75 and the widening of S.R. 54 — another smaller project expected to have a big impact should be completed by the end of the year.

Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. (drone photo, right, by Charmaine George), which will run from just north of S.R. 56 all the way north to S.R. 54, will be fully open by December, if not earlier — if weather and the ability to secure construction supplies is not disruptive — according to Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter.

While not as massive as the aforementioned projects, Porter says Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. will play a big role in easing traffic in the area and providing the kind of connectivity the county is lacking. It also will serve as a major thoroughfare for future residents of the Wiregrass area.

“I think the changes, at least on a local perspective, will be as great as they were when S.R. 56 was built through Wiregrass Ranch,” Porter says. “This provides a parallel alternative to Bruce B. Downs, as well as helping with necessary spacing for the S.R. 54/I-75 interchange.”

Mansfield Blvd., which runs from County Line Rd. to S.R. 56, transitions into Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. at the first of three roundabouts.

Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. is located just east of Lajuana Blvd., which provides access to Audi Wesley Chapel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites and the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County.

 It runs north past Chancey Blvd, and currently ends at the entrance to Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch, a community for ages 55+.

There is roughly a mile of construction remaining. The road will run past the Walmart Super Center and end at S.R. 54.

Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. will be a major artery for the Wiregrass Ranch community. Porter says it’s not just another local road or one merely built for the development of homes, but the kind of game- changing road project that will bring more value to area schools, including Pasco Hernando State College on Mansfield, and provide a significant upgrade for local residents trying to get to the area’s many shopping and dining options.

Once the road is completed at the end of the year, long-awaited development of the Wiregrass Ranch area around the road will begin, including a proposed town center area that will act as the area’s downtown.

“Almost immediately once that road opens you’ll see users along that road,” Porter says, adding that some are already under contract and just waiting to get in. “It is kind of the kick off. There will be office people and retail people. You’re going to see that stuff start to happen.”