Due to concrete beams being set for the new Overpass Rd. bridge on I-75 in Wesley Chapel, the Florida Department of Transportation says to expect detours this weekend.
Southbound detour
Southbound I-75 trafficย will be detoured off the interstate at exit 285, or S.R. 52 between 9 p.m. Friday night, Oct. 15 and 9 a.m. Saturday morning, Oct. 16.ย Travelers who get off on exit 285 will turn right onto S.R. 52 and continue for approximately one-half mile. At the next traffic signal (Old Pasco Road), turn left and go south on Old Pasco Road for approximately 6.75 miles to S.R. 54/C.R. 54. Turn left at the traffic signal onto S.R. 54/C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. and continue east about 7/10s of a mile to re-enter southbound I-75.ย
Northbound detour
Northbound I-75 trafficย will be detoured off the interstate at S.R. 54/C.R. 54 between 9 p.m. Saturday night, Oct. 16 and 9 a.m. Sunday morning, Oct. 17. At the bottom of the ramp, turn left onto S.R. 54/C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Boulevard and continue west about 8/10ths of a mile to Old Pasco Rd. At the traffic signal for Old Pasco Rd., turn right and go north for approximately 6.75 miles to S.R. 52. Turn right atย the traffic signal onto S.R. 52 and go east about 3/4 mile. After passing under I-75, turn left onto the entrance ramp to re-enter northbound I-75.
FDOT asks drivers to be careful on Old Pasco Rd., which is one lane in each direction and will be congested during the hours of the tour. Motorists are urged to plan plenty of extra time to drive the detour and return to the interstate or consider alternate routes. Law enforcement officers and traffic management personnel will be active along the detour route to assist with traffic flow, as well as detour signs and message boards.
Kobรฉ Japanese Steak Houseโs move to its new location at the former Vueloโs Mexican Grill on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (above) is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Kobรฉ Japanese Steak House, which has been located at the corner of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and Pebble Creek Dr. since 2011, is moving down the road to the old Vueloโs/Seรฑor Tโs/Romanoโs Macaroni Grill site in front of New Tampaโs Home Depot.
According to Hien Nguyen, a spokesperson for the family-owned mini-chain, as soon as remodeling is completed on the former Vueloโs, Kobรฉ โwill transition from our current location.โ
Nguyen says the new location, โwill be larger to accommodate our growing team and business. We aim to transition by the end of this year.โ
The new site for Kobรฉ is 7,000 square feet โ giving the restaurant roughly 1,000 more square feet to accommodate a larger kitchen for itโs growing to-go business โand offers more parking.
The successful and highly-rated Japanese steak house, one of 12 located in Florida, is now going to try to succeed where others have not when it moves into the former Vueloโs Mexican Restaurant location, which was previously Seรฑor Tโs and before that Macaroni Grill, which closed in 2013.
Seรฑor Tโs opened in November 2015 but was poorly received and scathingly reviewed by many. It failed to make it through even a year, closing its doors for good in July 2016.
The Mexican eatery was rebranded, redesigned and opened with a new, but still Mexican-based, menu as Vueloโs a few months later, in November. But, whether it was the food or the location, Vueloโs died out just over a year later and the restaurant has been empty since 2018.
Can another restaurant succeed in that seemingly cursed location, which can be difficult to get in and out of from BBD?
Probably, considering that Chiliโs has had staying power right next door. Plus, Kobรฉ has an established reputation and is popular in New Tampa (at least according to our annual Reader Surveys, which always give the restaurant high marks). And, according to 2,756 Google ratings, Kobรฉ has a 4.7 out of 5 rating. Yelp reviewers give Kobรฉ 4 out of 5 stars.
In addition, Kobรฉ has been the most successful/longest lasting of all of the restaurants to have come and gone from its location in front of the Pebble Creek Collection.
The saga began when Tampa Bay media personality Jack Harris leant his name to (and co-owned) Harris & Co., the original restaurant in Kobรฉโs location, which opened to rave reviews in 1997 but closed in 2000. But, Harris & Co. would just be the first of five restaurants in the building, which also has been home to Durango Steak House (2000-02, 2003), the Durango-owned Sammy Frogs (2004) and Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse (2006-11) prior to Wasabi selling its spot to Kobรฉ.
โLast year wasnโt…that good. I didnโt run a very good race at Regionals. But it definitely motivated me on a new level . Not making it to State probably helped me. It got me more fired up for track.โ
โ Cypress Creek Highย junior Zack Poekert
For most cross country runners, the offseason is all about putting in the miles. However, after putting in the miles before his sophomore season, Cypress Creekโs Zack Poekert switched things up a bit for 2021.
Instead, the Coyotes junior built more โtempoโ runs โ longer distances at a slower pace, shorter distances at a faster pace โ into his training regimen and the results are paying off this season.
After winning a preseason jamboree in Palmetto โ his first-ever first-place finish in high school — Zack reeled off four straight top-5 finishes against stiff competition, including a first-place finish at the River Ridge Invitational, and has emerged as a State contender in Class 3A.
Getting in the tempo work this summer, he says, has made him stronger and more confident.
โI notice the difference,โ he says. โIt made me a lot more confident going into these meets knowing that my training was there, and that I could compete with these (other runners) now.โ
Zack Poekert (left), with coach John Hoffman, after his fifth-place finish at the Florida Horse Park Invitational in Ocala on Sept. 3 (Photos courtesy of the Poekerts)
Zack, who broke 17 minutes for the first time at the jamboree, broke 16 minutes for the first time when he ran a 15:58 to finish fifth at the Florida Horse Park Invitational in Ocala on Sept. 3.
Zack has been ranked as high as No. 18 in the state according to flrunners.com, and earlier this season had the third-best time in Class 3A.
Zack says his goal this year is to run a 15:30, a steep drop from the 16:30 or so he has been averaging. But, he is motivated and ran a 15:43 in his River Ridge win.
He was a freshman on the Coyotes team that made it to the State meet in 2019, and as a sophomore in 2020 helped the team win its first-ever district championship. However, the Coyotes did not qualify for a return trip to States, and Zack just missed going as an individual.
A strong track season (4:28 in the mile, 9:48 in the two-mile) has him ready for a bounce back.
Zackโs passion for running started when he was younger, running with his mother Ronda, a former track and cross country standout for Plant, who helped the Panthers to the 1991 and โ92 State cross country championships.
When Ronda got back into running after years away from the sport, Zack asked if he could join her. Together, they trained and eventually ran in a handful of 5K races, like Miles for Moffitt and Gasparilla. Eventually, Zack got to the point where he was leaving Ronda in the dust.
โI would see him at the beginning of the race, and at the end of the race,โ says Ronda, laughing.
His passion for the sport, however, grew quickly during his freshman year at Cypress Creek, buoyed by his trip to the State meet.
Ronda gives credit for Zackโs success to his coaches, John Hoffman and Elsa Rehberg, and dad Bryan will occasionally go over the course with his son.
When Ronda does have a tip to lend, itโs usually about the mental aspect of racing, and strategy. Primarily, running your own race even if the rest of the field decides to go out either too fast or too slow, and then maintaining where your tempo needs to be during the race, is paramount to success, she says.
โItโs 100 percent,โ Ronda says. โIf you let that slip throughout the race, it can throw off everything.โ
Thatโs good advice in a tough District 3A-2, which features last yearโs State runner-up Sunlake High and standouts like Colby Robbins and Alex Pena. Poekert already has run against both at multiple meets this season, finishing behind them by roughly 10 seconds in a few races, with more head-to-head opportunities to come. That competition will make Poekert, and the rest of the Coyotes, better by seasonโs end.
Poekert says he is looking forward to the challenge.
โOur team is really young but you can see that they are starting to get really good,โ Poekert says. โBut if we donโt go as a team, I plan on getting back to States as an individual. My goal is to run that 15:30, and be All-State at the State meet.โ
Construction crews, large machinery and those all-too-familiar bright orange cones have returned to the intersection of S.R. 56 and I-75, as work on the much-anticipated Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) has finally and officially resumed.
Superior Construction Company Southeast, LLC, was chosen by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and surety bond companies to replace D.A.B. Constructors, which defaulted on the project on July 1 and went out of business shortly thereafter.
D.A.B. defaulted on six other projects in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties, including the S.R. 54 widening project from east of Curley Rd. to east of Morris Bridge Rd.
D.A.B. told FDOT on July 28 it could not afford to complete the S.R. 54 widening, due in part to penalties incurred by missing benchmarks on the DDI project.
Superior began work to complete the $36-million DDI on Sept. 13, which included mobilization of labor, equipment and materials, erosion control, survey, jobsite cleanup of debris and office setup. Full maintenance responsibility was transferred to the new contractor on Sept. 20.
The project, originally scheduled for completion before the end of 2021, is now expected to be finished within 10 months, likely in the summer of 2022, said FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson in an email.
Superior also currently is working on the realignment of S.R. 52 in eastern Pasco County. Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore represents District 2, where the DDI is located, and he said he was happy with the choice.
โIโve heard great things about them,โ Moore said. โAnd they are actually ahead of pace on the S.R. 52 project, so thatโs a good sign.โ
Stepping into a new project that already was more than halfway finished is unusual but not unprecedented in the construction business, especially considering the effect that Covid-19 and staffing issues have had on the entire construction industry.
โWhile this process is not how a typical FDOT project is executed, there are procedures in place for replacing a contractor,โ Carson said. โIt will take the new contractor some time (a few weeks) to clean up items from the previous contractor in order to complete the new work items. The new contractor evaluates the remaining work items and prices the items that are left to complete. Superior has already mobilized a staff and are in the process of mobilizing crews to complete the work.โ
Meanwhile, the surety company put out an advertisement for bids for completion contractors on Sept. 9 for the $42.5 million S.R. 54 widening project, and were expecting to receive bids by the end of the month.
A subcontractor, Southern Precision, has been taking care of the S.R. 54 site in the meantime, with mowing, little control and filling potholes. Last week, work began on milling driveways and side streets, as well as some paving.
County planners say the lone remaining property in the parcel above (outlined in red) should be preserved for retail and office space, not more apartments.
In a sign that developers in Pasco County may be facing a new uphill battle when it comes to rezoning property in order to build apartments, the countyโs planning staff and Planning Commission rejected an effort to do just that in the Seven Oaks development, just off S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.
First, the countyโs planning staff recommended denying a substantial modification to the Seven Oaks MPUD Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) Master Plan, and then, by a 3-1 vote on Sept. 8, Pascoโs Planning Commission voted down the plan to rezone 86,000 square feet of retail and office space for a 320-unit apartment complex.
Chris Williams, the director of planning for the Pasco School Board, had to leave before the Planning Commission vote but did voice his support for the developerโs plans.
Roberto Saez, MBA, CGC, AIA, a 14-year Seven Oaks resident, made the motion to deny. Saez formerly served as a senior construction project manager for Pasco County, and while he noted that the project was impressive, and something needed in the county, โthis is not the right location.โ
The proposed apartments would be located on a 10-acre parcel, currently zoned for commercial and retail development, adjacent to the Samโs Club on S.R. 56. Ancient Oaks Dr. serves as the western boundary of the parcel, BBD as the eastern boundary and S.R. 56 as the southern boundary.
The proposed apartment complex would include a pool, a dog park and open space for gatherings in the southern portion of the complex.
But, opponents of the project note that there already are two apartment complexes in that area of Seven Oaks โ Windsor Club at Seven Oaks to the east and Colonial Grand at Seven Oaks to the west. And, the Enclave at Wesley Chapel and Bonterra Parc apartments are both located right across the street, on the south side of S.R. 56. The residents also raised concerns about traffic issues on Ancient Oaks Blvd.
Joel Tew, the attorney for the developer DD/SR 56 LLC and Walmart, refuted each argument, and claimed the decision to recommend denying the rezoning appeared to be driven by politics, a reference to the countyโs current multi-family moratorium.
Politics Or Public Benefit?
Pascoโs Board of County Commissioners, led by District 2 commissioner and Seven Oaks resident Mike Moore, issued a moratorium on accepting any new apartment applications back in May, after debating for months whether the county, and specifically most of the Wesley Chapel area, was facing too much of a glut of multi-family development.
While the Seven Oaks application was submitted prior to the moratorium going into effect, the political headwinds were still felt, Tew says.
โAt the pre-app (meeting), staff told us that there was no problem with this application,โ Tew said. โStaff said it was a great spot for this. Itโs only now, due to a political directive, that staff at the last minute was told to oppose this application. Thatโs unfortunate.โ
The countyโs Planning and Development Department wrote that the project, as proposed, โis inconsistent with Comprehensive Plan Policy FLU 1.8.7, Economic Development, and Policy FLU 1.8.10, Preservation of Capacity for Employment-Generating Uses.โ
โI “In a normal world, if this project came in, it would be on (the) consent (agenda). You wouldnโt think twice about it. Youโd be thanking the developer for building exactly the mixed-use project that this county has begged all developers to build.โ ย โ Attorney Joel Tew
Nectorios Pittos, the director of planning and development for Pasco, said an independent third-party analysis that was conducted concluded that the proposed 320-unit rental apartment development would generate $188,375 in annual county revenue over a 10-year average, but the current MPUD entitlements for nearly 90,000 square feet of commercial use would generate $743,375 in annual county revenue.
The county, Pittos said, is placing a high priority on county revenue- and employment-generating land uses, which he says the current project would not do.
However, Tew, who complained he received the third-party analysis days before the hearing, disputed it by showing a chart of other similar multi-family projects and their tax bills. Extrapolating those numbers to the proposed 320 units, Tew said the proposed Seven Oaks projectโs tax bill actually would generate $850,000 yearly, which, over 30 years, which would mean a $25-million windfall for the countyโs coffers โ and more revenue than the $22.3 million that a commercial project would generate over the same time period.
โI donโt know where they came up with those (lower) numbers,โ Tew said.
Without the political overtones, Tew said, the proposed multi-family project would be a slam dunk.
โI ask that you look past the politics,โ he said. โIn a normal world, if this project came in, it would be on (the) consent (agenda). You wouldnโt think twice about it. Youโd be thanking the developer for building exactly the mixed-use project that this county has begged all developers to build.โ
Three Seven Oaks residents spoke against the project at the meeting, which was held at the Dade City Courthouse, while two others called in, also in opposition. John Thompson, one of those residents in attendance, said the project was like โfitting a square peg in a round holeโ and that the area needed more room for small businesses, not more apartments.
County planners did offer another option for committee action โ a continuance to the Nov. 4 Planning Commission meeting to allow the Planning & Development Department to โdevelop and include conditions of approval for vertically integrated mixed use building(s) that have commercial and office entitlements on the ground floor and multi-family entitlements on the upper stories.โ
Tew rejected the alternative motion, saying the developer said there was โno viabilityโ or market for such a project.
โIronically, when I bring new clients in to meet with staff, this is exactly the kind of project they ask my clients to build,โ Tew said. โWhen we find a hole in the donut that has everything around it, all of a sudden itโs not acceptable.โ
Moore and the rest of the county commissioners will hear Tewโs apartment proposal in the coming weeks.
The countyโs six-month moratorium, which went into effect May 4, has been extended another six months. Part of the plan is to determine exactly how many multi-family projects already exist in the county, and study whether the county, especially in areas like Wesley Chapel, has reached its saturation point.
Moore says he is not opposed to multi-family projects, just the efforts to rezone parcels approved for commercial and retail projects to build apartments. He says that there already is plenty of land with entitlements for multi-family projects, and cited a number of projects currently in progress.
