Three New Hotels Add Heat To Wesley Chapel’s Business Climate

The six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy. will open this summer. 

For years, Pasco County has grappled with attracting tourists and giving them a place to stay.

Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) and a planned RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, as well as the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO), the Shops at Wiregrass mall, the massive “connected city” project and dozens of local restaurants will help take care of attracting visitors.

In a few months, a long-standing problem of finding beds for all of those visitors’ heads will be solved as well.

During the months of June and July, Wesley Chapel expects to see three new hotels open along the burgeoning S.R. 56 corridor, joining the Holiday Inn & Suites that opened last year next to FHCI (and the Hampton Inn & Suites, which has been open for many years).

“The two industries (tourism and hospitality) go hand in hand,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay (formerly Greater Wesley Chapel) Chamber of Commerce. “It’s almost like you can’t have one without the other.”

Barring any weather delays, a six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy., across S.R. 56 from FHCI, is scheduled to open in June, a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is expected to open in June or July a few miles to the east (in the Wiregrass Ranch development), and the six-story, 132-room Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center will open in July at the Cypress Creek Town Center across from TPO.

The newest hotels have all been planned since late 2015.

The Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center

Impact Properties is building the Hyatt Place, and recently hosted a “topping off” event to show off its progress. Impact just began building the $24-million hotel last summer. The Hyatt Place will share the north side of S.R. 56 with a host of new restaurants and retailers (see story on page 6).

The conference center addition fills another area need, says District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. “This is going to be a great development all around,” Moore said during the Hyatt Place event. “When you talk about a convention center, that has been something that has been a big need in Pasco County, especially on the east side. You won’t have a problem keeping it full.”

Impact president Dilip Kanji said he has had his eyes on the Cypress Creek location for years, patiently waiting for the right moment.

“I’ve been looking at Wesley Chapel since 2012,” Kanji says, citing the Cypress Creek Town Center’s permitting woes dating back to 2007. “If you remember, (our interest) goes back to the days when the mall was going to go there, the problems with the wetlands and the Army Corps of Engineers, all that stuff, so we just kept looking. But, Wesley Chapel has arrived, Pasco County has arrived, everyone wants to be here. We had an idea for what we wanted to do; we were just waiting for the right time.”

Kanji said his company also eyed the Shops at Wiregrass mall and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel areas in Wiregrass, as well as the area near FHCI (where the Holiday Inn Express is today).

“There’s been the potential (for a hotel) in the area, but the place we always wanted to be was on that (the west) side of the interstate,” he said.

A Little History…

Impact Properties was founded in 1981, two years after Kanji, a biochemist at the time, visited San Francisco and stayed at a family-run hotel that he fell in love with. He decided, without the benefit of any business schooling or real estate courses, to enter the business.

Impact Properties president Dilip Kanji

“I never stepped in a lab again, and never looked back,” said Kanji, who works closely with brother and VP Nash Kanji, whom he describes as a construction “whiz.” They started with a small motel in Gainesville that Kanji says his attorney at the time joked was known as a “no-tell motel.” Since then, Impact Properties has grown into an award-winning development company, owning and managing more than 25 hotels, and was awarded the key to the City of Tampa by then-Mayor Dick Greco for developing the Hilton Garden Inn in Ybor City, the first hotel to be built in the historic district in more than 100 years.

Impact Properties currently owns a hotel in Gainesville, two in Jacksonville and two in Tampa, including The Westin on Westshore Blvd.

The company also is developing a hotel in Treasure Island, FL, in addition to the Wesley Chapel location, which Kanji says is one of the most coveted areas around.

Speaking Of Hot…

Kanji says people have asked him if he’s building his next hotel in downtown Tampa or St. Petersburg, and when he tells them no, they ask why, because those are the hot areas.

“I don’t even go where it’s already hot,” Kanji says. “We identify an emerging area, growth areas that are going to be hot. And, we get there first.”

He says that was his plan when he built a hotel in Brandon years ago, the first he says to do so on the old I-75 bypass. “The interchange wasn’t even working,” he says. “We identified where Brandon was going — it was the bedroom community of Tampa — and we identified that area as hot. We got there first. There were growing pains. We did not hit our numbers the first year or two. But, we said we will control the market.”

In the case of Wesley Chapel, however, Impact Properties will be entering a market that is already considered hot, and growing crowded quickly — landowner Bob Sierra said at the “topping” event that if the Hyatt Place is successful, Kanji has an option to build a second in the Cypress Creek Town center.

In addition to the three hotels set to open this summer, the RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex – which could open in spring of 2019 — will have a 120-room Marriott-branded Residence Inn on site, and the Brightwork Crossing development north of S.R. 54/56 and west of C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. has stated plans in 2016 to build an unnamed hotel with up to 150 rooms on that site.

Also, plans were filed with the county in August for a proposed, also-unnamed  160,000-sq.-ft. hotel to be located behind the Walgreens at the S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. intersection.

A report in 2016 by consultants analyzing the potential for a sports complex in Wesley Chapel pointed out the lack of hotel rooms in the area. And, while it still made a sizable economic impact (estimated at $3-million a year), it has been believed that one of the main beneficiaries of the DICK’s National Lacrosse Championships held at Wesley Chapel District Park the last several years were nearby Hillsborough County hotels, such as those in New Tampa, which took in 60-75 percent of the tournament’s teams and visitors.

While saturation may become an issue, the new hotels are anticipated to help the county’s tourism efforts and fill tax coffers. The county approved doubling its tourist tax, or bed tax, from 2 to 4 percent last year.

“What you’re seeing in Pasco County is quality,” Moore said. “There is a lot of time and effort put into these projects. We’ll be getting rooms filled, heads in beds…and we appreciate the help. It helps us grow, and helps us bring in additional profits to the county.”

Magic On Ice!

OlympianVanessa James gave 7-year-old future ice skating star Serena Kemble a lot more than just some tights -— she gave her a memory that will last a lifetime.

A Simple Gesture By An Olympic Medal Hopeful Inspires A Young Skater At Florida Hospital Center Ice

Serena Kemble had only been figure skating a few months when she first saw Olympic medal hopeful Vanessa James at a 2016 competition at the Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex in Bradenton.

The then-five-year-old was transfixed by Vanessa’s beauty and grace, the way she glided across the ice and so elegantly twisted and turned as she leapt through the air.

And by her skin color.

“It was the first time Serena saw anyone in person skating that was her own skin color,” said Deserree Kemble, Serena’s white, adoptive mother. 

“She was bouncing in her seat, as happy as she could be.”

During the Winter Olympics, which begin today in PyeongChang, South Korea, Serena is likely to once again be happily bouncing in her seat, as she hopes to see Vanessa and her partner, Morgan Cipres, who have been training at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel since May, represent France as they compete for a medal in the pairs figure skating competition. The duo recently finished fourth at the European World Championships.

As she cheers on her skating idol, Serena just may be clutching a pair of new brown tights in her hands, given to her by Vanessa, a significant gesture that has left a significant impact.

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Deserree and Serena, who is 7 years old and has been skating for two years, grew dismayed by a lack of equipment for skaters of color, especially tights, which are primarily supposed to match the skater’s skin tone, while adding protection in case of falls.

“We bought her tights, but I recall they never did look right,” Deserree says. “Tights are supposed to resemble the skater’s skin tone and hers stood out. They were obviously not close to her skin tone.”

Deserree tried dyeing the tights they had, but nothing seemed to work. One competition, Serena skated without them, but fell and suffered ice burns on her legs. They managed to locate a used pair from Nyman, and by mending holes and double-layering the tights, made them last.

Deserree connected with Vanessa, whom they had met at a skating event in Ellenton, on Facebook and shared some of the difficulties she and Serena encountered being a skater of color. Having endured her own obstacles, Serena’s story touched Vanessa.

The next time she saw Serena, she vowed she would be ready. Her coach, John Zimmerman IV (a 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame inductee), and FHCI Ice Skating Director Shari Klutz, helped orchestrate a future meeting.

On Jan. 24, Deserree was on Facebook when she noticed a post announcing the final practice for Vanessa and Cipres before they headed off to the Olympics, with an autograph session to follow.

She rearranged her schedule so she and Serena could drive across the state to see Vanessa up close, although she kept it a secret. Traffic, though, caused them to miss the morning session. So, Serena free skated while they waited for the night practice session.

After a few hours, as Deserree and Serena stood at the Guest Services desk at FHCI, Vanessa came in the door and also walked up to the service desk.

“Serena was just in shock,” Deserree says of the unplanned meeting. Serena stared at Vanessa. She had no words.

“I told her, ‘You waited two years for this moment, you’re not going to say anything?,’” Deserree says.

A star-struck Serena mumbled, “She’s so pretty.”

Vanessa looked down and realized it was Serena, the little girl from Facebook who couldn’t find a pair of tights in her skin tone.

“Let’s meet after the night practice session,” Vanessa told her.

Serena got a front-row seat for Vanessa and Cipres’ practice session, where the figure skaters performed their long program, or free skate, to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence.” She excitedly provided the play-by-play for her mother.

“Serena told me every move they did that she knew the name of, and when she didn’t, she just sang their song,” Deserree says. “When it was over, Serena looked over at me and said, ‘This was the best day ever.’”

+++++

Little did Serena know that the best day ever was going to get even better.

After the training session, Vanessa signed autographs, including a copy of SKATING, the U.S. Figure Skating magazine, January issue. In the Kid Zone section of the magazine, Serena is featured, and named Vanessa as one of her skating role models.

As the autograph session wrapped up, and only Serena was left, she met with Vanessa. After a brief conversation, she asked them if they could wait around for a few minutes. Serena nodded her head.

Vanessa sped home to nearby Seven Oaks, where she has lived while training at FHCI. With music playing in her head, a beaming Serena waited in the lobby, practicing axel after axel, nearly 75 in all.

Deserree stood nearby, smiling.

Vanessa returned with gifts — tights for Serena.

The first two pairs were tights in Serena’s size, and skin tone, that Vanessa’s mother shipped her from France.

The third pair actually belonged to Vanessa. “One day,” she told Serena, “you will grow into these.”

“Serena was over the moon excited,” says Deserree. “When we were in the car driving home, Serena said she would never wash the tights Vanessa gave her, and would never wash the hand that she shook.”

Deserree chuckled. “I told her she might want to think about that, but left it there for the time being.”

Serena may have had trouble finding tights to match her skin tone, but she definitely didn’t have any trouble finding a role model who does.

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The Kembles, Deserree and Lance, adopted Serena and her 6-year-old biological cousin, Elijah, at birth, rescuing the children from their rough background, through a program with the Kembles’ church.

“It just seemed like the right thing to do,” Deserree said.

The Kembles hardly imagined that their daughter would discover figure skating, of all things, but a 2016 family trip would change Serena’s world forever.

At a ski resort in Gatlinburg, TN, Serena saw ice, and people skating on it, for the first time. She was mesmerized as the skaters whizzed by her, and begged her parents to let her try it.

A few moments later, Serena had laced up a pair of cheap, worn rental ice skates and was gliding around the ice with surprising aplomb, charming the other skaters, many of whom couldn’t help but notice.

“How long has she been skating?,” someone asked Deserree.

“Oh, about two minutes,” she replied.

When it was time to leave, Serena begged to stay. She has been skating ever since, inspired by Vanessa on that night in Bradenton, just a few months after she began. Her mother says Serena has already been in about a dozen competitions, earning nine gold medals, one silver and one bronze. She also skates with a performance team called Theatre On Ice, and is the youngest member of the team coached by Katie Nyman, who also coaches at one of Serena’s home rinks, the Space Coast IcePlex in Rockledge (near Cocoa Beach), which is known for its strong figure skating program.

Serena is heading into competition season now, and will have her first competition in a more competitive classification this March, in Coral Springs. The Florida State Games are coming to FHCI in Wesley Chapel this summer, and Serena plans to compete there.

She will be wearing her new tights.

The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 9 in PyeongChang Olympic Stadium and continue through Sunday, Feb. 25. Vanessa and Morgan will skate Feb. 13-14.

Rotary Club Updates On A Unique Exchange Student & The Taste!

Despite my best efforts to keep our readers informed about all of the wonderful things New Tampa’s two Rotary Clubs do to help people both here and internationally, there’s no doubt that both clubs do many amazing things to live by Rotary International’s motto of “Service Above Self.”

Rotary International (RI) is the world’s largest service organization, with more than 1.2 million members in thousands of clubs worldwide. RI is the organization that has now all but eradicated polio, once a dreaded scourge afflicting millions without discriminating for race, color, creed or national origin. Today, there literally are only two countries in the world — Pakistan and Afghanistan — that still have new cases of polio being reported, with only eight such new cases in those two war-torn nations because they won’t allow Rotary and the World Health Organization vaccinate everyone in certain areas where those new cases still pop up.

But, RI and the thousands of Rotary Clubs across the globe are about so much more than just eliminating polio. Rotary Clubs — including the 20+-year-old Rotary Club of New Tampa (which still meets Fridays at 7 a.m., at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club) and the 15-year-old New Tampa Noon Rotary (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Pebble Creek Golf Club) — provide service to their local communities, the Tampa Bay region and the world.

One way clubs get involved globally is by exchanging outstanding students in their communities with students from foreign countries to live for a year (there are shorter programs, too), where they get to travel, spread the word about Rotary and immerse themselves in other cultures.

The New Tampa Noon club, of which I am a member, has never really been big enough to sponsor a Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) Scholarship student before; but even though our club still has fewer than 20 active members, we recently jumped on the RYE bandwagon in a big way.

Wharton High graduating senior M’Kya Gonzalez-Richardson is the president of the school’s French club and French Honor Society, and is already fluent in “la langue” (the French language), so the fact she was interested in traveling to France was no big surprise.

What was surprising to learn was that M’Kya and her mom, Thelsuice Gonzalez (who was disabled from an accident at work when M’Kya was only 9) were actually homeless a few years ago. Although they live in a home in the Wharton attendance district today, their situation isn’t typical of most RYE exchange students — and that’s another reason this very well spoken, excellent student was selected by the New Tampa Noon club to receive the prestigious RYE Scholarship.

“It costs $5,500 for room, board, tuition and a small monthly stipend to spend one academic year overseas,” says Helen Chan (with me and M’Kya in the photo), the RYE coordinator for Rotary District 6890, which includes both New Tampa Rotary Cubs and 43 others in Hillsborough, Highlands, Hardee and Polk counties. “So, most RYE students are somewhat affluent themselves, so they can pay those costs. But, the goal is to select high-level students, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, to be RYE Scholarship recipients and M’Kya is exactly the type of student — and ambassador for our District — who deserves this type of honor.”

Despite their time living on the street (and moving from one relative’s home to another), and her mom’s disability (“I had to grow up faster than most kids because I had to be the one doing the shopping and cleaning for us at a young age,” she says),M’Kya has always thrived at school, whether in Thel’s tough hometown of Gary, IN, or from her time attending Benito Middle School and Wharton here.

And, she’s not afraid of having to do some fund-raising of her own to help pay for her year  in the northern French city of Normandy.

M’Kya and Thel have created and sold hand-made holiday cards and blank thank-you note cards, and sold some homemade cakes to raise money. And, while she will be representing all of District 6890  during her visit, she also is now receiving the proceeds of the New Tampa Noon Club’s weekly “Brag Bucks.” In addition, she plans to compete in next month’s Rotary District 6890 club speech contest. If she wins at the “club” ($100 for first place) and “group” levels ($250), she will advance to the District Finals in March, where the prize is $1,000. 

“That would really help me out a lot,” says M’Kya, who will likely do at least some portion of her speech en Français. “But, I’m prepared to do even more to raise all of the money before I leave for France.”

A “Tasty” Connection?

I’m also proud to announce that the New Tampa “Breakfast” Rotary Club, which is again the organization putting on the Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — on Sunday, March 25, noon-4 p.m., at Florida Hospital Center Ice (in conjunction with the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce)  — has agreed to give $1,000 of this year’s Taste proceeds as a thank-you to my Noon Rotary Club, for the efforts of not only yours truly as the restaurant coordinator for the event again, but also for our club’s assistance with day-of registrations for the 2018 Taste.

I was able to secure nearly 50 restaurants and beverage providers for last year’s Taste and hope to surpass that number this year. I also hope my club will donate at least a portion of those proceeds for M’Kya’s trip.

For more information about the 2018 Taste, including how to pre-buy tickets at a discount before February 1, visit TasteofNewTampa.org!

Tampa Premier League Sets Site On Local Home

Naufil Keshwani batting at Rodney Colson Park. (Photo by Nagesh Nayak)

Nagesh Nayak is on a mission.

The Tampa Premier League (TPL) president, a K-Bar Ranch resident, has taken his power point presentation to Hillsborough and Pasco county commissioners, emailed and spoken to local politicians, shown up at town halls and, even in the midst of the heated budget battle last year, where Tampa City Council members argued over spending, Nayak stood up and asked for money to build what to him seems logical.

A cricket field in the New Tampa or Wesley Chapel area.

Sure, he says, land is sparse these days. Business development of what land is available takes precedence. But, look around New Tampa, in places like Cory Lake Isles, Arbor Greene and Tampa Palms, and you might notice Tampa Bay’s largest concentration of Indian residents.

Their game is cricket, and they would like a place to play it.

“So much of the population would be interested,” Nayak says.

A large portion of the more than 26,000 or so households in New Tampa’s 33647 zip code are of Indian and Asian descent, a number Nayak says he believes may be as high as 10 percent. Another zip code with a heavy Indian population, 33620, borders New Tampa at the University of South Florida.

In fact, the USF Cricket Club, founded by TPL chairman Satish Hanumanthu in 2007, is one of the top programs in the American College Cricket (ACC) league. The ACC, founded in 2009, has more than 70 teams, and holds its national championship in South Florida during spring break.

Nagesh Nayak (right) and Satish Hanumanthu, two of the leaders in an effort to bring cricket fields to New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. (Photo by John C. Cotey)

“USF has won 80 percent of the (collegiate) tournaments it has played in,” Hanumanthu says.

“I would safely say, without any disrespect to anyone, you could safely call us the (New England) Patriots of college cricket,” Nayak adds.

The program is so esteemed, Hanumanthu says, that the club is often the deciding factor for Indian students coming to attend college in the U.S.

“It helps them choose USF over other universities,” he says. “It’s important they have a place to play.”

Nayak feels the same way about the New Tampa (and Wesley Chapel) Indian population, which he says continues to grow and includes the Tampa Palms Cricket Club, which Nayak says has roughly 80 members.

The TPL, which has 18 teams of roughly 22-25 players each – 65 percent of whom live in New Tampa — currently plays many of its matches on a small field at Hamilton Park near Tampa International Airport, but it has no lights and can be an hour drive from this area.

“We would really like two fields with lights,” Nayak says.

Nayak sees a cricket field — which is a rectangular pitch (like a baseball infield) surrounded by a large oval field (like a baseball outfield) — offering a recreational opportunity for adults to play and teach their children the sport they grew up playing, like U.S.-born families do with baseball, basketball and football. He has already looked into attracting new players from Freedom and Wharton high schools, and has led some youth clinics teaching the sport.

He also sees a permanent field as a business opportunity, as some of the U.S.’s largest cricket tournaments can draw tens of thousands of spectators over the course of a weekend, filling hotel rooms and local businesses.

About The Game…

Cricket has many nuances but most closely resembles baseball, in that the object is to score runs by hitting a ball thrown by a pitcher, or in cricket parlance, a bowler, who hurls it on one bounce towards a wicket. There are 11 fielders, and the batsman continues to hit until he makes an out (or is dismissed).

A batted ball that makes it through the defense on the ground and to the boundary of the field is worth four runs. A ball hit over the boundary in the air, like a baseball home run, is worth six.

Ashish Rawat Bowling at Rodney Colson Park. (Photo by Nagesh Nayak)

Championed by Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham, the county, at a cost of $800,000, opened its first designated cricket fields at Evans Park in Mango back in 2015, and there also is a dedicated cricket field at Rodney Colson Park in Seffner.

Nayak has had discussions with Tampa’s District 7 City Councilman Luis Viera, and asked Viera and Hillsborough County District 5 Commissioner Ken Hagan at a town hall last year about making room for a cricket field at a potential K-Bar Ranch park being developed by the city and county on roughly 60 acres of land.

Hagan said it sounded like a good idea, while Viera has promised to look into it. But otherwise, Nayak says, the response from Tampa and Hillsborough County has been lukewarm.

Go North, Young Cricketers?

But, just north in Wesley Chapel, Nayak has found a friend in District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who sees the potential in a cricket field, from a business perspective, and also a chance to please a large base of his constituents.

Moore likens the game to lacrosse, which he says has grown from being a niche sport to one of the most popular youth games in America. And, with Pasco County’s focus on capturing a big chunk of the sports tourism market, he sees it as another opportunity to potentially fill hotel rooms

Moore put Nayak and Hanumanthu in contact with RADD Sports, the Clearwater-based sports facility management & development company that is building a large indoor/outdoor sports facility, with a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel on site, in Wiregrass Ranch.

“I definitely think there is potential (for cricket) to do very well,’’ Moore says.

Until then, Moore and the county have provided a large patch of currently unused land that is designated for future development behind the soccer fields at Wesley Chapel District Park (WCDP) for Nayak and his league.

The TPL poured $20,000 into removing the dirt and replacing it with rocks and clay to create the pitch, as bowlers throw their pitches on one-bounce to the batsman and need a smooth, hard and level surface. They say the field is still a work in progress, but they are hugely appreciative of Moore’s efforts to help.

In fact, TPL will host the Wesley Chapel Invitational Championship February 3-4, at their makeshift home. The  Minnesota Strykers Club, three-time MN Cricket Association Champions, will compete against the Tampa Stars and USF Bulls. Nayak says the Minnesota team will be staying at the Wesley Chapel Holiday Inn Express, showing the sports’ potential value to sports tourism. Nayak hopes it is the start of something big.

For additional information, visit Tampa-cricket.com.

NT/WC Reader Survey Results: Best Breakfast

First Watch Wesley Chapel manager Kerri Hagerman is proud that First Watch has been voted as having the “Best Breakfast in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel” by Neighborhood News readers.

When it comes to places to grab a hot and healthy breakfast in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, our readers left no choice that their favorite place to do so was First Watch.

While the area doesn’t have a wealth of breakfast options, readers still managed to name 20 places they would call their favorite. But, it was First Watch, located on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza in Wesley Chapel, and then everyone else, as the Bradenton-based chain garnered 56.5 percent of the votes. No other style of restaurant dominated their category in the Best of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel the way that First Watch did.

But that is of little surprise to anyone who has waited in line — and who hasn’t? — to dine there.

“I think it is multiple things,’’ says Kerri Hagerman, the manager for the Wesley Chapel location, which happens to be the fourth-ranked performing First Watch of more than 300 locations nationwide. “One of the biggest reasons is that we focused on quality as a company — quality of the food, quality of the service and the quality of the  people we have working for us.”

Hagerman says it all leads to achieving the company’s mission statement: “You First.”

The restaurant offers a unique menu of breakfast, brunch and lunch items, like its popular avocado toast, lemon ricotta pancakes, a “chickichanga” burrito with whipped eggs, chicken, chorizo sausage, various cheeses, a mild Veracruz sauce and a variety of skillet hashes.

Every made-to-order menu item is made with the promise of fresh, and often local, ingredients.

The Tampa Bay area, including the Wesley Chapel location, also is First Watch’s test market for limited time offerings. Every 10 weeks or so, five new items are colorfully displayed on the chalkboard at the front of the restaurant. If they end up being a hit, they make it onto the regular menu. So, items that some across the country are experiencing for the first time now, the Wesley Chapel location featured a year ago.

Items currently being featured: a Mediterranean tomato stew called Shakshuka with Moroccan red harissa stew topped with cage-free poached eggs, a supergreen frittata wrap, an acai bowl topped with fruit and granola, rainbow toast featuring ricotta cheese-covered brioche toast topped with berries, mango and local honey and a blue booster drink with white grape juice, blueberry, lemon and basil.

Hagerman says First Watch’s juices, like the popular Kale tonic that was tested here but is now a regular menu item, are always big hits. While the restaurant has a reputation for innovative healthy foods, there also is plenty for those looking for something more traditional.

“We do serve healthy foods, but we also have a large variety of indulgent items as well,” Hagerman said. “There’s is definitely plenty for those looking for something heartier as well.”