When 8,000 people attended the public grand opening of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) a couple of weeks before it opened to patients on October 1, 2012, they couldn’t have imagined how much of an impact on the community the hospital would have had on so many of us, just five years later.
FHWC continues to expand and grow, adding more services and technology to serve Wesley Chapel. In the last five years, FHWC has had 177,000 emergency room visits, more than 27,000 inpatient admissionsand more than 1,900 babies born. And, the hospital’s medical staff physicians have performed nearly 17,500 surgeries.
In addition, FHWC also features its Health & Wellness Center (which now has more than 5,500 members), the Center for Women’s Health, Outpatient Rehabilitation services, robotic surgery systems and a recently completed expansion, which cost $78 million and added a heart catheterization lab, nearly doubled the number of emergency rooms and operating rooms, and added 62 patient rooms to the original 83. FHWC also will add a new wound care center in the spring of 2018.
FHWC also has provided advanced medical care for the Wesley Chapel community and has had a major economic impact on our area. For example, FHWC opened with 400 employees, but now the hospital and adjacent Wellness Plaza employ more than 1,000 people.
The hospital hosted a community celebration on October 1, with family activities, food trucks and community partners from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and Pasco County Fire Rescue. The hospital also showcased its new ambulance, which will transport patients from a new offsite emergency department in Land O’Lakes (opening in January) and transport patients between FHWC and the other local hospitals in the Florida Hospital/Adventist Health Care family when necessary.
“We are blessed and proud to have served our community for the last five years,” says FHWC president and CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb. “Our expansion reflects the community’s trust in our care and the awards and recognitions we have received are a testament to the expertise and compassion of our staff and physicians.”
She adds, “But, we’re not done. We continue to add services to better meet the needs of our community.”
True Inspiration!
A $2.8-million dollar women’s health center, which will be called “Inspiration Place,” will open in the FHWC Wellness Plaza, today, Monday, October 23, offering comprehensive care for women at every stage of life.
Services available at Inspiration Place include gynecology, obstetrics, and prenatal care, along with primary care services, wellness services and more. Inspiration Place also includes a spa, for services such as massage and skin care treatments. Appointments can be booked now on its website, FHInspirationPlace.org.
An open house for ladies will be held at Inspiration Place on Tuesday, November 14, 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Event is free, but registration is required at tinyurl.com/FHWCInspirationplace.
Updating The Map Of Wesley Chapel Along S.R. 54, From I-75 To W. Of Curley Rd.
Developers are seeking approval for a 110,000-sq.ft. self-storage facility and a 160,000-sq.ft. hotel to be located directly behind the Walgreens at the intersection of S.R. 54 and BBD. The brand of the hotel isn’t determined.
Wesley Chapel’s second Wawa location was approved in Oct. of 2016. Ground just started to be moved near the site where the 6,119-sq.ft. convenience store will be located.
Land is currently being cleared for Chick-Fil-A’s proposed 4,877-sq.ft. restaurant with indoor play area & drive-through.
The 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office is under construction & will be going vertical by the end of the month. It will share its location with a 4,200-sq.ft. stand-alone building that is still seeking a tenant but has suitors.
Starbucks is expected to open early next year, and the 2,330-sq.ft. coffee hotspot will be flanked by at least three other retail tenants occupying another 5,700-sq.ft. One of those tenants will be a Pizza Hut.
The Racetrac convenience store, expected to be 5,411-sq.ft. with a 771 sq.ft. patio, is still going through the approval and permitting process, but is planned for the northwest corner of Vandine Rd. & S.R. 54.
CubeSmart will provide self storage in a three-story, climate-controlled 80,000-sq.-ft. facility, which will be surrounded by 14,000 sq. ft. of single-story storage.
Nail & hair salons are two of the future tenants signed up for Nye Commons, which has 14,000-sq.ft. of space and is hoping to possibly add a restaurant and as many as four other tenants before opening by the end of the year.
After years of developer attention along the S.R. 56 corridor, which has included the debut of the Tampa Premium Outlets, the opening of a plethora of new restaurants and stores like Costcoand the continued growth in the southern portion of the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI), things appear to be turning north.
In and around the intersection of S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., which had begun to show its age since it was widened a few years ago, ground is being moved as a number of new projects begin to sprout up.
Included in future plans at the intersection and westward on S.R. 54 is anotherWawa, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Racetrac and a number of commercial strip centers that will potentially provide office space to everything from small restaurants to dentists and doctors.
“Everything’s moving north, and that is consistent with our growth pattern,’’ says Hope Allen, the CEO of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. “You’re starting to see that northern progression.”
The interest in SR. 54 is likely also the result of the saturation of the market along S.R. 56. In fact, Kim Lohry of Berkshire Hathaway says that there are now 27 restaurants located in the S.R. 56 corridor between Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Mansfield Dr., and “it’s a natural progression” for developers to look for other areas more ripe for new development.
Lohry is involved in a project bringing a 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office to the north side of S.R. 54, between the Walgreens and Wesley Chapel Nissan, as well as a 4,200-sq.ft. free-standing building which will share parking with the dental office. She says she has already fielded a number of inquiries from potential tenants.
Much of the area currently beginning a developmental phase lies south of the so-called “Connected City” project, including Florida’s first two lagoons by Crystal Lagoons in the new Mirada and Epperson Ranch housing developments. The Connected City is expected to add thousands of new residents, and many businesses and jobs to the area over the next 20 years.
While this stretch of 54 has been anchored by Publix and recently added a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the influx of new businesses will find plenty of customers located within a 10-mile radius.
That, along with the widening of S.R. 54 east of Curley Rd. — expected to begin this year or early 2018 — makes this area of Wesley Chapel an attractive target for potential businesses.
“It’s most certainly a prime area for development,” Allen says.
“I sure hope so,’’ says developer Brent Nye of Nye Commercial Advisors, whose retail strip center on BBD just south of the Wells Fargo bank is expected to open by the end of the year. Nye says he already has contracted with a nail and hair salon, and plans to add a restaurant as well. He adds that the 14,000-sq.-ft. plaza, where his business also will be based, could accommodate as many as eight tenants.
Nye also says other projects — like a Racetrac and Bay Breeze Car Wash on S.R. 54 and Vandine Rd., as well as the CubeSmart Self Storage nearing completion on the southwest corner of S.R. 54 and Wesley Chapel Loop — are signs that the stretch of S.R. 54 from BBD to the entrance to Meadow Pointe will soon become populated with businesses.
“I think this is the next area you will see a lot of growth in,’’ he says. “You are already seeing it.”
Jazz Tyme Productions is proud to announce that the Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival will return to the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. on Saturday, October 21, noon-8 p.m. (File photo from 2016)
Although it always features a little more than “just” great jazz, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for the Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival, which returns to the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. (two miles north of S.R. 54) on Saturday, October 21, noon-8 p.m.
Event organizer and promoter Tim Hancock of Jazz Tyme Productions has previously survived events where the heat index seemed to reach 120 degrees and one cancelled by torrential rain as the headliner hit the stage.
But, through it all, Hancock has brought great music, some excellent food and other vendors together for all-day shows that are appropriate for families but still allows adults to enjoy adult music and to a location only 15 minutes or so north of the Hillsborough/Pasco county line.
Bring your lawn chairs and/or blankets and grab the kids for some fun activities just for them.
This year’s Jazz Festival sponsors include the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, Rubenstein Law, DeSigns Signs & Printing, Serenity Village Insurance & Consulting, Kaptain Krab Seafood, Jazz Tyme Productions and the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.
Food vendors already announced for this year include JB’s Sweet Addictions, Anthony & Son Catering, Momma’s Empanadas, The Tea Jug, T-Momma Catering & Kaptain Krab Seafood.
New Tampa and Wesley Chapel residents whose homes, possessions or businesses suffered damage or loss as a result of Hurricane Irma may be surprised that the Small Business Administration (SBA) can help them get back in business or help them be made whole again.
The SBA is providing assistance with low-interest disaster loans for Florida residents and businesses in the 48 counties covered by U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s disaster declaration covering areas affected by Hurricane Irma. Hillsborough and Pasco are among the Florida counties eligible for federal assistance.
Homeowners can apply for low-interest loans up to $200,000 to repair or replace damage to their primary residence and along with renters, can apply for up to $40,000 to cover personal property, including vehicles. SBA homeowner disaster loan rates are advertised as being as low as 1.75 percent with terms up to 30 years.
Help For Businesses, Too
When it comes to assisting businesses and private nonprofit organizations of any size, the SBA disaster loans address not only physical damage to assets such as real estate, infrastructure and inventory, but economic loss as well. Owners can apply for up to $2 million for physical loss and $2 million to cover working capital.
Those loans, called Economic Injury Disaster Loans, are available even if no physical property damage has occurred.
The SBA is advertising loan rates as low as 3.305 percent for businesses and as low as 2.5 percent for non-profit organizations.
The SBA may not be the first place people might think of for homeowner or renter disaster assistance, so public affairs specialists like Mary Gipson and Laura Wages have been dispatched from the agency’s Disaster Assistance Field Operations Office in Atlanta to spread the word about the resource through local media, including a recent stop at the Neighborhood News office.
Gipson says providing disaster assistance is part of the job. “In times of presidential or other federal agency-declared disaster, we make loans to businesses of all sizes, nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters,” she says.
Applications for physical property damage loans need to be filed by Thursday, November 9, and the deadline to return economic injury applications is June 11, 2018.
According to Gipson, if you think you have a claim, apply sooner, not later.
“Do not delay when completing your SBA application,” she says.
The SBA loaned $40,900 in Tampa in 2016, with no reported loans in Wesley Chapel, according to data on its website, sba.gov, where you can find more information and apply online.
You can call (800) 659-2955 (or {800} 877-8339 (for deaf and hard of hearing applicants) or call Mary at (202) 579-3172.
If you prefer to do business in person, there is an SBA Disaster Recovery Center serving Hillsborough and Pasco county residents 36 minutes south of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.,at Hillsborough Community College at the Regent (6437 Watson Rd. in Riverview). It is open daily from 8 a.m. — 8 p.m., according to the SBA website. Applicants can get assistance filling out the form and have their application reviewed before submitting it.
This photo taken by a drone shows the 60-foot gap between Kinnan St. (on the bottom) and Mansfield Blvd. Hillsborough and Pasco counties are stalemated on the issue but continue to discuss connecting the two roads.
There are many things keeping the 60-foot patch of dirt and grass separating Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. concrete-free, but Hillsborough County District 5 Commissioner Ken Hagan wants to make sure money is no longer one of them.
Comm. Hagan proposed adding $250,000 to the county budget on Sept. 14 to be used for a potential Kinnan-Mansfield connection, which the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners approved, potentially removing one of the roadblocks to resolving the long-standing dispute between Pasco, Hillsborough and the City of Tampa.
Hagan says he has been told there have been recent meetings between Hillsboroughand Pasco County’s MPO, and a traffic study Pasco commissioned to evaluate a number of connections between the two counties is expected to be finalized in November.
“At this point, we are waiting for their traffic analysis to come back,’’ Hagan said. “Then, we will reach out to Pasco County administrators and see if we can finally break this stalemate.”
Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. to the Hillsborough/Pasco county line, is located mostly in the county, although it does turn slightly west and into the City of Tampa boundaries as it nears Mansfield — where the barricades currently stand.
Both Tampa and Hillsborough County have worked on the issue over the years, but recently the city has declined all requests from Pasco involving putting up any money related to traffic studies or potential construction of the connection.
“I know the City of Tampa staff is unwilling to invest anything to make it work,” Hagan says. “I didn’t want the cost to hold us back, so we put the $250,000 in the budget to make the connection. I didn’t want money to be a deterrent or in any way delay making the connection.”
The money, Hagan said, it to be used for the actual construction of the connection.
The Kinnan-Mansfield link is seen as an important connection to help alleviate traffic on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. for drivers from both counties, particularly those driving between the residential communities in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
It would also serve as an economic stimulant, Hagan says, as well as assist in public safety efforts in an area where hundreds of new homes are approved to be built in K-Bar Ranch, which is entirely within the city limits.
“I know firsthand, from living in Cross Creek, the frustration of being essentially landlocked,” says the former resident of the Creekwood subdivision of Cross Creek, just two miles from the unconnected roads.
Hagan, the longest-serving current commissioner in Hillsborough County, now in his 15th year, is no stranger to the dispute between Pasco and Hillsborough over the two roads.
As the commissioner in District 2 (which includes Cross Creek, Pebble Creek, Live Oak and many of the communities located in the city in New Tampa) from 2002-10, Hagan has been involved in dozens of discussions about connecting the two roads.
“We were told that once Wiregrass was fully connected to the north, Pasco would authorize the connection,’’ Hagan says. He said he grew so frustrated during negotiations that, at one point, he threatened to put a toll booth on Bruce B. Downs at the county line.
“I got a lot of very, very favorable response from New Tampa, and a very very hateful response from Pasco County,” Hagan says.
Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa as part of the city’s District 7, has been a vocal cheerleader for the connection. Viera has called Hagan’s move a “game-changer.”
“I’m glad the county took this step,’’ Viera says. “Pasco has its position, we have had ours, but now, this could potentially change things with the involvement of the money. It’s a very positive step.”
Regardless, residents on the Mansfield side of the debate, as well as their local county commissioner, have remained cool to the idea because of fears that the two-lane road cannot handle additional traffic and that the location of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, all along Mansfield is a safety hazard.
“The study will probably come back late fall or into winter,’’ Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore said. “There’s not much more I can add.”
Comm. Moore said the money appropriated for Kinnan-Mansfield wouldn’t have any effect on the decision by his county. He says many of his constituents in Meadow Pointe, particularly Meadow Pointe II & III, do not want Mansfield and Kinnan hooked up, even though it’s been in Pasco’s long-range transportation plan since Meadow Pointe was first developed in the early 1990s.
Based on feedback his office has received, Moore puts the percentage of those opposed at 70-80 percent.
At a public meeting hosted by Pasco County planners at PHSC in April, three potential connections were discussed —Kinnan-Mansfield, extending the existing Meadow Pointe Blvd. to the proposed K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and extending Wyndfields Blvd. to both K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and to Morris Bridge Rd.
While Dennis Smith, the chairman of the Meadow Pointe I CDD, said he wanted to see the connection made, others did not. The proposed extension of Meadow Point Blvd., two miles further east, had wider support, Moore said.
“Right now, in my mind, Meadow Pointe Blvd. would be an excellent location,’’ Moore said. “There is little to no objection to it.”
However, Hagan made it clear the $250,000 the county has allocated is only for the Kinnan-Mansfield connection, not any other connector roads Pasco County may request instead. Multiple connections could be an option.
“We always talk about regional connectivity,” Hagan says, “and we have (other) connections between the two counties. It’s just absurd this road hasn’t been connected allthese years.”
In addition, FHWC also features its Health & Wellness Center (which now has more than 5,500 members), the Center for Women’s Health, Outpatient Rehabilitation services, robotic surgery systems and a recently completed expansion, which cost $78 million and added a heart catheterization lab, nearly doubled the number of emergency rooms and operating rooms, and added 62 patient rooms to the original 83. FHWC also will add a new wound care center in the spring of 2018.
The hospital hosted a community celebration on October 1, with family activities, food trucks and community partners from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and Pasco County Fire Rescue. The hospital also showcased its new ambulance, which will transport patients from a new offsite emergency department in Land O’Lakes (opening in January) and transport patients between FHWC and the other local hospitals in the Florida Hospital/Adventist Health Care family when necessary.
