More Assisted Living, Home Decor, Food Options For Wesley Chapel

With the Beach House at Wiregrass Ranch set to open its doors in December, another assisted living facility may be on its way to Wesley Chapel.

According to plans filed with Pasco County, TLC Management is looking to build a 125,000-sq.ft. residence that will include an adult living and skilled nursing facility at the corner of Eagleston Blvd. and Stockton Dr. in Seven Oaks.

TLC Management had its pre-application meeting with county staffers last month.

The proposed 9.7-acre site is located in Seven Oaks between Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and I-75. According to conceptual site plans, the facility would have more than 230 parking spots and offer private rooms, dining and activities and plenty of green space for its residents.

TLC Management is an Indiana-based company that was created in 1987 with a focus on independent and assisted living, skilled nursing, rehabilitation and memory care. In 30 years, it has created 15 health and rehabilitation centers, as well as two assisted living and independent retirement communities in Indiana.

The company does already have two locations in Florida — Bridgewater Park Assisted Living in Ocala and The Village at Vienna Square in Winter Haven.

According to the Indianapolis Star, the company’s most recent project was a $14-million health and rehabilitation center in Indianapolis, which was expected to create 140 jobs and accommodate 199 patients.

TLC Management is owned by brothers Dwight, Gary and Randy Ott. The brothers were inspired to get into the business by their grandmother, who operated a nursing home in Iowa.

Messages left with TLC Management were not returned.

Home Decor Getting A Boost

Shoppers looking for home décor ideas soon will have plenty of new options in Wesley Chapel, as Cost Plus World Market is close to opening and At Home may not far behind.

Cost Plus World Market, which is under construction at 5833 Wesley Grove Blvd. in The Grove plaza, will be the first store shoppers see when they turn right on Pink Flamingo Ln. and enter the shopping center at its southernmost point. It will replace the AT&T store, although the space is being modified to account for the larger home décor store.

Although Cost Plus World Market filed its original plans with the county in 2016, The Grove let everyone know it was coming soon recently hanging a “Cost Plus World Market Coming Soon” banner at the construction site.

The 18,600-sq.-ft. store will be located next to Bed Bath & Beyond and Cost Plus World Market is a subsidiary of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

Based in California, Cost Plus World Market specializes in an eclectic assortment of unique items for the home, from furniture to jewelry and accessories, as well as gourmet food and drinks. It claims to sell items imported from more than 50 countries.

Cost Plus World Market has 277 stores nationwide. The Wesley Chapel location will be the second in the Tampa Bay area, as a location in Clearwater opened on Aug. 3.

It could soon have competition from At Home, which is looking to join the busy scene just a few miles down Wesley Chapel Blvd./S.R. 54, south of S.R. 56, tucked behind the Tampa Premium Outlets and just off the new extension of Wesley Chapel Blvd.

Guggenheim Development of Dallas has filed plans with the county to put At Home in a 108,490-sq.-ft. retail space just south of Grand Cypress Blvd., and south and east of Costco.

The developer met with county staff earlier this month. According to site plans filed at that time, the proposed store would have 485 parking spaces, and would abut another still-unnamed 72,000-sq.-ft. retail store.

At Home claims to offer the largest and freshest assortment of home décor items, at the lowest prices, including its own unique products all sold in a “no-frills warehouse without all the commissioned salespeople.”

The store sells home and wall décor, furniture, pillows, rugs, housewares, seasonal items and much more.

Tourist Tax Raised For Sports Complex

The long-awaited multi-use sports complex  in the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) was officially approved by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on Aug. 5, and the county’s Tourist Development Tax (TDT), or “bed” tax, will be doubled to pay for it.

By a 4-0 vote, with District 4 commissioner Jack Mariano abstaining, the county approved the plan to build the $44-million complex on a 224-acre parcel of land owned by the county (that was previously donated by the Porter family) and located northeast of the Shops at Wiregrass.

The TDT is a tax placed on overnight hotel stays within the county.

Steve Domonkos, specialty leasing manager at the Shops at Wiregrass, and Hope Allen, the CEO of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), were the only speakers at the public hearing, and  both spoke in favor of increasing the TDT from two percent to four percent.

The BCC already had set aside $11 million ($8.5-million in tourist tax funds and $2.5 million in excess bond proceeds from a prior half-cent sales tax bond) and a county-backed loan of $14.2 million to pay for the project.

The increase in the TDT is expected to generate $1.2 million annually, which will help pay down the loan. RADDSports, which is developing the indoor sports facility that anchors the project, says that the projected revenue generated by the indoor/outdoor facility also will help repay the loan.

A 128-room Residence Inn by Marriott, which will be owned and operated by Mainsail Lodging & Development, also will be built at the complex, at a cost of roughly $19 million.

The pet-friendly hotel is expected to house many of the youth sports teams from all over the state that RADDSports’ Richard Blalock says will flock to the facility for tournaments.

The county expects the sports complex to generate 27,000 room nights per year.

The  98,000-sq.-ft. indoor sports facility, the first phase of the project, will host major tournaments for basketball, volleyball, cheerleading and other indoor sports. It also will boast meeting rooms and concession stands, and share the 60-acre site with an amphitheatre, as well as football and soccer fields and park trails, all part of the complex’s second phase.

So, Here’s A Little Back-To-School Reminiscing & The Latest News About WCNT-tv!

My sons, Jared and Jake, are now 28- and 25-year-old grown men, respectively, but I can still clearly remember the excitement they both felt every year when they went back to school, even through high school.

They’d be armed with new notebooks, pencils and calculators, some new clothes and would look forward to making new friends and catching up with old ones as they returned from whatever summertime activities or family vacations they had enjoyed.

And, although they both grew up in and went to public schools in nearby New Tampa, both of them always had friends who lived and went to school in Wesley Chapel, often through the many sports they both played. “The Chap” didn’t have nearly as many organized sports programs as New Tampa at that time, so the kids who lived in Meadow Pointe and even Lexington Oaks often had to cross the county line to play competitive soccer or baseball.

And, even though it wasn’t that long ago, there’s no doubt in my mind that it was a simpler time, especially in light of the truly frightening craziness going on throughout the world today, even though both of them were old enough then to still remember 9-11.

And yes, I’m proud to say that Jared, Jake and I are all products of public schools, although I grew up in Long Island, NY, and they spent their formative years here in Florida.

Today, Jared, who graduated, as I did, from the University of Florida in Gainesville, is the vice president of business development for the Orlando office of USA Solar, Inc., a solar energy installation company, while he is getting close to rolling out a new cell phone app that he has worked on for almost two years now.

Jake, who graduated cum laude  from that other big state school in Tallahassee, is now a sales rep for Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology, services and solutions, sitting in on operations with doctors in Milwaukee, WI. 

In other words, both are doing great and proof positive that school is what you make of it, whether public, private or home-schooled. If your kids have been coming home since school started here in Pasco County on August 14 excited about their teachers, their friends and their school and you remain involved in the education process with them, it doesn’t matter how overcrowded their school might be. Both of my boys attended Hunter’s Green Elementary when it was at about twice its capacity of 900 students — bigger than many high schools today, including the new Cypress Creek Middle High on Old Pasco Rd. — and there’s no doubt in my mind that they both loved it there.

I’ll be honest that I’m glad that there was no Facebook, social media or smartphones when my kids were young, but seeing so many families I know and love posting their back-to-school pics recently got me feeling pretty nostalgic for those fun, albeit trying, days gone by.

I definitely don’t miss the long car lines, the homework help I often had to provide or the multiple trips to the emergency room with them, but my experience was definitely a positive one, so I hope it’ll be the same for you.

And, for those of you, like me, who no longer have young’ns, please remember that school is back in session, so put down those cell phones while driving, sit back, relax and enjoy all of the new restaurants now open and still to come in our area.

The Latest News About WCNT-tv!

Now just a couple of months into its second year as the only YouTube- and Facebook-based video webcast for New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, I’m proud to say that WCNT-tv — Wesley Chapel and New Tampa Television — is fast approaching a total reach of one million people and 500,000 total views between Facebook and YouTube.

We have changed the format of the “show” quite a bit, with more and shorter news, dining, Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Featured Business and entertainment segments that always seem to get people talking.

And, that is the primary reason I co-founded the show nearly 15 months ago. With my degree, training and background in broadcasting, I simply could no longer allow this publication to be the only way I could reach out to the people in the communities I have served for the last 23-1/2 years.

During our most recent news segments, we’ve updated our map of the State Road 56 area near the Tampa Premium Outlets, previewed U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis and Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore’s transportation meeting on Aug. 21 (which we will recap in our next issue), and told you about not only Noble Crust and Irish 31 here in Wesley Chapel, but also the new Fat Rabbit Pub and Precinct Pizza in New Tampa.

If you’ve been reading this publication for any period of time, you know how much I love telling you about the new places to eat in our distribution areas and I’m not going to lie about how proud I am when the WCNT-tv “Neighborhood Dining News” segments get so many reactions like “Let’s Go!” anytime I’m the first to tell you about a new eatery.

My WCNT-tv co-anchor Susanna Martinez, WCCC Featured Business host Mollyana Ward, production assistant/video editor Gavin Olsen, cameraman Eric Cupps and I will have multiple new news, dining and business items to share with you on the show before the next issue of this publication reaches your mailbox, so please, subscribe to our Neighborhood News Facebook page and remember to View, Like & Share every episode of WCNT-tv!

Deacon Blues Band Concert Raises $1,700 For Juvenile Diabetes Research

Another day, another benefit concert, another $1,700 raised for yet another great cause for my friend and long-time New Tampa resident Bernie Desrosiers and his friends in the Deacon Blues Band.

The incredibly talented group of doctors and businessmen by day continue to rock the house every time they show up to raise money by night.

The band’s most recent show, held July 21 in The Palms Lounge at Peabody’s Billiards & Games (in the Shoppes of Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms), was attended by about 100 people and raised $1,700, which will be donated to help band member and baritone saxophonist Dr. Kelly O’Keefe’s participation in the upcoming “El Tour de Tucson” Ride to Cure Diabetes for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in November of this year. El Tour is one of the largest “century” (100-mile) rides in the U.S., with more than 9,000 cyclists, 2,000 volunteers and 27,000 spectators and the stated goal of the JDRF is to “Create a World Without Diabetes.”

Desrosiers, the Deacon Blues’ goofy-hatted (“I’ve got more than 200, Gary,” he says in his Rhode Island/New England accent) keyboard player whose daughter Nicole (see below and photo, right) is a Type 1 diabetic, invited yours truly to come up on stage to sing “Brown Eyed Girl” with the band at the end of the show. Truth be told, I was a member of the group for a couple of gigs, so I had practiced the song with them multiple times, but I truly felt honored to be on stage again with these guys.

The show itself featured everything from the smooth finger-picking guitar stylings of Michael Marth to front man (and longtime New Tampa music teacher and church music director) Todd LeBlanc’s outstanding vocals and the “Blues Brothers”-styled two-saxophone horn section.

Stealing the show, despite all those earlier accolades, was Bernie and his wife (and backing vocalist) Anne’s daughter Nicole, who absolutely brought the house down with her spectacular voice. Nicole, a professional performer at Busch Gardens, belted out some Aretha and some Whitney and left the crowd wanting more.

To book the Deacon Blues Band or for more information, visit TheDeaconBlues.com or call (813) 361-2808. — GN

Rotary Club Hosts Casino Night Fund Raiser At WC Nissan Tonight!

Do you have any fun or exciting plans for this evening? Do you enjoy playing the slots or table games at a casino?

The Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel presents a very special fund-raising Casino Night tonight — Friday, August 25, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. — at Wesley Chapel Nissan (28519 SR 54). Pasco’s clerk & comptroller, the Hon. Dr. Paula O’Neil, will emcee this event to raise money for the Mahler family — Rob, Jordan, Camden and 17-month-old Clayton, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 rhabdomyosarcoma after a July 4th visit to the emergency for a growth in his nose that was obstructing his airway.

Clayton is receiving 42 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by radiation, after 95 percent of the mass was removed. The Mahlers’ medical bills are piling up and Dr. O’Neil, a breast cancer survivor herself, talked to her friend and Wesley Chapel (WC) Nissan public relations rep Troy Stevenson about doing something to help.

And, since Stevenson, WC Nissan owner Jay Rosario and GM Joey Falcon previously had hosted a successful Casino Night a couple of years ago, he floated the idea to WC Rotary president-elect Chris Casella and just like that, it transformed into a reality to help not only the Mahlers, but also the Rotary club’s own high school scholarship program.

There’s a $20 per person donation “buy-in” to enjoy the Casino Night, which gets you $20 in chips, free water and soda, plus free food provided by Latin Twist Café on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., and the opportunity to bid on great silent auction items (a TV, Outback Bowl and Tampa Bay Lightning tickets and memorabilia — donated by the Williams Auto Group, which owns WC Toyota and WC Honda).

There will be a cash bar, with fine wines by Time for Wine and Rosario’s own Boricua beer, a VIP room catered by the WC Chick-fil-A, as well as great entertainment by WC Rotary member John Jay the DJ and live musical performers.

The WC Rotary’s Casino Night is sponsored by Lakeside Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, Mosquito Hunters, Cash for Gold WC, Stevenson’s own Acme on the Go & WC Nissan.

The WC Rotary also will be giving away 3,000 free American flags at the Shops at Wiregrass and Tampa Premium Outlets malls on Monday, September 11. The club also will provide breakfast for the Pasco Sheriff’s Office’s Dist. 2 office in Dade City, as well as for Pasco Fire Rescue Station No. 13 off Old Pasco Rd. and No. 26 in Meadow Pointe on 9/11. For more info about the WC Rotary Club, visit WCRotary.com.