Local Business: Models Are Open At New Communities, New Spin Studio

Discovery Village at Tampa Palms (photo above), which touts itself as “Resort Style Senior Living,” is located across Commerce Park Blvd. from Freedom High at 17470 Brookside Trace Ct. The new assisted living and memory care facility won’t be fully open until December of this year, but now has model rooms available for touring.

Discovery Village will offer 10 different floor plans, ranging from 345-sq.-ft. to 944-sq.-ft. There will be three floor plans for memory care — a 345-sq.-ft. studio and two different two bedroom, two bath apartments (804-sq.-ft. and 944-sq.-ft.). Assisted living at Discovery Village will offer four floor plans, with three 1-bedroom, 1-bath apartments  with 541, 595 and 639 square feet, respectively, and a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 823-sq.-ft. “executive” apartment. There also are two supervised “independent living” suites of 543-sq.-ft. and 595-sq.-ft; both of which are 1-bedroom, 1-bath.

Owner/developer Discovery Senior Living is headquartered in Bonita Springs, FL, and manages twelve other communities in Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

For more information, see the ad on pg. 23 of this issue, visit DiscoveryVillages.com or call 605-2400.

STAFFORD PLACE MODELS OPEN: Stafford Place, a new community of 118 single-family homes starting from $316,990 and touted as one of the last opportunities to buy a brand new home in Tampa Palms (off Tampa Palms Blvd., behind BJ’s Wholesale Club), now has two model homes open for prospective buyers.

The CalAtlantic Homes community will have houses ranging from 1,866-sq.-ft. to the luxury Bedford model that is 3,644 sq.-ft. and starts at $404,990. There are eight one- and two-story floor plans to choose from.

The models are located at 6209 English Hollow Rd. For more info, call 605-1515 or visit CalAtlanticHomes.com.

NEW SPIN STUDIO NOW OPEN: Avid spin cyclers Steve Woody (of Woody’s Pizza & Wings in the Wesley Chapel Village Market) and business partner Jim Upchurch have opened Cycology, a new “spin” (indoor cycling) studio located in the Shoppes of New Tampa at Wesley Chapel plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just south of  S.R. 56, in Wesley Chapel.

Cycology is in the space previously occupied by Pura Cycling. Woody and Upchurch, who opened Cycology in January, are hoping to transform the indoor cycling studio into a more vigorous exercise space.

Upchurch says Cycology has been able to retain 90-95 percent of Pura Cycling’s former clients, as well as adding 50-60 new spinners since opening. “We’ll have more classes, we will be open more and will have the best of the best spin instructors,’’ says Upchurch, who says he has been a serious spinner himself for the past 4-5 years.

Upchurch also says he is currently going through permitting in the hopes of adding showers in the back, making it more convenient for people getting a spin class in before having to go to work in the morning.

Cycology, which offers 3-, 6- and 12-month agreements, is open until 7 or 8 p.m. on most nights, except for Friday-Sun. It offers spinning classes as early as 5:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays,  and also offers yoga, pilates, Zumba classes and semi-private personal training sessions as well.

Sometimes, Upchurch says, the bikes are even moved out onto the patio in front of Cycology for an outdoor workout.

To check out the class schedule or for more info, visit Cycologyspin.com, or call 907-8710.

Wharton Navy Junior ROTC Cadets Host Sporting Clays Fund Raiser Apr. 1!

At New Tampa’s Wharton High, about 180 students are part of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC; photo). According to Gretchen Channell, whose son is a cadet, “It’s a great mix of students, both girls and boys. You don’t have to be military-bound to join. It’s all about leadership, service to the community, and to country.”

Channell and other members of the Wharton NJROTC Booster Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, will host the group’s third annual “Sporting Clays Classic” on Saturday, April 1, 8 a.m., at Tampa Bay Sporting Clays & Archery at 10514 Ehren Cutoff in nearby Land O’Lakes.

All proceeds assist cadets with expenses related to activities, competitions and summer leadership camps.

“Our teens compete all over the state in air rifle marksmanship, academic team and drill team,” explains Melissa Hale, another Wharton NJROTC mom and booster member. “Our color guard has performed at dozens of sporting events, memorials and competitions. Our cadets take special trips during the school year and go to several different leadership camps over the summer.”

Cadets will be manning each of the stations, launching the clays that participants will shoot.

The day will start with a light breakfast, followed by the chance to hit 50 clay targets at 15 stations. Golf cart and ammo are provided. Shotguns can even be rented from Tampa Bay Sporting Clays & Archery.

After teams and individuals are done with the course, lunch will be served, followed by raffles and trophies for the top finishers. The booster club can accommodate about 100 participants and is hoping to fill all of those available spots.

To register, please visit SportingClaysClassic3.eventbrite.com. For info about sponsorships or other questions, email wharton.jrotcbooster@gmail.com.

Benito 8th Grader Ellie Pleune Earns Two Historic Wins At Gasparilla!

A day after becoming the youngest-ever female winner in the 40-year history of the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic 5K race, Benito Middle School eighth-grader Ellie Pleune decided to run in the 8K as a training exercise, or a “shake-out” run.

Here’s what shook out: Ellie ended up surprising everyone and winning that race, too, capping a history-making weekend for the 13-year-old Arbor Greene resident.

Pleune broke away from the other 2,930 other runners in the 8K race before the halfway point, and cruised to the finish line in 31 minutes, 13 seconds (about 6:30 per mile), far ahead of 27-year-old Stefanie Shimansky of Winter Springs, who crossed more than a minute later in 32:33.

Ellie became the first runner in Gasparilla history to win both the 5K and 8K races, which were run Feb. 25 & 26 along Bayshore Blvd. in South Tampa.

“I was surprised to see her finish first,’’ said Ellie’s mother, Julie, who chuckles as she says didn’t even have her phone out ready to snap a picture. “I was under the impression she was using it as a training run.”

She wasn’t alone.

“I think it felt the same as (crossing the finish line in the 5K), but I was more surprised with myself,’’ Ellie says. “I didn’t think I would win both.”

Ellie did, however, think she had a good chance at the 5K title, considering that she finished ninth as a sixth-grader and second (by 19 seconds) last year. She trained for the race by putting in 25-30 miles a week, with additional exercises as part of a regimen she put together two months before the race.

Although she confesses to some nerves when she stepped to the starting line with 6,942 other participants for the start of the 5K, Ellie says she ran the exact race she wanted to, winning with a time of 18:14 (less than 6 minutes per mile), which was 31 seconds faster than last year, when she finished second to Kailand Cosgrove (who was sixth this year).

“At the start, I didn’t want to go out too fast,” Ellie says. “You have to save some energy so you don’t burn yourself out. There’s a point with about 1.5 miles left where you turn around, and I started to pick up the pace. With a mile left, I just give everything I have left.”

Ellie said she could hear former club teammate Lydia Friedman behind her, but she knew she wasn’t too close. Friedman finished 10 seconds later than Ellie in 18:24.

“It was probably better than I imagined it would be,’’ Ellie said of breaking the tape in the prestigious 5K race.

Following that first win, Ellie returned to New Tampa to watch older brother Casey, a freshman at Wharton High, compete in the Wharton Wildcat Invitational, where he finished 7th in the 3,200-meter race and 12th in the 1,600 meters.

Ellie, who runs for the Hillsborough Harriers club after starting with the Running Tigers club, gives Casey credit for helping to make her a better runner. When they train together, Ellie says it gives her a better and more competitive workout.

“He’s faster than me, so I have to really push to keep up with him,’’ Ellie says. “And he won the State championships (in middle school), so I look up to him because he won (that race).”

The middle school State Championship meet is in May, and Ellie says she has that at the top her list when it comes to races she wants to win, even ahead of Gasparilla. She was fourth in the fall at the middle school cross country championships.

Ellie began running in the fifth grade, unsure of where it would lead. She doesn’t even remember the first race she ever won, but does remember the first one she ran. At a meet at Armwood High in Seffner, Ellie mistakenly lined up with the wrong, and younger, age group. She didn’t win.

She has progressed the past three years and become one the top middle schoolers in Tampa Bay. She says expectations have grown — “Some people expect me to win every race” — but she says she welcomes the challenge.

“I would like to get a scholarship for running and not have to pay for college,’’ Ellie says. “It would be cool to run in college and be part of a team.”

First things first, however. Ellie will attend Wharton next fall, and plans to join the Wildcats’ highly-touted cross country and track programs.

And in May, she will race for that middle school State 5K title she wants more than any other.

We’ll keep you posted.

Noon Rotary’s Bike Rally Returns Tomorrow!

As a proud member of the Rotary Club of New Tampa Noon — which meets Wednesdays at noon in Mulligan’s Irish Pub, inside the Pebble Creek Golf Club — I am really excited about my club’s fourth annual bike rally (the photo is from last year’s event) to benefit U.S. military veterans and first responders.

The ride — which is not a race — is an opportunity for riders to ride a 4-, 18- or 39-mile course, starting from the Chili’s Grill & Bar on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (directly adjacent to the BBD entrance to Flatwoods Wilderness Park) while raising funds to benefit four nonprofit charities that help local veterans, law enforcement and firefighters.

Over the first three years of the rally, Noon Rotary president Valerie Casey says that more than 200 total riders have helped the club raise more than $18,000 to helped its selected first responder charities. “We’d love to get to 100 riders this year,” Valerie says. “Come on out and support some great charitable organizations.”

Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit four charitable organizations — Support the Troops, the Stay in Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue & The Homefront Foundation. The suggested donation to ride is $30 anytime after March 10.

This year’s sponsors include Chili’s, The Little Greek Restaurant, Gentle Care Dentistry (the office of Dr. Tom Frankfurth), Stifel Financial/Mike Wallace, Children’s Dentistry (the office of Dr. Greg Stepanski), State Farm Insurance/Joyce Coleman and the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

For registration & info, visit Active.com and search “Cycling for Vets” or see the ad in the latest New Tampa issue.

Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Mmm Mmm Good!

Florida Hospital Center Ice Provides The Perfect Venue For The Triumphant Return Of The ‘Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel!’

Congrats to all of my friends in the Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Friday mornings at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Cub) for successfully bringing back “The Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel,” in partnership with the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC).

An estimated crowd of about 2,000 people came to sample the wares from the 49 restaurants and beverage providers my restaurant committee assembled for the event, which was held on March 18, inside surprisingly not cold Florida Hospital Center Ice off S.R. 56.

The food and beverages were awesome — my favorites being the seared ahi tuna from the People’s Choice 1st place-winning Bonefish Grill, the fresh sushi from Olde Heights Bistro, Little Italy’s meatballs, the angus burgers from OTB Café, the short rib sliders from Twisted Sprocket Café, Wok Chi’s spring rolls and pot stickers, gnocchi ricotta from Noble Crust (the 2nd-place People’s Choice), chocolate bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes (3rd place) and The Cake Girl’s double chocolate brownies.