The road from K-Bar Ranch through Meadow Pointe III was opened for utility workers, not the general public, and has been closed again. Final work, like removing the sign above, should be completed by the end of this month.(Photo: John C. Cotey)
It was open.
Now it isn’t.
However, it will be open again. Really.
That’s basically where the Meadow Pointe Blvd. connection to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. saga stands at the moment, after a few weeks of confusion for Wesley Chapel and New Tampa residents.
The long-awaited connector is currently closed. According to Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who represents the New Tampa area, the roadway is “technically private property until the Tampa City Council approves the plat later in July 2022.”
Following that approval, the roadway will have to pass an inspection by Pasco County, which will then officially approve it. The City of Tampa has already inspected the connector.
Until all of that red tape has been completed, developer M/I Homes will retain ownership of the roadway and the barricades will stay up.
Viera was under the impression that the connector was completed when he noticed that the barriers had been removed and contacted the Neighborhood News on May 30.
A few weeks after driving the road a few times and posting a story online about the connection finally being made, the Neighborhood News received more than a dozen inquiries via email and social media asking why it was suddenly closed again.
After a number of social media conspiracy theories were floated, Viera says he was told by City of Tampa staff that the connector was only meant to be open to provide utility access to fully complete the work, as well as removing old signs like the dead-end sign on Meadow Pointe Blvd.
However, the thirst for a connection heading north from New Tampa to Wesley Chapel was bound to attract K-Bar Ranch residents, who have been clamoring for years for additional points of egress. Currently, the only way out of the western end of K-Bar Ranch is via Kinnan St., or by driving through busy neighborhoods and past Pride Elementary on Bassett Creek Dr.
“This was absolutely important,” said Cindy Gustavel, a K-Bar Ranch resident since 2015. “I think some people saw this as a way to get to malls and restaurants, but most of us just saw it as a way to make living here safer.”
The City of Tampa will organize a formal opening ceremony when the roadway has been completed, likely later this month or in early August.
That keeps with the original schedule that City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer and head of the Smart Mobility Division Vik Bhide laid out in March. Bhide said then that the roadway would officially open in July.
The Meadow Pointe Blvd. connector is one of four connection points originally planned on K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. for the K-Bar Ranch community. The first, where Kinnan St. meets Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe II, was denied by Pasco County and continues to only be open to emergency rescue vehicle and police traffic. Meadow Pointe Blvd. is the second, and the other two — at Wyndfields Blvd and Morris Bridge Rd. — are at least two years away, according to Bhide.
So, while a new connection is something to be happy about, many K-Bar Ranch residents still strongly believe the Kinnan-Mansfield connection should still be opened to vehicular traffic as well.
“There’s a huge appetite for that,” says Gustavel, who serves on her neighborhood’s HOA board as well as on the K-Bar Ranch CDD board. “I don’t think that will ever go away.”
The New Tampa Peforming Arts Center could be ready for its ribbon cutting in September.
The decades-in-the-making New Tampa Peforming Arts Center (NTPAC) should be ready to open this fall, says Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.
Hagan, who represents New Tampa in District 2, said a ribbon cutting is tenatively scheduled for September 22 or 23.
“Nothing is set in stone yet,” Hagan says. “But that’s what county staff is looking at right now.”
The 20,000-sq.-ft. NTPAC, which can be expanded later to 30,000 sq. ft., will have a 343-seat theater with retractable seating, a stage, a catwalk and an orchestra pit. There will be four multipurpose rooms and parking for 215 vehicles. The facility, located behind the Village at Hunter’s Lake shopping plaza, across from the entrance to the Hunter’s Green community, is expected to be used for community performances and arts training of all kinds.
No one has been selected to run the facility yet, a responsibility the county may end up assuming. It had originally chosen The Florida Cultural Group, formerly known as The Manatee Players, Inc., but some of the commissioners objected and said they preferred a local group be hired to manage the NTPAC.
A new company was expected to be chosen to run the programs at the PAC by March but nothing has yet been announced.
But, the NTPAC ribbon cutting isn’t the only thing the county has planned for September in our area — Hagan says he also expects the new Branchton Regional Park to break ground that month.
The park, which will be located on Morris Bridge Rd. just south of Cross Creek Blvd., will have pickleball and basketball courts, a splash pad and a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) substation in its first phase, to name a few of the amenties.
“County staff is finalizing plans and getting the final permits,” Hagan says.
And, prior to the NTPAC and Branchton events, Hagan said there will be a public meeting held in August so local residents can weigh in on a proposed public recreation center, which would be the first such county-run facility in New Tampa.
The recreation center will be located at Cross Creek Park, adjacent to Pride Elementary just off Kinnan st.
The facility will include indoor basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts and be available for other sports, and there will be community meeting space as well.
The basketball courts and playground already at the park will be upgraded, and a splash pad also would be part of the improvements.
Hagan says he has secured $1.5 million for the project, and is looking at the rest of the funding to come from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding. Hillsborough County has received $285 million from the federal program.
The recreation center’s proposed location, near Pride Elementary, could be an issue for many K-Bar residents without major road improvements in that area.
At various townhalls and meetings with city officials, residents have expressed safety concerns about school traffic in that area, due to the unusual configuration of the road leading past the school and into K-Bar Ranch, which has created logjams for years.
Annette Simmons-Brown, who plays the evil Dr. Annette, and Antony Capers co-wrote the Season 3 premiere that shot part of its episode at the Tampa Theater on July 1. (Photos: Charmaine George)
Here’s something that Grand Hampton resident and multimedia artist Antony Capers never imagined happening when he started shooting his campy, convoluted and creepy YouTube-based horror series during the pandemic — “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series” is headed for the big screen.
What began as a 45-second video clip of Capers’ son Merric and became an online series with two seasons and 27 episodes filmed exclusively in the Grand Hampton community with local residents mostly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, is now going to have its Season 3 premiere — an hour-long movie — shown at the iconic Tampa Theater in downtown Tampa in October.
Part of that premiere was shot at the Tampa Theater Friday afternoon.
Filmmaker Antony Capers (with hat) and some of the cast members of his “Grand Hampton: The Movie Series” at a recent table read.
Capers, a freelance designer who owns his own production company, Reelistic Tales, continues to be humbled by the rection to his horror series, which is about a community filled with people in the witness protection program, whose children are disappearing as part of an organ harvesting plot run by an evil doctor and assisted by strange alien creatures. The show has more than 250 subscribers and 15,000 views on YouTube. While it has allowed Capers to build strong friendships in the Grand Hampton community, his primary goal when he started the series, it also could pull open some curtains for the 46-year-old filmmaker.
The first curtains to open will be those at the Tampa Theater. Last year, Capers attended a horror movie viewing of “The Conjuring 3,” starring Tampa’s Patrick Wilson, at the old movie house in downtown Tampa as part of a “Film Tampa Bay Presents” series showcasing the work of local writers, directors, actors and crew who are from the Tampa area.
During the Question-&-Answer session after the movie, Jill Witecki, the Tampa Theater’s marketing director, says there was a lot of discussion about the Tampa Theater’s mission to celebrate area films and filmmakers, and it struck a chord with the New Tampa filmmaker.
The next day, Capers and Annette Simmons-Brown, who plays the evil Dr. Annette, harvester of children’s lungs, in the series, emailed Witecki about the Grand Hampton project.
“It was fascinating to us,” Witecki says. “Not only because he was a local filmmaker, but because it was really something different. It was a great example of some of the creativity that came to light during the pandemic.”
Witecki says Tampa Theater officials and Capers had a number of conversations about working together. One idea was to have Capers speak to the theater’s summer campers.
“The film camp program is learning how to do exactly what he did, which is take what’s around you, take the people and the locations, and turn it into a movie,” Witecki says.
The other idea was to fit “Grand Hampton: The Movie” into the theater’s October horror series, “The Nightmare on Franklin St.,” where classic horror movies have been shown the last two weeks of the month for the past nine years.
Antony Capers.
“It seemed to be a good fit,” she says.
Not only did Capers jump at the chance, but he also talked the theater into letting him film part of the premiere inside the Tampa Theater.
Capers and Simmons have written the script for the Season 3 premiere together. They wrote a small part for Witecki, as well. And, Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who attended the Season 2 premier at the Grand Hampton clubhouse and helped give the show some of its initial publicity, also has a small role.
While Season 2 had to end abruptly due to the opportunity with the Tampa Theater, Capers says it is giving him a chance to revamp the series. Instead of it focusing on one family — him and Merric — each episode will be a 45-minute tale about a different family, which Capers compares to the way the old “Tales of the Crypt” series was filmed.
Season 3 begins with the parents of Grand Hampton going on a date night to the Tampa Theater, and while they are gone….well, you’ll just have to watch.
“A lot of action takes place back home during date night,” Capers says. “The new way of doing ‘Grand Hampton’ is pretty cool, if it works. It’s still ‘Grand Hampton,’ still the same characters, no paid actors, still 100-percent community involvement. It’s just revamped.”
The opportunity at Tampa Theater has Capers dreaming big.
He says a showing at an iconic theater will put new eyes on his series, which is a thrill. And, he’d love to get into the Sundance Film Festival, get on Netflix or even just get the chance to pitch the idea to a streaming service.
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” he says.
And, for Capers, Simmons and other Grand Hampton cast members, the chance to be seen on the big screen and then answer questions from the audience about what it’s like making a series and a movie will be the thrill of a lifetime.
“Branching out at an iconic location like Tampa Theater is going to be great,” Capers says. “I can’t wait.”
To view all episodes of the series, visit YouTube.com and search “Grand Hampton: The Movie”.
Fentrice Driskell, the new Democratic party leader of the Florida House, will headline a pair of townhalls in New Tampa over the next two weeks.
The first town hall will be at the New Tampa Regional Library on Thursday, June 30, at 6 p.m., followed by a town hall at Tampa Palms’ Compton Park on Wednesday, July 6, also at 6 p.m.
Rep. Driskell will be joined by District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and State Sen. Janet Cruz, who is seeking reelection in Senate District 14, a district that recently has been redrawn and now includes New Tampa.
Sen. Cruz, a Democrat, is running against Republican Jay Collins, who dropped his bid for Congress last week to challenge Cruz and picked up a quick endorsement from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
That effectively forced Hunter’s Green resident and fellow Republican Shawn Harrison, who had filed to run against Cruz in April, from the race,
Like Cruz, Driskell is running in a redrawn district, although it still includes New Tampa and USF. Instead of House District 63, the seat she won in 2018 and 2020, Driskell is now looking to secure House District 67.
She will be opposed by Democrat Dawn Douglas, who filed to run in May, and Republican Lisette Bonano, who filed last year.
As a little girl in Costa Rica, Heidi Esquivel would make salads for her parents because it was all that was in the house.
She would pour her heart and soul into each bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, often cutting up red peppers to make them look fancy and shaping other simple vegetables to look like beautiful flowers.
“I wanted to make my mom and dad proud,” Heidi says. “It was my way of saying ‘I love you,’ with food.”
It took years for Heidi’s artistic skills to manifest themselves as a caterer specializing in elaborate and gorgeous charcuterie and cheese boards, but today, as the owner of Yummy Tablas at the KRATE at the Grove Container Park in Wesley Chapel, she has found her calling.
Although she started her business online during the pandemic, and grew a large following thanks to Instagram — “my best friend” she calls the social media app — she now has fulfilled a dream by owning a store of her own.
“To see the people come through the door, to see the faces, the reaction, it’s just wonderful,” Heidi says, pointing to a couple sitting outside, enjoying a glass of what she calls “the best wine at the KRATEs” on the outdoor patio. “It’s her birthday, so he brought her here for a little glass of wine. She is so happy. Those moments make me so happy.”
Developer Mark Gold says he didn’t start the KRATE just to fulfill his own personal dreams — he did it in part to help make the dreams of others more accessible.
When he announced his project in October 2019, offering converted shipping containers as business opportunities with monthly rents starting at around $1,500, he instantly received a flurry of emails and phone calls from small business owners. Or, in the case of Heidi, prospective first-time folks who couldn’t otherwise afford to rent a space for a business of their own.
In fact, roughly 30 percent of the nearly 50 businesses that make up KRATE at the Grove are run by first-timers.
“I saw the price and the whole thing looked so cute, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can afford that!,’” Heidi says. “I came here right away and fell in love with the whole project. And now, I’m here.”
Before that, Heidi had struggled for years waiting for her opportunity, cleaning homes and working in construction. When she went out with husband Ronnie, a physician she married five years ago, and people asked what she did, she was mortified.
“It was so sad, it was embarrassing,” Heidi says. “I just didn’t want to continue saying that. I wanted to be somebody…I was almost 40 and I needed to find my passion.”
While entertaining friends and family, Heidi always presented her food with flair. Her guests always raved about her displays, and Ronnie also encouraged her to start her business online.
Her concept of “grazing boards,” where friends and family could gather around while nibbling on meats, crackers, cheeses, fresh fruit and honey and jam, struck a chord with people during the pandemic, when people were stuck at home.
“My friends were right,” she says. “It just took off.”
But, when she read the first story about the KRATEs in the Neighborhood News, she knew a “little shop” is what she really wanted.
“Mark Gold was excited about it, and I’m so excited about it, too,” Heidi says. “To have people come and have some cheese and a glass of wine, share memories, laugh, tell stories, spend time with family….that’s what I’m really excited about.”
Tracy DiMillo
Urban Sweets
Heidi’s path is similar to Tracy DiMillo’s, who had built a large local following — in two different states — with her decadent desserts. She, too, was entertaining a friend when it was suggested in October 2019 that she open her own place.
“She asked me if I had read about this guy who just bought The Grove and was going to do containers,” Tracy says. “She sent me the link to the story, I read it on a Sunday, emailed them on Monday and was in their offices talking to them on Friday.”
On Dec. 6, 2019, Tracy and her husband John signed a lease for Urban Sweets, a KRATE container specializing in cupcakes and layered desserts.
It was a long journey for Tracy, a stay-at-home mom of three (now grown) children looking for an outlet.
It started in 1999 with a cake decorating class at Jo-Ann’s Fabrics in Brandon, but soon, Tracy was teaching the classes. A Tampa Palms resident at the time, she sold her desserts locally and online as Creative Cakes. When John, a salesman for a major alcohol distributor, was transferred to Fairfield, CT, she jumped on the just-taking-off cake pops craze with The Pop Shop, making and selling the treats out of a commercial kitchen.
The Dimillos moved back to Florida in 2015, with Tracy unsure what to do next. She baked for neighbors and parties and thought often of opening her own shop. She even had business cards made for Urban Sweets in 2018, “just to put it out into the universe and keep my dream moving forward.”
The Dimillos were fans of Sparkman Wharf, a smaller container park on Channelside Dr. in downtown Tampa that opened in late 2018. While strolling around the container park that year, she fell in love: “I told John I see myself in a container at Sparkman.”
A year later, however, Gold rolled into town. Like Heidi, Tracy also read the article in the Neighborhood News and was gobsmacked.
“If you have a dream, let’s make it happen,” Gold said at the time. “This is your mom-and-pop opportunity, your dream….I want to help people come to us. Let me help you.”
Those words hit Tracy like one of her cookie butter cake parfaits hitting your taste buds.
“I read it and I could swear he was talking to me,” Tracy said. “He said things like he was appealing to new business owners, appealing to smaller business owners….after wanting to open a store for 15 years, I just thought, this is it. I felt like it was a lightning bolt.”
In fact, that’s the exact phrase — “lightning bolt” — she used in her email to Gold to describe her interest. She didn’t even have her sugary concoctions thought out yet. But, she had a name, that box of business cards and she was ready.
“I just knew, after 23 years, I felt like I knew what people liked.”
Urban Sweets opened in late May to positive reviews. With a few thousand people to please for the KRATES’ opening day on June 4 (see page 20), Tracy was eager for her official debut as a business owner.
“It’s a dream come true,” Tracy says. “I know that sounds super cheesy, but that’s how I feel.”
Monica Russo
Maeberry Co.
Monica Russo has shared a similar dream for just as long, imagining herself as a clothing buyer since she was a little girl.
For years, she envisioned being a children’s clothing buyer for a big department store like Nordstrom or Dillard’s (and she worked at both for a time).
Pregnant and bed-ridden during Covid-19, Russo decided to become a buyer…for herself. In 2021, she started a website, MaeBerry Co., that sold children’s clothing and accessories.
Later that year, a friend told her about the KRATE at The Grove, and thought she should go all the way and open her own shop. So, she contacted the KRATE’s management, was put on a waiting list, and after twice declining because she wasn’t sure she was ready, she took the keys to her KRATE in January.
“I knew when they asked a third time, I had to do it,” Monica says. “I just went with what my heart was telling me.”
The decision has been the right one. With help from dad George Leach, who assisted getting the business going and chips in with babysitting, husband George Rocek and daughter Alyssa, who is 17 and works in the shop, business has been bustling.
Monica says business at MaeBerry Co. has been so good, in fact, she wishes she had chosen a larger container. Her eco-friendly infant and children’s clothing, many made with soft, breathable and chemical-free bamboo, and by high-end companies like Posh Peanut and Itzy Ritzy, have been popular among shoppers.
“This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Monica says. “So far it’s been everything I have dreamed of.”
