The day Heather Woodall signed the papers making her purchase of Oakley’s Grille official, her drive home that night to Haines City took more than two hours
It turned out to be an ominous sign.
Woodall confirmed last week that the long commute, combined with becoming a new mother, has made running a restaurant so far from home impossible, and Oakley’s has once again been sold.
Located at 17631 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., Oakley’s opened in 2011 in the old Quizno’s location (next to Supercuts) in the North Palms Village. Keith Oakley’s spot developed a strong following as one of the area’s hidden restaurant gems.
In February, Oakley sold his restaurant to Woodall and partner Ladesha Stoudemire, who discovered the place through a business broker who stopped in to have lunch there.
Despite the typical grumblings from diehards about the place losing some of its charm, due to minor changes, as well as some personnel departures, Oakley’s Grille remained popular during the transition.
“We had a strong base of regulars,” Woodall said. “Things were good.”
Although rumors circulating around the restaurant by staff is that the burger joint — arguably home to New Tampa’s best burgers, as well as great chicken and other sandwiches and salads — could be converted into an Italian restaurant by the new owner, Luca Ammirati.
Woodall said she has been told that Oakley’s will again remain largely unchanged.
“He is keeping it as is,” Woodall said.
However, on top of the usual difficulties in succeeding in the always-tough restaurant business, Woodall faced other challenges.
“We decided to put all of our energy into a family,” Woodall said. “It was a great experience. It was really bittersweet, because we would have loved to remain here but it wasn’t feasible. With the drive and the traffic and with the little guy, you can only imagine.”
Efforts to reach the new owner were unsuccessful, but the Oakley’s faithful are likely hoping that Woodall is right, and one of the area’s best burger places will remain as is.
COMING SOON, ‘MON: Next to Oakley’s, where the old Dairy Queen used to be before being shuttered last year, progress continues to be made on the area’s latest entry into the restaurant market – The Humming Bird Jerk House.
The Jamaican-style restaurant is well into the remodeling process but still has a few permitting and final inspection hurdles to complete. Word is, the jerk spices should be humming by the end of the year. And, according to plans filed with Hillsborough County, the restaurant looks like it will have indoor seating for roughly 32-35 patrons.
OVER AND OUT? Although there are no signs on the door indicating that it has closed for good, that does appear to be the case at Café Ole Restaurant & Tapas Bar, which was at one time considered one of New Tampa’s hidden culinary gems.
A peek inside the restaurant, located at 10020 Cross Creek Blvd. (next to Thai Lanna), across the street from the New Tampa Regional Library, looks like it could re-open for business tod
ay. But, all three sections of Olé have been closed since at least the beginning of August.
Two faces quite familiar to New Tampa voters — Republican Hillsborough County commissioners s Ken Hagan and Victor Crist — both easily won their primary elections Aug. 28, officially kicking off campaigns which, if successful, would result in them exchanging seats on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. Meanwhile, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum pulled off a shocker statewide that reverberated nationally.
Gillum shocked almost everyone with a win in Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, to set up a showdown with Donald Trump-endorsed Republican Ron DeSantis to replace Rick Scott as Florida’s governor.
Both gubernatorial candidates defeated establishment-backed candidates, setting the stage for an interesting fall battle that will match contenders from what many believe to be the party’s bases.
With his victory, Gillum, a progressive candidate backed by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, becomes Florida’s first black gubernatorial candidate, after he defeated favored Gwen Graham, the daughter of popular former Florida governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham.
Although he was fourth in many polls leading up to the primary vote and was outspent by Graham $13 million to $2.5 million, there was talk of a Gillum surge in the final days, which turned out to be prescient.
Andrew Gillum
Gillum captured 34.3 percent of the state-wide Democratic vote (or 517,834 votes of the 1,509,794 cast). Graham finished second with 31.3 percent, while Phillip Levine (20.3 percent) and Jeff Greene (10 percent) rounded out the top candidates in the Democratic field.
“People didn’t think we had a chance, but we did,” Gillum told CNN shortly after being declared the winner. “I think voters have had enough with the status quo.”
DeSantis, first elected to Congress in 2012, represents the Daytona Beach area and originally ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, when it appeared that Marco Rubio, coming off an unsuccessful presidential campaign, was not going to run. Once Rubio re-entered the Senate race, DeSantis exited.
Running behind former Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam at the time, DeSantis fully embraced an endorsement from President Trump in the spring and it shot him into a lead he never relinquished. DeSantis was the choice of 913,955 Republican voters out of 1,618,372 who cast ballots in the primary, or 56.4 percent. Putnam was a distant second with 36.5 percent.
Ron DeSantis
President Trump congratulated DeSantis on the win the night of the primaries, and the next morning, he attacked Gillum, calling him DeSantis’ “biggest dream…a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime and & other problems to flourish in his city.”
In New Tampa’s voting precincts, DeSantis beat Putnam by a smaller but still decisive 50-43 percent margin. Putnam won only three precincts — 357 and 358 in Tampa Palms, and 671, which primarily encompasses Pebble Creek — but only by a combined 13 votes.
Gillum was much more popular in New Tampa than in the state in general, winning 45 percent of the vote in our precincts to just 32 percent for Graham. In votes cast just for Gillum or Graham, Gillum was the choice 58 percent of the time.
Locally, Hagan, a former New Tampa resident now residing in Carrollwood who previously served in New Tampa’s District 2 before being elected to represent countywide District 5, defeated Chris Paradies 72.4 percent to 27.6 percent in the Republican primary race for the District 2 seat.
Currently the longest current serving county commissioner, Hagan has raised $485,574 and barely touched his war chest to beat Paradies, spending $98,773 (which is almost twice as much as Paradies and Hagan’s November 6 opponent, Democrat Angela Birdsong, have raised combined).
Birdsong was the only Democrat to file for District 2, which is currently the seat held by Comm. Crist.
Crist is running for Hagan’s soon-to-be-vacated District 5 seat (both are term-limited out of their current positions), and defeated Angel S. Urbina Capo for the Republican nomination with 81 percent of the vote.
Crist’s Democratic opponent in November is expected to pose a much stiffer challenge. Mariella Smith, a local businesswoman, is a first-time Democratic candidate but has the backing of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and other state Democratic leaders.
Smith garnered 83 percent of the ballots cast, or 77,228 votes, to 15,904 for her opponent in the primary, Elvin Piggott.
Victor Crist
She has shown the kind of fund-raising prowess that could help her overcome Crist’s money and name recognition, with $81,423 raised and just 14,007.14 spent.
Crist has raised $129,080 but has spent $88,814. “When I fund-raise, I do it to benefit the nonprofit organizations I support (like the University Area Community Center),” Crist said. “I don’t spend any time fund-raising for my campaign.”
In District 7, another countywide seat currently held by outgoing commissioner Al Higginbotham, Todd Marks defeated Aakash Patel in a bitterly fought Republican primary.
Patel spent more than $400,000 trying to the win the nomination, and boasted endorsements from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, State House Speaker Richard Corcoran, former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis.
However, Marks, who spent only about a third of what Patel did, picked up 68 percent of the vote in a surprisingly decisive win.
Marks will face Democrat Kimberly Overman for the District 7 seat in the fall. Overman, a financial planner, took 47 percent of the vote in a four-person field, finishing well ahead of second-place Sky White, who had 20 percent.
In Hillsborough School Board elections, New Tampa’s District 3 seat, currently held by Cindy Stuart, was not on the ballot this year, but a countywide seat in District 6 (to replace April Griffin) was up for grabs, as a field of six candidates battled, with Henry “Shake” Washington (32.7 percent) and Karen Perez (28 percent) advancing to a November runoff.
In what will be another hotly-contested local race on Nov. 6, District 63 State Rep. Shawn Harrison, a Republican, will try to hold onto his seat against Democrat candidate Fentrice Driskell. Neither candidate faced a primary opponent on Aug. 28..
The 10U Twisted Sisters All-Stars from North Tampa made friends with other teams at the world series, including the Chinese team (pictured) that ended up cheering for them as the Twisted Sisters won the World Series championship game.
The Twisted Sisters 10U All-Star softball team, made up of primarily of players from New Tampa, Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel, weren’t so sure about their new Florida uniforms given to them by the organizers of the World Series Diamond Championship.
They didn’t fit right. Didn’t feel right. Didn’t look right.
So, after a slow start at the World Series in Lake City, FL, where the team went 3-3 in pool play and suffered consecutive losses for the first time all season, coach Otis Bass asked if his team could go back to their North Tampa All-Star uniforms.
Granted permission to do so, the Twisted Sisters didn’t lose again.
On Aug. 3, the team won three games, and on Saturday, Aug. 4, they rolled over Treasure Coast 7-0 to capture the Babe Ruth World Series 10U Diamond Championship.
“What a way to end it,” said Bass.
What a way indeed. On the morning she found out her great grandmother had passed away, pitcher Jordan Ankers pitched a no-hitter, outfielder Willa Soorus broke open a pitcher’s duel with a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning, and catcher Allison McDuffie hit a home run the next inning to cap off a dramatic run to the title.
“It was a really cool moment,” said Bass, whose daughter Bella played second base and hit .458 with a team-best 10 RBI at the World Series and is one of four Hunter’s Green Elementary students on the team, along with Soorus, Eliza Connell and Skylah Stephens.
Bass said his roster was littered with standout players.
Ankers was dominant in the pitching circle and batted .385 on the way to being named to the All-10U World Series team.
Chelsea Anderson, a first baseman who also filled in at catcher when needed, played both positions so well at the World Series she was awarded a Gold Glove.
Soorus — “Our unsung hero throughout the World Series,” Bass said — led the team with a .538 batting average, while outfielder Lola Coole, who goes to Tampa Palms Elementary, was second with a .526 average. Third baseman Haley Horne batted .391 and was second on the team with 9 RBI.
Bass said every member of the Twisted Sisters contributed to the 7-3 record at the World Series, including outfielder Eliana Rivera (.357), shortstop Eliza Connell, Skylah Stephens and Turner/Bartels’ Grace Mercado.
Bass also credited his coaching staff — Jamie Ankers, Justin Horne and Devon and Mike Connell — with helping lead the team to an undefeated season in Xtreme Softball, a State championship and World Series title.
“We knew we had great pitching and could hit well, and were fast and smart on the basepaths,” Bass said. “We had them battle-tested, and knew we had a pretty good team here.”
Helping maintain optimal health on the inside and providing services to help you look better on the outside are the ways that Peggy Demetriou, ARNP, FNP-BC, takes care of her patients at Qvita Health & Wellness, located across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), in the Windfair Professional Center.
Peggy Demetriou, ARNP, FNP-BC (far right), leads the staff (Katherine Sneesby, Ashley Rae Negron, Doris Chavez) at QVita Health & Wellness off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, where primary care medicine and specialized skin care services are offered in one convenient location.
As a Board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP), Demetriou offers primary care medical services for patients ages five-years and older, including diagnosis and treatment of acute illnesses like the flu and injuries, as well as referrals to specialists and follow-up management of chronic conditions such as diabetes. According to Demetriou, if one of her patients is ailing, she and her team (photo) are committed to seeing them as soon as
possible to ensure a speedy recovery.
“We’ll see our current patients the same day if they’re sick,” says Demetriou, who earned her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Nursing (BSN) degree in 1998, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “If they’re sick today, they’re going to be seen today.”
Avoiding illness in the first place is ideal, and Qvita offers preventive care through wellness checkups (including school and Department of Transportation physicals) and health counseling focused on the individual needs of patients, such as enlightening a teenager about the nutritional benefits of a balanced diet or assisting adults with managing their use of prescription drugs. Demetriou says having a candid conversation
is a key element of the relationship she has with her patients.
“We’re going over the lifestyle of that patient,” she says, adding that medical services like genetic testing are available to facilitate diagnoses and determine treatment options for every patient.
Maintaining a body weight that’s appropriate and comfortable for an active lifestyle can be an elusive goal, but managing weight loss through non-surgical medical weight loss treatment options is one way that Qvita helps patients get more out of their lives. Demetriou says that these options range from prescription medications and/or herbal supplements to procedures like lipotropic (fat burning) injections of nutrients such as choline, that release a body’s stored fat by stimulating the metabolic processing of it.
Cosmetic Services Too!
Qvita Health & Wellness extends its services beyond supporting daily health needs by providing non-surgical cosmetic options, including wrinkle-reducing injectables such as Botox and Xeomin, as well as a complete line of Juvederm filler products.
Demetriou says that tne advantage of receiving cosmetic treatments and services at a nurse practitioner-owned clinic is the access to medical grade products such as Latisse, an FDA-approved prescription treatment that grows eyelashes for patients who are unhappy with the length or volume of their lashes. Skin-care products from companies such as Obagi Medical, SkinMedica and NeoCutis also are available. Patients looking for a non-surgical “face lift” can consider the Ultherapy approach, which is an FDA-approved method of lifting skin on areas such as the neck and chin using non-invasive ultrasound technology.
According to Demetriou, providing quality medical and cosmetic services is about providing a complete spectrum of options for people who are interested in feeling and looking their best.
“They complement each other,” she says. “As patients’ health and conditions improve on the inside, they want to look good on the outside, too.” Demetriou adds that cosmetic clients often bring to light their medical concerns while visiting Qvita, as well.
Demetriou also says that some of the treatments and services available at Qvita have both medical and cosmetic benefits. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy involves separating platelets and plasma from a patient’s blood sample to create a solution that can be used to help heal joint and ligament problems, as well as rejuvenate skin.
Also available are aesthetic services, such as dermaplaning, where a surgical blade is very gently scraped across the skin’s surface to remove debris such as dead cells, leaving a refreshed look.
At Qvita, this work is handled by Ashley Negron, who has a clinical skincare diploma from the American Institute of Beauty and is licensed by the State of Florida Board of Cosmetology as a registered facial specialist. Negron says Qvita’s cosmetic services use products not widely available at places like chain beauty supply stores.
“All of the products we use are medical grade,” says Negron.
A Holistic Approach
Committed to promoting good health and fitness from a holistic perspective, Demetriou also teams up with her physician husband Nektarios Demetriou, D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy), to offer patients their own line of physician-formulated nutritional supplements, such as Qvita Premium Activated B-Complex, Premier Multi-Vitamin and Ultimate Joint Support. According to the Qvita website, the once-a-day supplements “are designed to be natural, convenient to use, and are completely free from artificial fillers, flavors, or colors.”
Peggy also spreads the word about good health to the general public through her guest appearances on Tampa Bay-area radio and television programs. Viewers of the WFTS-TV program, “Tampa Bay’s Morning Blend” (10 a.m. weekdays), often see her hosting topical health segments. Demetriou says her next segment will air sometime in September and will be announced on Qvita’s social media platforms for people who want to watch or record it.
Social media also is where you can keep up with specials on cosmetic services and big events, like the practice’s two-year anniversary in December. Office manager Katherine Sneesby, who helped open Qvita Health & Wellness, says the practice’s growth stems from a commitment to both medical and cosmetic clients.
“We’ve watched it (Qvita) grow because we’re trying to make sure everybody gets the best treatment possible,” Sneesby says.
That approach to delivering treatments and services has led to a 5-Star Google rating (as of our deadline) from 18 reviews. Among the reviewers is Samantha Kanyer, who writes of her experience with Qvita:
“Unbelievably clean, best customer service I’ve ever had and Peggy could not be more amazing!! Would recommend for anyone!!”
According to Demetriou, what patients and clients experience when they visit Qvita Health & Wellness begins from within — the people who work there.
“I think there’s a passion driving us to do what we’re doing,” she says, proudly.
Qvita Health & Wellness is located at 2734 Windguard Cir., Suite 101, in Wesley Chapel. You can learn more, such as insurance acceptance (including Medicare) by visiting online at QvitaHealthandWellness.com or by calling (813) 501-4130. Or, see the ad on page 10 of this issue.
Is the Pebble Creek Golf Club for sale? Maybe. Maybe not.
Like so many rumors, it started on the internet — that the Pebble Creek Golf Club (PCGC) was up for sale.
So we asked Bill Place, who has owned the club since 2005.
“It’s not up for sale,” he says.
But, according to land brokers Cushman & Wakefield, it is indeed up for sale, and is listed on the firm’s website.
The extensive listing touts the 12 existing lakes, homes in Pebble Creek that are selling “in the mid-$200,000s to upper-$300,000s,” an average household income within a three-mile radius of $106,179 and the 3,189,266 square feet of retail within a three-mile radius of the semi-private golf course.
Included is a marketing flyer, water and sewage map, a zoning site plan, Pebble Creek’s declaration of covenants and restrictions (dated Sept. 2, 1986) and a unit count calculation that says 840 apartment and townhome units are potentially feasible to replace the golf course.
Place said he never intended for Pebble Creek to be listed as for sale. He says Cushman & Wakefield were contacted by a builder looking for land, and the firm asked if he was interested.
He merely said he was.
“But, I never requested a listing,” Place says. “Obviously, they seem to be taking it a little further and I need to find out why they would be putting up a listing. I never signed a listing agreement.”
Place says he did call Cushman & Wakefield after he talked to us, and expected the listing to be removed. But as we went to press with this issue, it was still there.
Basically, Place says he isn’t planting a For Sale sign on the first tee and selling Pebble Creek Golf Club publicly.
“But yes, I am absolutely looking at all options,” he says.
And why wouldn’t he?
Business at PCGC continues to trend downward. Over the last year, Place says revenues at the club are down by a third, and profits are down by 50 percent. Some of that he attributes to the construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., but admits it is an industry-wide slump.
“Is Pebble Creek doing well? No, it’s not doing great at this point,” Place says. “We all need more people to play golf. It seems like the millennials just don’t like to golf as much.”
Membership at PCGC has remained stagnant. Place says despite being surrounded by 1,100 homes, the golf club only has 20 members that are actually Pebble Creek residents.
“That’s not a lot of support,” he says.
PCGC is located at 10550 Regents Park Dr., and boasts 6,436 yards of play from the blue tees. it was designed by Bill Amick and built in 1967.
Place bought the course in 2005, and helped revive it. But, golf courses may be a dying breed, and Place says New Tampa — and all of Florida — is oversaturated with them. Pebble Creek has to compete with private country clubs like Hunter’s Green and Tampa Palms, as well as semi-private Heritage Isles, which are all a short drive away.
That leaves a lot of land — in Pebble Creek’s case, 149 acres worth of it — that potentially has more value to him in the hands of developers. Place is well aware that a few miles north in Wesley Chapel, where it took almost two years of public hearings and government meetings, struggling Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club is now being razed by its owners to make room for 400 homes.
“Even if I assumed the best case and some builder wanted to pay for it, with all the rezoning and public hearings and battles, it may not even be possible here,” Place says. “It certainly was for Quail Hollow.”
Place and wife Su Lee own the company, Ace Golf, that owns Pebble Creek Golf Club, and three other golf courses, along with two driving ranges in Brandon and Riverview.
Two years ago, Ace Golf bought Plantation Palms Golf Club in Land O’Lakes, which had been closed for two years. Ace Golf also owns the Wentworth and Crescent Oaks golf clubs in Tarpon Springs.
He says he has had numerous offers to sell Pebble Creek Golf Club over the years, but nothing concrete, and that’s where it stands now.
But, he knows the rumor is out there. His hope is that it doesn’t hurt business, including at the popular Mulligans Irish Pub inside PCGC, and that the golf club itself can rebound.
“It’s just crazy that we’ve had people walk in and say ‘When are you closing?,’” Place says. “We may never close.”
Despite the typical grumblings from diehards about the place losing some of its charm, due to minor changes, as well as some personnel departures, Oakley’s Grille remained popular during the transition.
