Metro Development Communities Lead The Way In New Home Sales

Metro Development Group, which brought the country’s first Crystal Lagoon amenity to Wesley Chapel and will soon unveil a second one at the Mirada development (technically located in San Antonio, but just north of Wesley Chapel), continues to experience growth in the area.

In fact, according to housing market analysts Zonda.com, the Wesley Chapel area has five of the Top 20 fastest-growing new home communities in the Tampa Bay area, and three of them — Epperson, Mirada and Union Park — are Metro properties.

Epperson is the fastest-growing, according to Zonda, which was formerly Metrostudy, with 705 new home starts and 493 closings from September 2020 to September 2021. 

Epperson also ranked No. 21 in Zonda’s national rankings for new home starts in that same timeframe.

The other Metro Development properties located in Wesley Chapel that made the Top 20 include:

• Mirada, ranked No. 8 on the Tampa Bay-area list, had 333 new home starts and 308 closings. The community includes Medley, an active adult community, and plans for a 15-acre Metro Lagoon, which will be the largest Crystal Lagoon amenity in the nation.

• Union Park, ranked No. 14, had 258 new home starts and 206 closings in the community, which is now almost completely built out.

Metro also is developing the No. 11 community (Southshore Bay in south Hillsborough, which is also getting a Crystal Lagoon as its primary amenity) and No. 15 (Cypress Creek in Ruskin) community on the list.

“Homebuyer interest in our Metro Places communities continues to be extremely strong, thanks to the convenient locations, the quality of our builder team, and the extensive and unique amenities we offer,” said Vaike O’Grady, VP of Marketing & Communications for Metro Development Group. “Our communities are simply a great value for homebuyers.”  

Two other Wesley Chapel communities also were on the list, with Wiregrass Ranch at No. 5, with 433 home starts, but ranking No. 4 on closings with 360.

Watergrass was No. 6, with 388 home starts and 304 closings.

Pasco County continues to be hot, with New Port Richey’s Starkey Ranch and Land O’Lakes’ Bexley communities also ranking in the top 10.

With south Hillsborough county going through its own growth spurt, don’t expect to see any slowdowns in the near future.

“Demand in the suburban areas of Pasco and Hillsborough counties is coming from homebuyers moving to Florida from other areas of the country, from renters deciding to buy, and from people who simply want a new home,” said Tony Polito, Zonda’s regional director for Tampa and Central Florida. “We see this strong demand continuing into 2022.”

Carmel Friendship Church Celebrates Its 11th Anniversary!

If you’re looking for a new church home for your family, I can’t imagine a more welcoming Christian environment than what I experienced during my first-ever visit to Carmel Friendship Church, which has been located in its own building next to the Wesley Chapel school complex on Wells Rd. since 2011 (although the church didn’t purchase the building until 2014).

I visited Carmel Friendship Church for its 11th anniversary — the church started meeting at the home of Pastors Quincy (Pastor Q) and Jennifer Stratford and their children in 2010 and moved to Benito Middle School in New Tampa on Easter Sunday in 2011 — on Oct. 10 and I have to say that, as a member of the Jewish faith who has attended many Christian churches in years past, I have rarely, if ever, felt the warmth and love I felt from everyone I met at this very special place.

Pastor Quincy Stratford

I walked in a few minutes after the church’s music program had begun and was blown away by the talent of the dancers and choir singers, especially soloists Morgan Mackall, Curlin Beck and Chris Sampson. Many of the dancers appeared to be young teens, but the music, under the direction of Kazi Whitfield, and choreography were impeccable and beautiful to watch and hear.

The inspirational message given by the Stratfords’ friend, visiting Pastor Dr. Johnnie R. Bradley, of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, quoted scripture from both the Old and New Testament to illustrate how the Holy Spirit is a Real, Divine and Unique person who provides comfort to all of those who believe. And, Dr. Bradley’s message fit right in with Carmel Friendship Church’s motto of “Real God. Purpose. People.”

Before the blessings and closing messages given at the end of the service by Pastor Q and Pastor Jennifer, another close friend of theirs, cancer survivor Patrice Kissentaner Starks, whose health issues prevented her from being able to visit her friends for several years, told how much the support of the Stratford family and her faith have helped and meant to her. 

The service was followed by a free barbecue meal and a cake to celebrate the church’s anniversary.

Carmel Friendship Church (30081 Wells Rd.) offers both adult and children’s services at 9 a.m. on Sundays and Bible Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. For more information, call (813) 991-1300 or visit CFriendship.org. — GN

TECO Is Busy Replacing Those Pesky Purple Lights 

All across Tampa, purple (or blue) street lights can be seen amidst rows of white and yellow lights. Take a ride down Cross Creek Blvd. and you’ll see almost a dozen of them.

Curiosity about why these lights have randomly popped up has led to a number of television stories and a few Reddit and NextDoor.com threads.

And, even a few conspiracy theories. So let’s clear the air:

* The purple lights are not a super secret crime deterrent.

* The lights are not a super duper light pollution fighter.

* The light are not there to make it harder for heroin users to find a spot to shoot up.

* They are not collecting your vital information through some new technology.

* They are not an homage to Prince on the fifth anniversary of his death last April, and Tampa Electric just hasn’t gotten around to replacing the lights.

(Sorry, the last one was our own conspiracy theory)

Nope, nothing like that.

The purple lights are just, well, good lights gone bad.

According to TECO spokesperson Cherie Jacobs, the lights have merely fallen prey to a manufacturer’s defect that turns them from white to purple.

 “We are almost done, but we are replacing all of our street lights with new energy-efficient LED technology,” Jacobs says. “The model that was made in 2019 had a manufacturing defect, and that has affected a small percentage of the lights.

“But, they are very noticeable.”

Indeed they are. The lights cast a purple hue across the road, and turn everything under the light poles a purple color. It has been explained in other stories that each light contains red, yellow and blue filters, but the yellow filters are the ones that have been malfunctioning, and the red and blue filters then create a definite purple tint.

The lights are so noticeable that Jacobs jokes that she is getting as many media requests for explanations than just about anything else these days. Concerned residents are calling television stations to get answers — News Channel 8 WFLA-TV and WTVT-TV Fox 13 recently did stories on the lights — and we’ve even received a few emails about the them.

“We are working with the manufacturer,” Jacobs says. “They are under warranty and we are replacing them as we are learning about them.”

Considering that we are living in the age of crazy conspiracy theories, it should be no surprise that those purple lights have sparked a few, including this doozy — the lights are used to identify if you have been vaccinated against Covid-19, making you glow, and therefore keeping you out of FEMA camps that the government will be setting up for the unvaccinated where you see the lights.

No, not true. At least we don’t think so.

And, the purple lights aren’t just a Tampa thing, or a TECO thing. All across the country, purple lights have been popping up in South Carolina, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, drawing the same kind of scrutiny from residents.

Just a few days after this story went to press, Jacobs informed us that TECO is patrolling its entire system and will replace all purple lights. It should take several months, she wrote, so after originally setting up a web page for residents to report the location of the purple lights, no need to report the lights anymore.

“See a purple light? No further action is required of anyone,” Jacobs says. “We’ll fix it as soon as we can.”

Rep. Driskell To Seek A 3rd Term

State Representative Fentrice Driskell, considered to be one of the rising stars in the Democratic Party in the Sunshine State, has officially announced that she will seek to retain her seat in the all-important midterm 2022 elections.

Rep. Driskell will be running to hold the Florida House District 63 seat she won in 2018 when she defeated Republican Shawn Harrison and retained in 2020 when she was unopposed. Driskell held her launch party on Oct. 27 at Acropolis Greek Taverna on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (photos)

District 63 includes New Tampa, as well as Carrollwood, Lutz and the Lake Magdalene and University of South Florida areas to our south and west. 

Driskell already has at least one opponent lined up for next year — New Tampa Republican Lisette R. Bonano.

The General Election will be held on November 8, 2022, with primary elections scheduled for August 23, 2022. — JCC

Plan To Reduce Tampa Palms Blvd. To Two Lanes Scrapped


ampa Palms Blvd. has been labeled a failing road, and is getting repaved starting sometime next year, but bigger plans to reduce it to two lanes and add roundabouts have been shot down. 
(Photo Charmaine George)

Plans to convert four-lane Tampa Palms Blvd. — which circles through the Tampa Palms community — into two lanes have been soundly rejected.

After revealing its preliminary Complete Street Project plan at a Sept. 28 virtual presentation and Q-&-A session, the city received near-unanimous opposition from residents. They filled out hundreds of questionnaires for the city demanding that Tampa Palms Blvd. not be downsized to accommodate things like bike lanes, additional school pickup lanes for Tampa Palms and Chiles elementary schools, roundabouts and other safety features, some of which they felt could be accomplished with four lanes.

“I read in total disbelief what the City of Tampa has proposed for Tampa Palms Blvd,” said one questionnaire. “To quote former tennis icon John McEnroe:  ‘YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!’”

Tampa planners heard the complaints and have decided to change course.

“We are preserving the four lanes,“ says City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer Vik Bhide, “and we will make (smaller) modifications.”

The $3-million repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd., currently funded in next year’s city budget, will go forward in two segments — the south loop (or Segment 1), which runs from the north intersection of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to the south intersection through Tampa Palms Areas 3 and 1), and the north loop, or Segment 2, which runs from the south intersection of BBD to Ebensburg Dr. in Tampa Palms Area 2.

Some of the modifications mentioned by Bhide include narrowing the lanes in an effort to lower driving speeds, and making improvements at some of the intersections by installing Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), also known as pedestrian-activated warning devices.

Bhide also says that more pedestrian crossings will be introduced, and there will be an effort to address the traffic challenges around the schools during the busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up.

Roundabouts, which cost about $800,000 and aren’t funded at the moment, “are off the table,” as residents seemed extremely opposed to them. 

Asked if he was surprised at the quick repudiation of the initial plans, Bhide said it was all part of the process.

“We tried to work with the community and what the community provides with their feedback,” Bhide says. “And we also rely on hard facts and data.”

That data, according to Cal Hardie, P.E., the City of Tampa’s capital projects manager, indicated that both segments of Tampa Palms Blvd. being repaved are great candidates for a “road diet,” due to the number of daily trips on the road.

Hardie said anything under 10,000 is considered a great candidate for reduction, and 10,000-15,000 is considered a good candidate, and Tampa Palms Blvd. currently falls in that range.

But, the residents were clear — “Do not take away any of our lanes!”