The work around the junction of S.R. 56 and I-75 is beginning to show some progress, as efforts pick up to finish the Diverging Diamond Interchange by the end of 2021.(Photo: FDOT).
If you’ve been by the construction site of the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) at the junction of I-75 and S.R. 56, you may have noticed a difference from past trips.
More machines. More workers. More dirt being moved.
Just over a month after Pasco County commissioners, particularly District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore (whose district includes much of Wesley Chapel), criticized the efforts of D.A.B. Constructors, Inc. — and expressed disappointment that the project would not finish on time — the work has clearly picked up in the area.
“There has been significant improvement,” Moore says. “I want to thank D.A.B. and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for getting this back on schedule.”
Moore said he met with both D.A.B. and FDOT, and as a result, he is feeling more confident that the project will finish closer to its original finishing date of sometime in the fall of 2021, as opposed to fears construction would stretch well into 2022.
“I feel good about what I heard,” Moore said.
The $33-million project also had drawn the ire of more than 20 local businesses, who signed a letter to Moore and District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey expressing concern about the progress.
Community outreach manager John McShaffrey says FDOT has continued to look for opportunities to move the project forward, “including working with the contractor on alternate materials, construction phasing, and other ways to shorten the construction duration.”
With traffic thicker than usual due to the holidays, there aren’t too many things FDOT can do to ease congestion right now, although it is suggesting alternate routes to get in and out of the Tampa Premium Outlets and Cypress Creek Town Center areas. FDOT also has made efforts to assist in traffic flow since before Thanksgiving by:
* Adding message boards on S.R. 56 westbound advising drivers to use the next two signals (the entrance off S.R. 56 and the entrance off the Wesley Chapel Blvd. extension) to enter the outlet mall.
* Adding message boards on S.R. 54 eastbound advising that drivers can turn right where Wesley Chapel Blvd. meets S.R. 56 to enter the outlet mall.
* Setting traffic signals to “holiday timing” (a common practice near mall areas) to maximize traffic flow.
* Adding message boards on southbound I-75, north of the S.R. 54 Exit 279, to encourage traffic to use the S.R. 54 exit to avoid backups on the Exit 275 ramp to S.R. 56.
* Adjusting the setup of the barrier wall on the southbound I-75 exit ramp to give a little more space for drivers turning right (westbound) onto SR 56.
* Installing additional cameras for FDOT’s traffic management staff to better monitor traffic at all of the signalized intersections.
Developer Mark Gold’s vision of a one-of-a-kind hip, trendy and photogenic new outdoor shopping experience off Wesley Chapel Blvd. at I-75 has begun taking shape.
There will there be a sneak preview of the newly-revamped but not yet open movie theater on Dec. 31 at The Grove’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Extravaganza. The event will feature a 4-course meal with complimentary wine pairings for each course, as well as a private open bar cocktail reception with musical entertainment by Cal Morris Music.
Tickets are limited, and for more information click here.
The movie theater party comes on the heels of the first soon-to-be converted shipping container being officially placed on November 20 at KRATE, the outdoor “container park.”
More than a dozen more containers also are now in place, as Gold hopes to open many of the new businesses in the first quarter of 2021.
Seventeen modified containers, which will be home to nine businesses, make up the initial phase of what will one day be one of the largest container parks in the world.
Though Gold’s vision began with a sun-beaten, unsightly faded yellow steel container being lowered onto a sandy patch of land, the shipping containers will be unrecognizable from their original forms after being transformed with air-conditioning, glass windows and doors, countertops, cabinets and wood and tile flooring and a few coats of brightly colored paint designed to create a festive look.
The first set of containers will be occupied by restaurants offering diverse dishes and items like Asian noodles, Puerto Rican cuisine, desserts and charcuterie boards.
Empty shipping containers like these, amongst the first to be put in place at KRATE, are being transformed into a trendy new food and retail “container park” experience at The Grove, which is expected to begin opening in early 2021. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
KRATE is expected to be the biggest of all the container parks. Once complete, it will feature 94 containers and 55 units comprised of 70% restaurants and 30% retail stores. Other restaurants will feature cuisine from around the world like Colombia, Peru and Germany.
Some of the most recently announced tenants include The Cake Girl, Yummy Tablas and ATO, a burrito bowl concept by the owners of Zukku-San Sushi (which we featured last issue). The planned retail shops include a music store and a Lego® brand product superstore.
KRATE also will feature a stage with daily live entertainment, a dog park, a playground and plenty of outdoor seating.
“There is nothing like this in the world,” says Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold Properties, which purchased the Grove for $62.7 million in September 2019. “KRATE is receiving attention across the globe for its unique concept and offerings. We will become the ultimate shopping and entertainment destination, not just for Wesley Chapel, but for the region and around the world.”
When it is complete, KRATE (rendering above) will feature 94 shipping containers making up 55 units, including more than 30 new restaurants.
While the container park concept is still relatively new, it has proven to be popular. Downtown Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf has re-purposed shipping containers housing roughly a dozen takeout restaurants, and places like Kansas City and Philadelphia have opened container parks of varying sizes the past two years.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a popular container park — actually named Container Park — has 34 outlets with an emphasis on hip and quirky local businesses, as well as a stage and a playground.
Since purchasing The Grove, Gold has signed on 75 new tenants, including some businesses that are already open in what Gold calls The Village area — like F45 Fitness, the dueling piano bar restaurant Treble Makers (see pg. 21)and the Double Branch Artisanal Ales brewery (see pages 32-33).
Gold says he has invested more than $110 million into the renovation of The Grove property which, in addition to KRATE, will include a reimagined movie theater and restaurant, a miniature golf course expected to break ground in January and, potentially, a water park.
With pandemic safety at the forefront, Gold says all of the businesses in The Village and in the KRATE complex will include “medical grade” sanitation technology, like fogging machines, automated thermal temperature scan swing gates at the entrance and UV lights.
Those safety steps are expected to encourage people to feel comfortable both inside and outside while shopping and dining, including inside The Grove Movie Theater, which is expected to fully open sometime in January, not too long after the planned VIP sneak preview event on New Year’s Eve.
YMCA vice president of operations & executive director of Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA Robyn Ostrem and membership and wellness experience director Ryan Pratt revealed that a Wesley Chapel Family YMCA will be breaking ground in 2021. (Photo: Charmaine George)
The Bonefish Grill officially completed its move from Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel to the Cypress Creek Town Center along S.R. 56 at a grand opening Dec. 14, but it turns out there were even bigger fish fried during the event.
Wesley Chapel is getting a YMCA!
That announcement was all the buzz as folks nibbled on some of the best appetizers the beautiful, new Bonefish Grill has to offer.
“We’re about to be your new neighbor,” Robyn Ostrem, the VP of operations and executive director of the New Tampa Family YMCA, told the gathering right before Bonefish Grill officially opened. “We’re going to build a Wesley Chapel Family YMCA that will break ground in early 2021, and will built by June of 2023.”
Ostrem, who has been with the New Tampa YMCA since 2019, did not announce an exact location for the Wesley Chapel location, only that it would be located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd, although that really only leaves two possibilities — the land in front of the new BayCare Hospital being built in the northesatern portion of Seven Oaks, and the land in front of Meadow Pointe across the street from the Super Target on County Line Rd.
Ostrem said the new facility will cost $15 million to build and will be 30,000 square feet. The New Tampa Family YMCA, which is the closest current option for many Wesley Chapel residents, is 35,000 sq. ft.
“We’re in New Tampa now, but we’re going to be closer to you now in Wesley Chapel,” Ostrem said.
Generally, YMCAs have indoor courts for basketball and volleyball, workout areas and rooms for exercise classes and daycare, as well as meeting rooms. Many, like the New Tampa Y, also have pools and can host events like high school and youth swim meets.
The Wesley Chapel Y will be only the third YMCA in Pasco County, joining the East Pasco Family YMCA in Zephyrhills and the James P. Gillis Family YMCA in New Port Richey.
After years of rapid growth in the housing and restaurant markets, the “sports & activity” market in Wesley Chapel has picked up the pace this year.
The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County opened in August, with the ability to host sports leagues and tournaments for basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports, while the indoor Recreation Center at the Wesley Chapel District Park is currently under construction and will be completed sometime next year. An outdoor hockey rink right next to the rec center was completed last week as well.
You probably have noticed census takers in your community this year, since they helped conduct the 2020 U.S. Census. I was one of them. “Enumerator” was the official title given to us by the U.S. Census Bureau.
I check my government phone. Yep, this is the address. I knock, since I see no doorbell. It’s a nice glass door, with a solid layer of varnish on the wooden frame. I hear some sort of clamor coming from inside the house but can’t differentiate whether it’s voices or some music. Wait, do I hear voices and music? I call out my name to introduce myself and to let the voices know I am no solicitor or intruder.
“Hello, I am here for a Census interview”!
The lawn is well maintained. A few flower pots decorate the entrance. No one comes to the door. Through the glass door, I see people. What should I do? I decide to be brave, so I knock again and call out the purpose of my visit. Finally, I hear a voice that seems directed at me:
“Go away or I call the police.”
This response made it seem pretty evident that the owner is in no mood to talk to me, so I do as instructed through my training and leave a notice of visit with a personalized code to give the demographics by mail or phone. I fold the paper and squeeze it through the rigid door frame and go on to the next address.
I feel bad that I failed in adding that address to the 2020 Census. In our training, however, we are told “safety first.”
That incident made me recall a visit from a few days ago, and reminded me that I was secretly happy the person was not home. The notes on my phone, from an enumerator who had visited this address before me, said, “The person who lives here calls himself Adolf Hitler…and he wants to be left alone.”
Standing outside in Florida’s heat and humidity for a few minutes, my hands and face get wet from perspiration. Operating the phone with a thin layer of moisture on my fingers costs time, which this interviewee has generously granted. “It is important to get all of the demographics,” I tell myself, as more moisture drips from my face. I feel embarrassed. On a few such occasions, I am offered water or a cooler spot. I even added a towel to my bag next to my supply of hand sanitizer and masks.
The smells in this apartment complex transport me into another culture. Searching for the correct number, I see many doors with colorful decorations and scribbles on the floor. I carefully step around them as I knock on the door. With my mask on, I explain my visit. I am pleased many families have heard of the Census and are willing to give me the information.
At one house, a young man actually asked me what the Census is — what was I talking about? The mother appears in the background and tells him, “The lady just needs to know how many people live here, the age and race….no worries, she can get the demographics.”
At the mobile home park, a few children were interested in what I was doing. I like to explain to youngsters that the Census is a recurrent activity. I hook it to the times of “Hamilton.” Nowadays, everybody has heard of this historical figure, thanks to Lin Miranda and his hit Broadway show.
Since 1780, the USA has counted its people every ten years. This year is unique, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential election. On one out of four visits, I hear, “I am not interested in government, take me off your list.” My response is that “You exist, so please be counted. You have a young child. You want to have resources from the government.”
One person responded, “I do not care. We are renting and will move again.”
At other doors, I ring or knock but people do not even come to the door, maybe because they’re afraid of the Coronavirus.
A few times, I have to conduct the interview without actually seeing the people because I have to talk to them through the door. I hear their voices and create a picture of them in my head.
I appreciate it when a household lets me wait, while they go to get their masks, although most don’t bother. Others get annoyed with me. “I am sending the dog out if you do not leave,” one person said.
Others say, “Ma’am, you are on private property, you need to leave.”
Doing the census allows me to interact with a large variety of people, some who are very willing and pleasant, while others are suspicious, angry, and unpleasant:
“I am no snitch,” I have been told. “If you can’t get an interview that is your problem.”
At another apartment complex, I knock and hear a voice behind the door, “No, we are not interested.” I see a young African-American man sitting on the steps of a house, opposite, so I ask him, “Sir, do you know how many people live in that house?”
“Hey, you heard the lady. She doesn’t want to talk. I am not going to talk. You don’t live here. I recommend you leave, NOW!”
I always explain that am not soliciting and that Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution mandates that the country conduct a count of its population every 10 years. Our counting for the 2020 Census started April 1, 2020, but drags on. We count who lives where and with how many people. I feel my work is worthwhile.
It seems that many apartment complexes have a high turnover rate. But I also have found that house owners have given way to real estate investors. Houses are rented out to people with no interest in joining the community. Many people don’t even know their next-door neighbors. Only at a few student housings complexes do I feel an ease of talking between neighbors, or with them talking with me. Nowadays, so many of us are more eager to be involved with online communities.
On a few occasions, people are grateful that we do this work and impressed that we dare to talk with strangers. “We are all people,” I say. I recently heard on the radio that Florida is the 8th lowest state for responding to the Census. We hope to get the remaining 20% of the people who have not responded by March or April, adding their information to the count.
I drive along the street, zig-zagging around potholes screaming for repairs. I climb up the stairs. The steps could use some paint. I knock on the door, go over the address again and prepare myself for a visit/interview.
In this case, a woman calls out that she is coming. A little girl sneaks out and stands smiling before me. I introduce myself and show my badge. The girl takes the badge and tells me the picture of me is pretty. I try to engage her in my story that everyone is going to be counted in this big country. I ask how far she can count. She makes it up to 10.
The lady of the house tells me she has already responded to it. I ask her if she is willing to go over the missing information with me again. Often people tell me they have already responded to the Census, as way to wave me away. I tell her the Census will have no duplicate information, so I end up getting the interview.
On Oct. 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump’s request to stop counting. On Oct. 15 at 11 p.m., the Census count is stopped. At that time, New Tampa was 99.8% finished. The results will be collected and presented to the president on Dec. 31.
Being a Census enumerator has been quite a ‘ride.’ I honestly was tempted to quit after the first two days, but I stuck it out. The 2020 Census will determine representation in the U.S. Congress, will help determine the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding and provide data that will affect communities for the next decade.
For example, from 2000 to 2010, Florida gained two U.S. House seats, going from 25 to 27 U.S. Representatives.
Joe Greco of the Tampa Firefighters Local 754 said that improving TFR Station No. 13 near Busch Gardens should take precedence over improving poor emergency response times in New Tampa.
Everyone seems to agree that the City of Tampa doesn’t have enough fire rescue stations, and it is now time for city officials to figure out a solution for the entire city, but especially in New Tampa.
That was the message at the Tampa City Council meeting last month, from council member Luis Viera — who represents New Tampa in District 7, a district which may be the area most at need — proposing that the city come up with a citywide master plan for all public safety needs, including police, fire rescue and EMS.
“We have a master plan for Parks & Recreation, which I’m in favor of, but we should also do it for public safety, given the many deficits we face,” Viera said at the Council meeting.
Much of the debate centered around a report by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) that showed a number of weaknesses in Tampa’s fire rescue network.
Although it was only touched on briefly, Viera expressed concern about one troubling statistic revealed in the report — four of the six City of Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) stations with the slowest response times are located in New Tampa.
New Tampa is home to four of TFR’s 23 stations: TFR Station No. 20 (located on Bruce D. Downs Blvd. in Tampa Palms), Nos. 21 and 22 (located off Cross Creek Blvd.), and No. 23, which opened in 2019 on Trout Creek Ln., just south of County Line Rd.
Another TFR station is planned for the K-Bar Ranch area, which will have nearly 2,000 homes when it is built out.
According to the IAFF report, the first arriving fire rescue apparatus should be on the scene within four minutes of travel for 90% of incidents that require an emergency response.
From June 1, 2017, to May 31, 2019, New Tampa’s TFR stations 20 and 21 were the two slowest, at 10 minutes of response time each, and Nos. 22 and 23 tied for the third slowest response times at 8 minutes each.
The New Tampa response times may have more to do with physical distance from the stations and our area’s congested roads, however, as all four stations rank near the bottom of all TFR stations when it comes to the number of emergencies responded to by each of their rescue, engine units and truck companies.
Viera visited all four stations on Thanksgiving Day to discuss possible solutions. “The New Tampa fire rescue people told me that K-Bar Ranch is the biggest challenge,” he says.
Even so, Fire Station 13, which also is in Viera’s district and is located at 2713 E. Annie St. near Busch Gardens, was a far greater concern at the Nov. 18 City Council meeting. It is the busiest station in Tampa by far, according to Firehouse Magazine, and the 20th busiest in the country.
Viera called it a “very very challenging station” and called for immediate relief for the station in the form of a new engine or a new facility.
Joe Greco, Tampa Firefighters Local 754 president, said that the money that was included in the latest budget to build another station in New Tampa should instead be directed to address Station 13’s needs.
“Twenty five percent of all calls for service in the city of Tampa are in Station 13’s first alarm territory,” Greco said. Greco added that nearby TFR Station Nos. 7, 11 and 18 answer as many calls in Station 13’s area as Station 13 does, due to the high volume.
The City Council will come back in January with a plan of action to bring Station No. 13 immediate relief, and passed Viera’s motion for a workshop to tackle the city’s public safety master plan in March.
