Urban Air Adventure Park Set Open In Tampa Palms Jan. 25!

It won’t be long before Wesley Chapel has its own “trampoline park” at The Grove, and it’s own bowling and laser tag center at Main Event on S.R. 56, but Urban Air Adventure Park will beat both of them to the punch when it opens next week in Tampa Palms.

Urban Air Adventure Park will hold its Grand Opening on Saturday, January 25, 10 a.m. The entertainment center is located at 6250 Commerce Palms Dr. in the Market Square at Tampa Palms shopping center anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Similar to openings at new Chick-Fil-As and Wawas, assistant general manager Chris Schade says the opening of the 28,000-sq.-ft. facility will be an “event.” At other Urban Air openings, he says people have camped overnight for a chance to be one of the 200 to win free access to the adventure center for a year. Schade says a DJ will be on hand the morning of the Grand Opening, and there also will be donuts and other goodies.

Urban Air Adventure Park is a Texas-based entertainment center franchise with locations all over the U.S.. The New Tampa location will be the company’s 10th in Florida, which includes centers in nearby Lakeland and Port Richey.

While broadly described by many as a “trampoline park,” Schade says the label really doesn’t do the new facility justice. 

While there will be trampolines for jumping, the Tampa Palms Urban Air Adventure Park also includes a timed warrior course, bumper cars, dedicated dodgeball courts, rock walls and a kids area for youngsters that includes a 25-foot spiral slide.

There are also two rides that require harnesses — a Sky Coaster that circles high above the guests, and a ropes course.

“We’re able to give the little kids their own little area, and still let the bigger kids do what they want to do,” Schade says.

The Adventure Park’s on-site café will offer pizza, chicken wings and tenders, as well as beer and wine, including local craft beer favorites.

“We really want to get rid of that stigma that we’re just a trampoline park,” Schade says. “We can cater to everyone from toddlers all the way up to companies doing team-building exercises.”

For additional information, visit UrbanAirNewTampa.com.

Wesley Chapel Business Happenings

CRYSTAL CLEAR SHOPPING?: According to preliminary plans filed with Pasco County, a grocery store, six retail stores and a fitness center are being planned for the area around the entrance to Epperson, home of the country’s first Crystal Lagoons® amenity.

Filed by Minneapolis-based commercial real estate developer Ryan Companies, the plans for the northwest corner of the Overpass Rd./Curley Rd. intersection don’t specifically name any tenants but show a large health/fitness center abutting the easternmost end of the Crystal Lagoon, with a medical/emergency building to the south.

Closest to Curley Rd. is a planned grocery store, with one large retail space and five others about half the size and 996 total parking spaces for the development.

Ryan Companies and Metro Development Group had a scheduled meeting with Pasco planners to discuss the commercial development on Dec. 10, 2019.

Metro Development is developing Epperson, which will have roughly 2,000 homes, as part of the Connected City project, which will be the nation’s first gigabit community. The community’s prime amenity is the 7.5-acre lagoon, the first of its kind constructed in the U.S., although the area just north of Wesley Chapel along I-75 is getting an even larger lagoon (scheduled to open this year) in Metro’s Mirada development.

MORE CARS, TOO: Representatives of the Morgan Auto Group are scheduled to meet with county planners on Jan. 27 as Morgan moves forward with plans to build a new BMW dealership on S.R. 56.

According to plans filed with the county, the seven-story, 133,000-sq.-ft. dealership will abut the west side of Morgan’s MINI of Wesley Chapel dealership on S.R. 56, just east of I-75.

BMW had previously filed paperwork with the county, and scheduled a pre-application meeting, in the hopes of building a 32,758-sq.-ft. showroom at S.R. 56 and Mansfield Blvd.

The BMW dealership would join other luxury dealers that have opened in Wesley Chapel in recent years, like Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus. 

Plans are still working their way through permitting for a Volkswagen dealership right across S.R. 56 from MINI of Wesley Chapel. Those plans call for a 27,845-sq.-ft. dealership.

And, plans for a 21,232-sq.-ft. car dealership at the southwest corner of Eagleston Blvd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Seven Oaks — just east and across Eagleston Blvd. from Wesley Chapel Toyota and Lexus of Wesley Chapel — also is under review by the county.

Container Park Signs More, Submits Plans To Pasco

Developer Mark Gold isn’t exactly sure what made him settle on creating a one-of-a-kind shipping container park as part of his next big project.

He says he knew he wanted something green, and he wanted something small, and he wanted something unique.

“I wanted it to be different than everyone else,” he says.

It sure looks like that will be the case.

Conceptual plans for the park, which will officially be named Krate by Gold Box and be home to nearly 100 tenants running their businesses from modified shipping crates, were officially filed with Pasco County last month.

Krate is just one part, but perhaps the crown jewel, of The Grove project, which is transforming the old, worn-down retail center into a major Wesley Chapel hub. Mishorim-Gold Properties, a partnership between Gold and Mishorim Real Estate, bought the 200+ acres, including all of the existing structures in The Grove, for $62.7 million last year. 

Phase 1 of Krate will be built on nearly 7 acres of land just west of I-75 and east of The Grove’s big box retail stores like Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Krate plans to have 87 tenants (many using multiple crates), 172 parking spaces, and a stage for bands and competitions that will be flanked by a pavilion and a children’s playground.

But, the biggest selling point, says Gold, is the opportunity for local residents to open their own businesses. 

“We are building small spaces to give big opportunities to people,” Gold says. “We want this to be more mom and pop.”

He has 27 restaurants already with signed leases, although he says he is hoping for more service-based businesses. Most of the crates are already under contract and will start arriving in a few weeks.

He expects Krate will be up and running in 6-8 months.

“People are going to drive one hour, one-and-a-half hours to see this concept,” Gold says. “If I had built a shopping center, people would say ‘What is the big deal?’ But this is a shopping center built with containers with parking and lights and sidewalks and activity, lots of activity.”

While often compared to Sparkman Wharf at the Channelside Bay Plaza in downtown Tampa, Gold says he has visited the Tampa crate park and says “they do not compare.” He compared Sparkman Wharf to food trucks with no wheels where you eat outside, whereas Krate’s containers will be actual restaurants with many offering indoor and outdoor seating.

“This concept, I think, is the only one like it in the world,” Gold says.

At The Grove, where Gold is filling once empty buildings with fitness and yoga studios, a craft brewery, a dueling piano bar, Italian eateries and even an axe throwing bar while dubbing it “The Village,” variety is the spice of life, and he takes great pride in what Krate will offer.

Among his 27 restaurants are zero chains and places offering Cajun, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Dutch, French, Japanese, Italian, Puerto Rican, Thai and Vegan food, as well as other places serving cupcakes, ice cream, falafel, sandwiches, juices and even a mojito lab.

“People will drive here just for the variety,” Gold says.

He is so confident the concept is ready to take off, he says he already has plans to develop other Krate by Gold Box container concepts across the country. His second site, in Raleigh, NC., where he has two other developments, already has been picked out.  

Meanwhile, here in Wesley Chapel, Gold’s office, in the heart of The Grove property that he is confident will one day be considered downtown Wesley Chapel, is bustling. He moves from one meeting to another, exchanging info with daughter Keren, the property’s leasing representative. There seems to rarely be a time where a prospective tenant isn’t talking to one of them, or waiting their turn.

“I love it,” he says. “People want something else, something different, and we are going to give it to them.”

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

Each passing year seems to be the biggest one yet for Wesley Chapel.

The area’s major growth began at the start of the last decade, and Wesley Chapel’s continued expansion and evolution have proceeded unabated to what we have now: a bustling mini “city” whose flowering has been astounding.

But, even with an eventful 2019 in the books, there is a chance we literally haven’t seen anything yet.

Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore (right) and CEO of the North Tampa Chamber of Commerce Hope Allen.

“I think 2019 was our biggest year yet, but there is going to be a lot of exciting things coming along in 2020,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Chamber of Commerce (formerly the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce).

More than 1,000 commercial permits have been filed in Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes over the last three years, including 498 in 2019. Those that get approved typically come to fruition within 18 months. So, much of what we saw open in 2019 was news in 2017 and ‘18.

Wesley Chapel got its first green grocer in 2019, as Earth Fare opened in February. Allen thinks this was one of 2019’s more significant entries into the Wesley Chapel market, because a green grocer was so desperately desired by so many local residents. For Allen, it’s not a matter of quantity when it comes adding to Wesley Chapel’s growing landscape, but rather filling a need, or a desire.

“I think that Earth Fare had a big impact, because it filled a void,” she says.

But, Earth Fare was just the beginning of a busy 2019 for Wesley Chapel. A number of new restaurants and bars, including Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar on S.R. 56 and Glory Days Grill on S.R. 54, opened, and there are plans for dozens more coming in 2020 and beyond.

“The economy is still strong,” says Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore. “Typically, you’ll see the builders slow down when they see a change…but they aren’t slowing down.”

With all that growth, traffic remained an important issue for local residents.

S.R. 56 extension

The county did begin work on widening S.R. 54, and also moved forward with the construction of the much-anticipated Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) at the intersection of S.R. 56 and I-75. And, the S.R. 56 extension which was finally finished in 2019 — and has been well received by local commuters desiring another east-west road — will soon have something other than open pasture land along its length.

Yes, there will be more homes. And lots of them. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Taylor Morrison Homes recently closed on 750 acres of land for $23.5-million at the northwest and southwest corners of the S.R. 56/Morris Bridge Rd. intersection, land that is already entitled for roughly 1,600-1,700 homes. 

Wesley Chapel saw its fair share of new homes go up in 2019, and thousands of housing permits are in the system for the coming years. Last year, 4,335 single residential permits were filed with the county. In the last three years, 11,448 have been filed.

The Connected City in northern Wesley Chapel has hundreds of homes under construction, including another 713 waiting on approval for Metro Development Group’s Mirada development, which will soon be home to our area’s second Crystal Lagoons® by Metro Lagoons® amenity. Avalon Park West has plans for more than 1,300 homes off S.R. 54, and Winding Ridge in the Wyndfields MPUD is seeking approval for 469 homes, just to name a few.

This formerly rural area is filling up fast, good news for those who prefer a suburban lifestyle but much to the chagrin of many others.

“We hear about it from some residents, typically from people who have been here a long time and moved out here for a quiet, peaceful life,” Allen says. “If that’s what you are looking for, this is not the place to be. This is going to be an active suburban core.” 

Emphasis on the word “active.” The county rebranded its tourism efforts as the Florida Sports Coast, a move heavily influenced by Wesley Chapel’s growth in the sports market. Although Pasco’s hiking and biking trails, Gulf coast fishing and outdoor attractions like Treehoppers in Dade City also are important aspects of the new push, the success of AdventHealth Center Ice and the soon-to-open Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County in the fastest growing area of Pasco likely sparked the rebranding.

Looking ahead to 2020, Allen personally lists the Wiregrass Sports Campus opening, likely in July, as the most anticipated opening of 2020 (and she is hopeful that Raymond James Financial breaks ground), but there is stiff competition.

The Blue Heron assisted living facility in Seven Oaks and the AdventHealth-Moffitt Cancer Center building on the AdventHealth Wesley Chapel campus will be completed by the end of the year and will provide much-needed services for local residents. 

The Main Event entertainment center and the Florida Avenue Brewing Company on S.R. 56 will help spark the local nightlife scene, and a much-anticipated Aldi grocery store, as well as a host of additional new restaurants, will keep folks in the area buzzing.

And, let’s not forget the massive and speedy transformation of The Grove (see story, pg. 6),  which after being left for dead by many will have, by this time next year, it’s own craft brewery, a dueling piano bar, an axe-throwing hangout, new restaurants and a one-of-a-kind shipping container park that, if developer Mark Gold is correct, will become Wesley Chapel’s downtown.

As Commissioner Moore says, “The whole county, but especially Wesley Chapel, is growing. It’s the fastest-growing area in the state and I don’t see an end in sight. Do you?”


Vice President Pence To Visit

Mike Pence will host a rally at the Venetian Event Center on Jan. 16. (Photo: Gage Skidmore)

Vice President Mike Pence is coming to town.

The Venetian Event Center at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, which in addition to weddings has hosted a few political townhalls organized by city councilperson Luis Viera as well as a City of Tampa mayoral debate in 2019, will be the site when Pence visits next week for a re-election rally for President Donald Trump.

Pence will lead the “Keep America Great” rally Thursday, January 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the Venetian, which is located at 9724 Cross Creek Blvd.

Venetian director of marketing and communications for the center, Valerie Mainguy, confirmed that The Venetian had been rented by the Trump campaign, but said she had no idea what they would be doing there, or who would even be there. 

She said the event center could only hold 1,000 people, according to City of Tampa fire code.

To register for tickets for the event, go here: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/events/keep-america-great-event-with-vice-president-mike-pence-in-wimauma-fl

The decision to come to New Tampa was a last-minute one, as the rally was originally scheduled for the Valencia Lakes retirement community in Wimauma. But FloridaPolitics.com reported that complaints from Valencia Lakes residents and protests from the property owners association board forced the event to be moved.

According to Florida Politics, one of the complaints was that many attendees would be bused in and would overwhelm the private, gated community.

Some in New Tampa have similar concerns, especially since the event could conclude right around the same time that kids are getting out of school.

Cross Creek resident Cindy Kelly wrote on her Facebook page that “No matter your political leanings, hosting this event at St. Mark’s at 1:30 on a Thursday afternoon is not a good idea. At a minimum, how will Wharton and Benito kids get home from school if they live on either side of the church? We have enough of a challenge with traffic in New Tampa. Tiny Cross Creek (Blvd.) does not have the infrastructure to host this event.”

Asked about how the Venetian Event Center planned to deal with any traffic issues, Mainguy said: “They (the campaign) are taking care of all of that.”

Mainguy refused to provide any other information about the event. “We just rent the building,” she said. 

Tampa city councilmember Luis Viera (left) and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan hosted a townhall at the Venetian Event Center. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Viera took to the local community website NextDoor.com to alert local residents about the Pence rally.

“When the Vice President of the United States arrives, there is the obvious justified heavy security presence with accompanying traffic challenges, etc.,” Viera wrote. “I have alerted our School Board member Cindy Stuart and am told that the School District is aware and on it.

“Therefore, if your child or children go to a school on or near Cross Creek, or you live in the area, just be aware before you plan your day if this event goes forward.  I assume that the District will release a plan, but FYI for school and other purposes.“

The New Tampa Democrats cited some of the same traffic concerns in a Facebook post, in addition to the costs and potential protest rallies – a Rally Against Mike Pence page for that date is already up on Facebook – and are encouraging people to call St. Mark to ask that the rally be moved.

Pence is in Florida to help shore up Trump’s support among Hispanic voters — he’ll attend a second event in Kissimmee after his New Tampa visit — but Hillsborough County is a focus for Republicans as well.

While New Tampa has long been considered a red, or Republican area, it has been more fertile ground in recent elections for Democrats. 

In 2016, President Trump may have been elected nationwide and won Florida, but Democrat Hillary Clinton won every New Tampa precinct by a combined 58-38 percent margin.

In 2018, Hillsborough County officially turned blue. In New Tampa, longtime local Republicans Shawn Harrison, the Dist. 63 State House Representative, and Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist, were swept out of office by Fentrice Driskell and Mariella Smith, respectively, and neither race was particularly close.

Another Republican County commissioner, Ken Hagan lost all but two New Tampa precincts but still survived unknown political newcomer Angela Birdsong.

Second Time Around As Good As The First

Back when Brenda Pennock was in high school, being a member of the marching band meant belonging, sharing camaraderie and participating in a fun activity that she loved.

For decades after high school, she thought she would never experience that again.

But, reliving her high school glory days is now a dream come true for the Meadow Pointe resident, since she joined a St. Pete-based band called The Greater St. Petersburg Area Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band, also known as the “Second Time Arounders.”

Brenda Pennock of Wesley Chapel (right) was able to relive some of her glory days when she marched in the recent Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. (Photo courtesy of Brenda Pennock)

According to its website, the band is known to be the largest permanent adult marching band in the world, with more than 400 members. It’s thought to be the first of its kind — started 37 years ago — open to those who played an instrument, twirled a baton or danced in a college, high school, drum corps or military marching band and want to do it again.

The band has a marching season in the spring where it participates in local parades throughout the Tampa Bay area.

This year, that season was extended when the Second Time Arounders were chosen to participate in the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

That’s how Brenda found out about the band. Last fall, she saw on the news that the Second Time Arounders had been selected to go to the Macy’s parade. She knew right away she wanted to be a part of a marching band again.

Brenda is a majorette, a baton twirler, which she started in high school at Ft. Frye in Beverly, OH, graduating in 1969.

“The highlight of my high school years was twirling in marching band,” says Brenda. “Over the years I had thought from time to time that it was so much fun, and something I would never be able to experience again. I had no idea there were organizations out there like the Second Time Arounders. It never occurred to me. When I saw that on TV, and it got me excited about the possibility of getting to experience one of the highlights of being in high school again.”

Brenda applied and was able to join in time to participate in the parades last spring and in the Macy’s parade last month.

“It was obviously the experience of a lifetime,” says Brenda. “There are a select few bands who ever get to do that. It was really special.”

Brenda says it was a longer parade than those where the Second Time Arounders have usually performed. 

While most local parades are less than two miles, the Macy’s parade was 2.5 miles. It also was more crowded, of course, and it moves more quickly.

“The parade in New York is fast,” Brenda says. “For the most part, the band members are in good (enough) shape to be able to do that. We do have more limitations than we did in high school, but the adrenaline takes over and we do it.”

The trip also featured excursions planned for the group, including an event where most of the band members enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together at the Liberty House, an event center in Jersey City, NJ, with a view of the Manhattan skyline.

Twice In A Lifetime

New Tampa resident Claire Keneally joined the Second Time Arounders in 2007.

While participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is thought to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, 2019 was actually the second time for many of the Second Time Arounders. 

The band also was chosen to participate in the parade back in 2008. While that was well before Brenda had ever heard of the group, New Tampa resident Claire Keneally was already a member of the Second Time Arounders, having joined in 2007.

“It’s totally a highlight,” says Claire. “I got to do it twice in a lifetime.”

Claire was a twirler and dancer in the marching band at Gloversville High in upstate NY, graduating in 1973. 

She was a Tampa Bay Rowdies cheerleader in the 1980s and danced a bit through the years, and was thrilled when she got to participate in a marching band again.

In the Second Time Arounders, she’s also a dancer, carrying red, white, and blue pom poms and doing dance moves.

Claire and Brenda both travel to St. Pete for practices, typically once or twice a week during the marching band season, as well as when they were both preparing for the Macy’s parade.

“The commute is absolutely worth it,” says Claire. “Traffic can be challenging at times, but it’s worth it, so I do it every time.”

Like Brenda, Claire says the Macy’s parade was great, but she says that one-time thrill pales in comparison to the overall experience of participating in the Second Time Arounders.

“I just wanted to be a part of the band,” says Claire. “I love it every year, even if we don’t go to Macy’s. It’s the friendship and camaraderie and exercise, but also being part of something bigger than myself. You get to relive high school, but you never age out of it. Macy’s is just the icing on the cake.”

The Second Time Arounders’ is holding a new member orientation at Ferg’s Sports Bar in St. Petersburg on Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. Appetizers and first beverage provided by the band. For more information about the marching band, visit SecondTimeArounders.org.