Congrats To The North Tampa Bay Chamber & A Tip Of The Hat To Mike Moore!

NTBC president Hope Allen shows off the Florida Chamber of the year award. (Right, l.-r.) Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, Hope and NTBC Board chair Karen Tillman-Gosselin at the Chamber’s Monthly Business Breakfast held Oct. 1 at PHSC’s Porter Campus.

(Big congratulations go out to the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC) and its president and CEO (and, I’m proud to say, my good friend) Hope Allen for bringing home some impressive hardware from the annual Florida Association of Chamber Professionals’ annual conference. 

The NTBC was named the 2019 Chamber of the Year from among the 300 Chambers of Commerce throughout the state of Florida. “This designation is an absolute honor, as we are able to showcase our organization, its members, and the entire team as an elite chamber,” Hope said in her formal email announcement to the NTBC membership about the award.

“Among the many accomplishments our organization has had over the years, the three major initiatives that set us a part were the development of AdventHealth Center Ice, Metro Development’s Connected Cities, and the RADDSports project (aka the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County).”

Along with those accomplishments, Hope said she and her team of Chamber professionals were excited to be recognized for the acquisition of two chambers within the last five years that led to an official logo and name change. “This award is a testament to not only our staff and our Board of Directors, but to our amazing members who make up our thriving community.”

Hope also was recognized as an individual who has dedicated 15 years of service to the chamber profession. 

The hard-working NTBC president showed off the Chamber of the Year hardware (left photo above) at the Chamber’s September 27 Final Friday networking event, which was held the afternoon we went to press with this issue (on Sept. 27) at Grillsmith in the Shops at Wiregrass mall. NTBC chair-elect Dr. Kevin O’Farrell of Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch gave Hope big props for her efforts on the Chamber’s behalf and Hope actually gave yours truly and this publication some love, telling me that, “Without you and the Neighborhood News always promoting everything we do, we would never have been able to win this award.”

I’m not sure I agree, because Hope and the NTBC have been so influential and ever-present with regards to everything that is happening business- and development-wise in New Tampa and especially, Wesley Chapel, that it definitely deserved to win on its own merits — but I will definitely take it!   

Great Job, Commish!

Speaking of the NTBC, Seven Oaks resident and Pasco County Commissioner (and someone else I am proud to call my friend) Mike Moore was the featured speaker at the Chamber’s Oct 1 Monthly Business Breakfast at Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch and Comm. Moore definitely rocked the packed house.

He touched on Pasco’s recent re-branding as Florida’s Sports Coast, thanks in large part to AdventHealth Center Ice (AHCI) and the Pasco County Sports Campus at Wiregrass Ranch (which will be operated by RADDSports, the company that now employs my wife Jannah) both being here in Wesley Chapel. Moore said the USA Hockey Disabled Hockey tournament at AHCI generated a Pasco record 2,000 hotel room nights and with nearly a million visitors and room nights countywide in 2018, he says  that number will continue to grow. 

Comm. Moore also touted the county’s many road improvements, especially those coming to the Wesley Chapel area — including the recent opening of S.R. 56 all the way to U.S. Hwy. 301 in Zephyrhills, the under-construction Diverging Diamond Interchange at I-75 and S.R. 56, the planned Overpass Rd. interchange off I-75, the in-progress widening of S.R. 54 from Curley Rd. to Morris Bridge Rd. and the widening of Wesley Chapel Blvd. north of S.R. 56.

Mike and I don’t agree on everything, especially his opposition to connecting Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe to Kinnan St in New Tampa, but I don’t think anyone could argue that he isn’t doing a great job.  

Less Contentious Debate Over New School Zones

Chris Williams wasn’t quite sure what to expect on Oct. 7 at the public workshop for Pasco County’s new school boundaries expected to go into effect for the 2020-21 school year.

The director of planning services for the Pasco County School Board said that in the three weeks prior to the meeting, there had surprisingly been only 35 online inquiries about the new boundaries, so he wondered if parents were waiting to address their concerns in person.

Would the same large crowds from the contentious, lawsuit-laden 2016 rezoning meetings come streaming through the doors of the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) gymnasium? Would an angry mob be on hand to confront county planners who were there to answer questions? Would they be carrying pitchforks?

The answers? No, no and no.

It was, in fact, a surprisingly muted showing of roughly 50 parents over three hours, the energy muzzled by the emptiness of the high school’s large gymnasium.

“Based on some feedback, I expected more,” Williams said. “But, I didn’t expect this.”

There were 12 tables set up, with District staff manning many of them to answer questions about the new school zones, which will have the greatest effect on students living in Seven Oaks. 

While current WRH juniors and John Long Middle School seventh graders will be allowed to stay next year to finish at the schools where they started, most everyone else in Seven Oaks is headed to Cypress Creek High and Cypress Creek Middle, if the boundaries are approved, as expected.

When Mica and David Rice decided to relocate from Orange County in New York to Tampa Bay, they say that the right school for their son, an incoming freshman, played the biggest role.

In the summer of 2018, after strongly considering Steinbrenner High in Lutz, the Rices made what they thought was the right decision — they chose WRH, and bought a home in Seven Oaks.

Two weeks after closing on their new home, Mica found out her son’s stay at WRH was likely to be a short one, as the Seven Oaks community would in the crosshairs of rezoning in 2019.

“I saw it on Facebook, and I was shocked,” Mica says. “We did a year’s worth of research before deciding to move here, and did not know.”

The Rices were clearly disappointed that their son will not only have to attend a new school, but one further away from home. Mika says her 7-minute ride to school will now be a 20-minute ride.

“We don’t want to leave (Wiregrass Ranch),” she says.

 However, there is little choice. Most of the parents who visited the public workshop seemed disappointed but resigned to the fact their children — whether at WRH or Long — would be attending Cypress Creek High and/or the new Cypress Creek Middle School, which is currently under construction, next year.

“I’m getting pushback, but not a lot of it,” Williams said. “The impression is that certainly people are not happy, but they are kind of resigned to the fact. Most knew this day was coming.”

To drive that point home, Williams came armed with a newspaper article from 2016, where Pasco School Superintendent Kurt Browning specifically told the Seven Oaks community that while they were spared in the 2016 rezoning, they likely would be moving the next time around.

Cypress Creek High principal Caryn Hetzler-Nettle and new Cypress Creek Middle School principal Timothy Light (see story, pg. 30) had a table at the public forum with the hopes of assuaging any of the concerns of parents whose kids would be attending their schools next year.

Hetzler-Nettles said the process — which eliminated committees arguing over where to draw the boundaries and let the county planners handle it this time around — also seemed to do away with most of the tension from the 2016 process. 

Also, the fear of the unknown has been eliminated. In 2016, students were rezoned for schools that didn’t yet exist.

“It’s night and day,” Hetzler-Nettles said. “Now that we’re established and have a brand and a vibe out there, it’s been much easier.”

According to 2018-19 data, Wiregrass Ranch High was at 136 percent of its capacity. 

By shrinking the zone and reassigning students who live in Seven Oaks, roughly 27 percent of the student body (or 600 or so students) will head off to Cypress Creek High, which today is at only 50 percent of its capacity of 2,090 students.

Long was at 116 percent of its capacity in 2018-19, but with nearly 450 students being rezoned for Cypress Creek Middle School, it could be at 90 percent next school year. 

Williams said county-wide, Pasco is only at 90-percent capacity in all of its schools, but Wesley Chapel’s schools are continuously over capacity, due to the burgeoning development. 

While rezoning Seven Oaks helped Williams meet his directive, he said the county also considered including Northwood in the rezoning, but instead chose to make some minor adjustments elsewhere.

Most of the concerns Williams heard at the public forum revolved around students being able to finish at the same school at which they had started, transportation and what to do about siblings.

Williams explained that siblings of any graduating seniors will have to attend their new school, but any students currently attending Wiregrass Ranch (or Long, since it’s considered the same campus) who are siblings of a junior can likely stay but will have to apply for choice.

However, once those WRH juniors graduate in 2021, their younger siblings will have to attend the school for which they are zoned.

Also, students in any academies only offered at Wiregrass Ranch (medical, hospitality) have to apply for choice but should get to stay. Those in the business academy, however, will have to go to Cypress Creek if zoned for it, because Cypress Creek also has a business academy.

The last opportunity for the public to have its say come son Tuesday, November 5, when the School Board will host a public hearing on the proposed boundaries. The final vote is scheduled for Tuesday, November 19.

THE GOLDEN TOUCH

Developer Mark Gold has big plans for The Grove.

In a tiny office tucked behind The Grove shopping center he recently bought for $62.7 million, Mark Gold is unveiling big dreams.

“Big, big, major,” he says. “This is major.”

Gold’s vision is all over the walls of the leasing office at The Grove, on blueprints and promotional materials. 

There will be a family park, an amphitheatre for musical performances, a brewery, new restaurants, an indoor adventure facility, beautiful landscaping and lighting, and what Gold says will be the biggest shipping container park — think Sparkman Wharf, but on steroids — in the world.

A rendering of how a “container park” will look at The Grove.

There also is room for 400 homes, if Gold chooses to develop the additional acreage.

While others have, for too many years, seen a big box dead end office plaza with empty buildings and overgrown and unkempt land, Gold sees the future.

“This is a diamond that no one has touched for 10 years,” he says. “No one had the money to polish the diamond. That’s just crazy.”

The Grove, which opened in 2007 and whose current tenants include Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michael’s and others, as well as the Cobb 16 Movie Theater, may be an afterthought to many locals, a shopping center that once had great potential before development stopped. Gold and his Mishorim Gold Properties promise that will change.

“The message is, The Grove is coming back,” says Gold, emphatically. “It’s not owned by the bank or an insurance company anymore, it’s owned by creative developers that do this already all over the U.S.”

As Gold lays out his plan, it almost sounds too good to be true. However, District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who arranged a meeting for Gold with county planners and administrators, loves the idea.

“I think he’s the real deal,” Moore says. “When he left after his presentation, there was energy and excitement in the room.”

Pasco’s uber-friendly-to-business county commission is likely to do what it can to make things happen fast. Many of the typical hold-ups — such as proper zoning and utilities  — are all already in place.

The mostly vacant Village across the parking lot from stores like Best Buy, Marshall’s and DICK’s Sporting Goods has been mostly vacant but Gold already has new tenants signed to leases.

Gold, who has now owned the plaza less than a month, isn’t wasting any time starting to create a destination that he thinks could serve as a downtown Wesley Chapel one day.

“This is not only about money, it’s about vision,” he says. “Let’s bring something to Wesley Chapel that people like to come to.”

Just a few days after his purchase, he already had signed leases for 15 of the 60 containers, or micro-shops, that will populate the land between The Grove’s office “village” and Outback Steakhouse. Moore said he was impressed to see that overgrown grass had already been moved and some of the area was already being prepped.

Gold is hoping to create a European-flavored market or bazaar, with an emphasis on locally-owned stores and boutiques, and he says that in about two months, the containers will begin showing up.

“Things are moving fast,” he says. “This is big in places like Europe, Amsterdam…you see it all over the place. In the U.S., it is fresh. And, it is going to be the largest one in the world.”

Each of the container “shops,” which are former semi-truck trailers that will be outfitted with solar panels, is 40-feet long (although there are options to split the office containers into two or even three separate spaces), and here’s the big news — he is renting them out for only $1,500 a month for an entire container, with limited up-front costs for design.

“If you have a dream, let’s make it happen!,” Gold says.

“If you have a dream, let’s make it happen!,” he says. “This is your mom-and-pop opportunity, your dream. I care about my tenants. I want to help people come to us. Let me help you.”

A family park for children also will be one of the key components of The Grove’s transformation, as will a 36,000-sq.-ft. indoor trampoline/adventure park (see pg. 14).. 

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is a part-owner of Surge Adventure Park, Gold says he already has Surge at four of his developments and that it is likely Brees will follow him to Wesley Chapel, too. Surge Adventure Park would be built near the Cobb 16 Movie Theater.

As we reported last issue, Double Branch Artisanal Ales, owned by Wesley Chapel residents, is expected to open in December, the first new project under Gold’s Mishorim Gold Properties.

“I think it is extraordinarily exciting for our community,” says Hope Allen, CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber. “It’s a long time coming. “It was disheartening to see (The Grove) not living up to its full potential over the last couple of years. I appreciate that new ownership is going to invest in it.”

Gold says he also has signed leases with at least four restaurants — pizza, sushi, gourmet hot dogs and frozen yogurt — for the currently mostly-vacant office park that he calls “The Village,” as well as a restaurant/duelling piano bar owned by Wesley Chapel resident Jamie Hess and his brother Joe.

“I met with him and was very enthusiastic and energetic,” said Jamie Hess, who signed his lease on Oct. 10. “I thought he had an amazing plan. I went home and researched his other properties and after that, I was sold. He’s going to make The Grove a huge success.” We’ll have a separate story about the piano bar in a future issue.

Gold has a reputation for investing in property that is undervalued and turning high-vacancy shopping and office centers into bustling, vibrant, family-focused entertainment destinations.

He bought the Lynnhaven North shopping center in Virginia Beach, VA, in late 2018 and quickly turned that around, with nearly $10 million worth of renovations and upgrades.

Whether you’re talking about the Regency Court Shopping Center in Jacksonville, or the Shoppes at Hickory Hollow in Antioch, TN, the DW Center in Newport News, VA, or a handful of other similar U.S. projects, Gold has swooped in to buy a failing shopping center and invested millions into transforming them.

And, the ebullient Gold is excited about The Grove’s prospects.

He says he has been looking to purchase land in the Tampa Bay area for years, but couldn’t find anything that suited him.

“It was like Mission Impossible,” he says.

He spent eight months negotiating to buy The Grove, when he says it usually takes him only about a month to complete similar deals.

The purchase included the 604,000 sq. ft. of existing shopping and dining space, as well as 1.3-million sq. ft. of retail and office space that he plans to build. 

But, even better, The Grove is located in one of the southeast’s fastest-growing areas.

Not only are there thousands of homes at various stages of development within a 10-mile radius of The Grove in nearby communities like Mirada, Epperson and even Quail Hollow, but Wesley Chapel also boasts an average annual household income of $92,000.

The shopping center is located just off busy I-75, and can be seen by 100,000 drivers a day.

“I am in the middle of the all the action,” Gold says. “Right where I want to be.”

And soon, he hopes, where all of Wesley Chapel will want to be.

For leasing & more information about The Grove, contact keren@mgoldgroup.com.

New Tampa Mosque Town Hall Meeting Focuses On Big Issues

A town hall at the Daarus Salaam Mosque in New Tampa on Sept. 21 drew a crowd of roughly 100 people, with topics ranging from the need for a traffic light to healthcare and gun safety.

Luis Viera’s New Tampa town halls are generally hyper-local affairs.

The District 7 Tampa City Council member (and usually a guest or two) are asked about things like Kinnan-Mansfield, traffic along Bruce B. Downs, new additions to our local parks and everything from a pothole over there to a slow light over here.

On Sept. 21, however, Viera’s town hall, in conjunction with the Islamic Society of New Tampa, at the Daarus Salaam Mosque on Morris Bridge Rd., just north of Cross Creek Blvd., broadened the councilman’s normal town hall fare.

Along with a few questions about traffic safety near the bustling mosque, especially in the mornings where more than 100 children are headed to school near busy (and narrow) Morris Bridge Rd., the conversation circulated around such weighty topics as religious and social tolerance, affordable housing, gun violence, school funding and healthcare.

“I thought it went really well,” Viera said. “I thought there was a lot of energy and people seemed enthused to be there.”

The town hall, moderated by CAIRFlorida’s Aida Mackic, was Viera’s 14th in the North Tampa district he represents. It included a wide spectrum of guests, which likely prompted some of the larger-issue questions. Fentrice Driskell, the Florida House District 63 representative (which includes New Tampa), Hillsborough County District 7 (county-wide) Commissioner Kimberly Overman and Hillsborough County sheriff Chad Chronister all joined Viera on the panel.

“My heart is bursting with pride to be here,” Driskell told a crowd of about 100. “I’m so excited, but I’m trying to play it cool.”

It was a predominantly Muslim crowd, but Viera said those who worship at the mosque and live in the area are an important part of the community.

“Potholes hold no party or religious affiliation,” Viera said. “A pothole annoys the Southern Baptist as much as it annoys the Muslim.”

As you might expect from a predominantly Muslim crowd, there were concerns raised about Islamophobia, guns and the protection of the mosque. 

Dr. Adel Eldin, MD, a Brooksville cardiologist, laid out a laundry list of items mosque members would like to see from its elected officials — yellow lights to slow down traffic in the morning as children make their way to school, better fire rescue service and for the mosque, which has a Thonotosassa addressed in unincorporated Hillsborough County, to be incorporated into the City of Tampa so it could be on the city’s sewer system.

Along with the recent Islamic Society of New Tampa purchase of six acres of land adjacent to the mosque for expansion, Eldin said his list of requests were critical.

Safety From Violence

But, the safety of worshippers was on his mind as well. He thanked Sheriff Chronister for increasing patrols after shootings of Muslims earlier this year in New Zealand, but also said he would like to see a deputy on site in the morning when the children are vulnerable.

Chronister sympathized with many in attendance. 

“There are 4,000 members of the sheriff’s office that want to make sure no one has to live in fear,” he said. He drew one of the loudest ovations of the afternoon when he added, “You should be able to worship in peace, regardless of your faith.”

That led to a discussion about gun control, namely the dangers posed by access to assault rifles, as well as a 12-year-old in the crowd suggesting lawmakers focus on the mental health issues of students who suffer from harassment and fear of bullying in schools.

“This is a community concerned about tolerance and safety a bit more acutely than other folks,” Viera said.

Driskell tackled questions on the lack of education funding, one of her primary interests as a legislator. “I am ready…give me the ball!,” Driskell said when the first question about education was asked.

A product of local public schools (Lake Gibson in nearby Polk County) who went on to graduate from Harvard, Driskell said more help — both financially and in the classroom — needs to be provided to teachers across the state in order to retain them. She said she watched the joy of teaching fade from her mother after a 35-year career in the classroom.

Since being elected last November (beating incumbent Shawn Harrison), Driskell said that she has witnessed first-hand just how tough that fight for more funding for public schools can be. 

“I don’t like to make things partisan,” she said, “but I think 90 percent of the time in state legislature, we agree on most of the issues and most of the bills we vote on will pass through unanimously. But, for whatever reason, public education has become so highly politicized. It falls into two camps: those who favor public schools, and those on the side of charter schools and vouchers for private schools.”

Driskell said she is not necessarily against charter schools or vouchers, “but not at the expense of public schools.”

Overman and Hillsborough County District 3 School Board member Cindy Stuart, who was in attendance, also said more funding was central to fixing what ails schools and their teachers, but the answers may have to come from the community.

Chronister agreed. As the vice chair of the Citizen Oversight Committee for the education referendum that passed last year, Chronister touted many of the school projects that the $23 million raised by a the new one-cent sales tax that are making things better for students and teachers.

Affordable healthcare, affordable housing and building a stronger community also were touched on in the wide-ranging, two-hour forum, and at the end, Viera said it accomplished what he had hoped.

“I do it because I think it’s important,” Viera said. “There were a lot of legitimate concerns, not paranoia, raised, and addressing them and showing that their local politicians have their backs makes the community stronger and better off.”

Taylor Morrison Breaks Ground On 55+ Community In Wiregrass Ranch

The Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch, which broke ground last month, will be an over-55 community with more than 800 total homes, as homebuilder Taylor Morrison continues to expand in Wesley Chapel.

Homebuilder Taylor Morrison’s Esplanade series — which provides “resort lifestyle experiences” for its residents — has already proven to be popular in a number of Tampa Bay locations.

A new development planned for Wiregrass Ranch could take that popularity to another level.

Last month, Taylor Morrison broke ground on Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch, which will feature more than 850 single-family and detached villa homes and will be Wesley Chapel’s first 55-and-over community since Williamsburg was originally built as an age-restricted community in the 1970s.

The new community will be located in the heart of the Wiregrass Ranch DRI, between State Roads 54 and 56 and east of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch will be adjacent to the under-construction Wiregrass Ranch Blvd., which will run north and south from S.R. 56 to S.R. 54.

Originally, the project was called Valencia under a different builder, but when that fell through last year, Taylor Morrison was approached and jumped at the chance to take over the development.

“The location and the size of it were two of the things attractive about this opportunity,” said Doug Miller, Division President of Taylor Morrison’s operations in Tampa. “To have this lifestyle community in Wesley Chapel is really attractive for us. There are a lot of things to do there, there’s a hospital, shopping and entertainment. It really made this location key for us.”

Phase One, which was approved for construction in May, will have 169 single-family, attached homes.

Scott Himelhoch, vice president of land acquisition for Taylor Morrison, unveiled many of the plans and amenities for Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch at a North Tampa Bay Chamber Economic Development Briefing at Hunter’s Green Country Club on Aug. 29.

With construction under way, the 55-over community hopes to hold a grand opening of its amenity center sometime late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2020. That was good news for some of the Realtors in attendance at Hunter’s Green, who said they are in need of more product to sell to eager buyers. 

Taylor Morrison’s Esplanade offerings generally offer features like tile roofs and lush landscaping as standard features. Because it will be building in an area that has ample greenspace, walking paths and nature will be incorporated into the layout.

Although the community will be mostly restricted to residents 55-and-over (80 percent must fall in that category, with the other 20 percent required to be 45-and-over), Taylor Morrison will be building homes ranging in size from 1,700-3,500 square feet, recognizing that not every older family wants to downsize and that many still want to be the central hub for holiday and family gatherings.

Taylor Morrison has Esplanade communities either built or in the process of building out in New Tampa (350 homes just south of the Hillsborough-Pasco county line and west of Grand Hampton) and Starkey Ranch (500 homes) in Odessa.

The Wiregrass Ranch community, however, is expected to be the crown jewel of the Esplanades in the Tampa market.

Himelhoch touted many of the offerings that will make Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch a popular pick for homebuyers.

Because Esplanades seek to give residents a boutique resort living experience, a full-time lifestyle manager is on staff in every community, operating as part-cruise director, part-concierge.

The lifestyle manager helps create wellness programs and social events. A loaded calendar offers things like dinner dances, concerts, clubs, groups and football watch parties.

The concierge service is an added plus. The resort-style pool will offer towels, food and beverage service, as well the ability to make dinner reservations without ever having to leave your poolside seat.

Taylor Morrison has been very active in Wesley Chapel. In the last few months, the homebuilder has completed two new communities in Wesley Chapel — Woodside Trace, a 52-townhome community located on County Line Rd. approximately two miles west of Bruce B. Downs, and Chapel Trace, an 87-unit single-family-home community north of S.R. 54 on Boyette Rd. The builder also is preparing to build three additional new subdivisions within WaterGrass on Curley Rd.

With the new S.R. 56 extension to U.S. Hwy. 301 in Zephyrhills complete, Taylor Morrison already is planning on new developments in that corridor – it is the contract purchaser for land at the former Zephyr Egg site west of Morris Bridge Rd., and could begin construction next year.

“We expect to continue to be active,” Miller says. “Wesley Chapel is one of our key submarkets in our approach to Tampa. We have a nice mix of offerings in that area, and we see a lot of runway ahead of us in Wesley Chapel.”

For more information about Taylor Morrison’s new 55+ community, visit EsplanadeAtWiregrassRanch.com, where you can join the VIP Interest List, or  call (866) 495-6006.