Meet & Greet Held For Ryan Quattlebaum’s Return To AdventHealth Wesley Chapel! 

(Below Left) AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) Chaplain Danny Sierra welcomes new president & CEO Ryan Quattlebaum and his family — (l.-r.) his wife Cristina and daughters Emily and Sophia — back to AHWC during a packed (bottom left) meet & greet event at the hospital on Jan. 29. Quattlebaum has replaced former AHWC president & CEO Erik Wangsness, who left to take the same job at AdventHealth Tampa. (All photos by Charmaine George) 

When Chaplain Danny Sierra — who has been with AdventHealth Wesley Chapel since it opened on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. as “Florida Hospital” — introduced the hospital’s new president & chief executive officer (CEO) Ryan Quattlebaum at a meet & greet event on Jan. 29, he was trying to figure out how best to re-introduce more than 100 guests to the hospital’s former chief financial officer (CFO). 

“I thought about the Bible story of the prodigal son, but then I thought, ‘Maybe not, because he wished his father not well and there are kids here.’” 

Instead, Chaplain Danny went with Philippians Chapter 4, Verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.” 

To which he added, “And, we rejoice that Ryan is back with us. And let us pray more. Lord, thank you for this special homecoming of your son, his wife and his children. You knew them before they were conceived. You numbered the hairs on each one of their heads, and you brought them back to us. And, as a campus with all our friends, we rejoice of this man.” 

Quattlebaum, who served as the CFO at AHWC from 2020-22, left to become the president and CEO of AdventHealth North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs, but returned to AHWC when Erik Wangsness left to take the same position at AdventHealth Tampa. He thanked Chaplain Danny and said he was thrilled to be “back home.” 

First, Quattlebaum thanked the elected officials who attended the event, including Dist. 20 State Senator Danny Burgess and Pasco County commissioners Ron Oakley and Jack Mariano. He also thanked the AHWC Foundation and hospital Board members, as well as the doctors, nurses and staff members in attendance. 

“I’m beyond blessed to be able to be here with each one of you,” Quattlebaum said. “And to be welcomed back. My youngest daughter Emily was born here at this hospital, so I am blessed to be back. My first job in a hospital was in the dish room when I was in high school. So, my roots in Advent Hospitals go way back and this is where my heart is.” 

Quattlebaum also said that he, “ultimately wants to make sure that everyone’s family member gets treated like how our families are treated and I firmly believe that we do this together. So, there’s a whole team of people here as well that’s made that work happen. So I want to acknowledge and say thank you to all of them for this important work.” 

And finally, Quattlebaum said, “What I really care about is people. And Christ’s Healing Ministry was really about people, and this is representative of what our community truly looks like.” He then gave everyone in attendance his cell phone number. 

For more information about AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (2600 BBD Blvd.), call (813) 929-5000, visit AdventHealth.com. — GN 

Luis Viera Remembers A Special Person & Provides Updates On His Next Election Plans 

Remembering Kendra Kay Holden 

On January 14, 2025, a special woman passed: Kendra Kay Holden (right photo). If you ever went to the New Tampa Panera Bread, you probably saw Kendra there. Kendra worshiped at St. James United Methodist Church, worked as a teaching assistant at Hunters Green Elementary and served as a Best Buddies Ambassador representing people with intellectual disabilities. 

Her obituary read in part: “Kendra loved God, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Vera Bradley Bags, Sonny’s BBQ, Olive Garden, outlet malls, Christmas movies, Cracker Barrel, unicorns, butterflies, Coke Zero and colorful bands for her Apple Watch.” 

Every time I walk into that Panera Bread, I will think of dear Kendra. She was a special child of God. 

The Penguin Project 

Speaking of those who are differently abled, I recently got to see our friends in The Penguin Project perform their most recent show, “Seussical Jr.” 

I can not tell you how proud I am of this group from the New Tampa Players. This effort allows people with intellectual disabilities to take part in a first-rate production play with the help of their artist peers. 

I always get emotional seeing the plays – because I think of my brother, Juan, who is intellectually disabled, and how I would see him as a young person at church plays or in the Special Olympics. I am proud of Juan. And I know that the moms and dads in the audience are so proud of their young people participating in the Penguin Project. 

I have worked to have Tampa give $150,000 to this special New Tampa project. That is money well spent. 

Our Best Values in 33647 

Here in New Tampa, we are a diverse community. We are one community of Americans – but with different faiths and cultures. That is New Tampa and that is America. 

Go to Arlington National Cemetery and take a look at the graves of our heroes – especially in Section 60. You will find Christian crosses. You will find Stars of David for our Jewish friends. And you will find the crescent moon and star for our Muslim friends. 

I will always stand for the idea of the Family of Tampa. That includes the American Jewish family that fled Europe in the 1930s to come to this new country. That includes the refugee Muslim family in New Tampa with anxiety for their loved ones in Afghanistan. That includes members of the Sikh faith, the Hindus, Buddhists, evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. 

We all do better when we all do better. And we all do better when we all belong. I will stand for that always. I have and will continue to take political “hits” for that ideal gladly — because it is the right thing to do and that is America to me. 

My Next Election Plans 

I have represented District 7 on the Tampa City Council since 2016, but all good things must come to an end — per the City of Tampa’s Charter. I am term limited out of this office in 2027. 

It’s no secret that I love my 33647 constituents. I work hard for you because I see public service as a blessing. 

As Neighborhood News editor Gary Nager reported in an online post on Feb. 16, I plan on making a decision soon on what I will do next. That will not, however, include running for Mayor of Tampa. If I choose to try to succeed my dear friend, Florida House District 67 Representative Fentrice Driskell (who has said that her reelection last year will be her final two-year term in office), I will have big shoes to fill. 

But, I will do what I have done here locally: work hard, build bridges and fight for what I believe in. 

You guys know me well. You know my values. You know my work ethic. And you know not only where I stand, but that I stand. 

North Tampa Bay Chamber Breakfast 

While introducing District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who was the guest speaker at the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC)’s monthly Business Breakfast on Feb. 4, NTBC president & CEO Hope Kennedy mentioned that she had heard Viera might be considering a run for Mayor of Tampa. 

But (as it says earlier in his column on the previous page), Viera said he was more interested in a run for the District 67 State House seat currently occupied by House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, or a possible Hillsborough County Commission run in 2026. 

Since that Feb. 4 meeting, Viera says he has been approached by multiple media outlets about his plans going forward. He also says he is mulling over the possibility of running not only for Driskell’s Dist. 67 State House seat, but also for one of the three County Commission seats up for election in 2026. 

“I haven’t made a decision yet,” Viera says. “But, once I announce which of those offices I will choose to run for, I will have to give up my City Council seat before my term ends.” 

Even though he is a registered Democrat (City of Tampa elections are all nonpartisan), the 47-year-old Viera also discussed (at the Chamber breakfast) his ability to work with other political office holders — including reaching across the political aisle — in Hillsborough and Pasco counties, as well as with Rep. Driskell, Dist. 20 State Senator Danny Burgess and with Dist. 15 U.S. Congresswoman Laurel Lee. 

He also talked about New Tampa’s status as the “Alaska” of the City of Tampa, zip code 33647’s cultural diversity, as well as what he has accomplished in the nine years since winning his first election — by 65 votes in the two-candidate Special Election runoff in Nov. 2016 — over fellow New Tampa resident Dr. Jim Davison. 

Among the accomplishments he listed at the breakfast were securing funding to expand the New Tampa Rec Center, add Tampa’s first All- Abilities Park, for Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 23 on Cross Creek Blvd. (and his ongoing efforts to put an additional fire station in K-Bar Ranch), road repaving in Tampa Palms and for the new park (and possible cricket pitch) in K-Bar Ranch. — Chamber breakfast recap by Gary Nager

‘American Fabric’ Film Being Produced In K-Bar Ranch!

A Local Gastroenterologist & Award-Winning Filmmaker Shoots A Short Film At Her New Tampa Home
(L.-r.) “American Fabric” stars Hana Soomro (who plays Lina), Carina Conti (who plays Nila), and screenwriter, producer & director (and K-Bar Ranch resident ) Dr. Nyla Hazratjee at one of the location shoots for the short film that Hazratjee plans to submit to film festivals by May of this year. (Photo by Charmaine George) 

One young American woman of Muslim descent decides that she wants to start wearing a hijab (the Muslim head scarf), while another decides she doesn’t want to wear one anymore.

A discussion at the local mosque on Morris Bridge Rd.? Perhaps, but it’s also the basis of the story for “American Fabric,” a short film being shot in part in the K-Bar Ranch community that is being directed by K-Bar resident and local gastroenterologist Dr. Nyla Hazratjee.

The promotional poster for “The Persian Version,” the award-winning 2023 feature film for which Nyla was the executive producer.

Nyla, who also wrote the script for “American Fabric,” is already an award-winning filmmaker. She was the executive producer of the full-length feature film “The Persian Version,” a heartwarming “dramedy” that made its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and ended up winning two prestigious awards there — the Audience Award for the U.S. Dramatic Competition and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for writer/director Maryan Keshavarz.

But, Nyla says that “American Fabric” is her first foray into writing and directing a film herself and she called our office just a couple of days before we went to press with this issue to invite us to her home in K-Bar Ranch to take pictures and interview her. She told me that her short film, which she hopes to have completed in time for the domestic film festival season this spring and summer, is “really about empowering women.”    

“I’m a producer by trade and also by personality,” Dr. Nyla Hazratjee told me following the first of three days of shooting for “American Fabric,” the film she wrote and which represents her directorial debut. “I think lots of women are producers in their lives as well, so I think that led me to that part of the film industry.”

As for why she decided to direct this time around, she said, “I wrote the film and I knew what I wanted it to look like, so who else?”

As for the film’s subject matter — the decision by young Muslim women as to whether or not they want to wear the hijab, Nyla said, “I do wear the head scarf, but I didn’t always. And, I think every day I have to make the choice as to whether or not I want to keep wearing it. I know so many women who either didn’t wear it but started wearing it and so many more who did wear it and decided to not wear it anymore.”

But, she adds, that choice isn’t really what the film is about, “It’s really about my body, my choice, and I believe that most women can relate to this kind of a story. It’s a personal story, but I believe it should have a wide relatability.”

This photo and the photos below are scenes from “American Fabric.” (Photos by Charmaine George & Gary Nager)

She added, “My body, my choice is about feminism but it isn’t just about taking it off, it’s also about putting it on — and that it’s really up to you what you do with your body. But, in women’s world, so many other people feel that they have agency over a woman’s agency.”

The two main characters in “American Fabric” are Lina (played by Hana Soomro), a young model who decides during a photo shoot that she wants to start wearing a hijab, and Nila (played by Carina Conti), who is a hijabi who decides she wants to stop wearing hers. 

“There’s a quiet acceptance that comes into these girls’ lives, as they come to their [separate] decisions,” Nyla says, “despite all of the opposition that they’re receiving from their friends, their families, men…to say, ‘This is what I want to do and I’m going to do it regardless.’”

Nyla, who is actually from Pakistan herself, said that part of her motivation to make “American Fabric” was because, “What we call ‘Brown Hollywood,’ or Muslim Hollywood, is made up of a diaspora (a group of people who share a cultural, religious or regional origin but who live outside of their traditional homelands) — so Muslim, Middle Eastern, North African and all of those other voices combined. So, when we meet each other, we meet as if we’re old friends. Some of the actors in this film are of Persian (from Iran) descent, some are Pakistani, some are Indian and some are not of that region at all.”

(l.-r.) Producer Nadia Cox, costume director Noor Hamid, hair & makeup artist Jess Marie, cinematographer Tian Liu, 1st assistant director Rebecca Saionz, Dr. Nyla Hazratjee, 2nd assistant director Chelsea Butz and production designer Tanya Kayani of “American Fabric.” (Photo by Charmaine George)

She also is proud of the mix of ethnicities in her mostly female cast and crew. “Our cinematgrapher is Chinese American, our first assistant director (AD) is Caucasian…I think we have all of our bases covered as far as races are concerned. And, we’re also mostly a local Florida cast and crew.”

Nyla also gives a shout-out to the Tampa Bay Film Commission. “They’ve been wonderful, super-helpful and they try very hard to accommodate the things that a filmmaker needs to make a film happen here. So, we’re super lucky.”

As for the film itself, Nyla said the names of the two female leads were chosen intentionally.

“One is Nila and the other is Lina, so they’re like two sides of the same coin, even though they’re not at all the same personality-wise,” Nyla said. “But, all of their experiences throughout the day, as we end up as this party, are similar, even though they come to very opposite decisions. But, isn’t that the female condition? That’s really what we want to show.”

She added that she definitely relates to both characters, “And I think that most women will relate to pieces of each one of those characters. And that’s what I’m really hoping for.”

  Nyla also said that now that production of the film has wrapped, she has a wonderful, experienced, super-talented film editor, originally from Egypt, and she expects that it will take “about a month, if we’re really good about it,” to edit the film. “We really want to catch the film festival season, which starts about April/May, so that we can take it to all women-centric festivals, all Muslim-centric festivals, all Florida festivals, hopefully some international festivals and some of the major festivals that we will do our best to get into. We’re excited about pushing the story and getting as many people as possible to experience this film.”

Nyla also has a nonprofit film production company called NY/LA Productions, which is, “a female-driven, female-centric production company which produces and promotes films with female and Muslimeen (female Muslim) voices. “We look for funding from federal and local grants, as well as local donors,” she said. “We just received an $8,000 grant from a nonprofit charity called ‘200 Muslim Women Who Care,’ which is based here in Tampa Bay.”

She also noted that NY/LA Productions also promotes, produces and develops “projects in the making, finished projects that need to be promoted, and invite audiences to view them.”

Nyla also mentioned working with a University of Florida professor named Iman Zawahry, who directed “Americanish,” a 2021 feature film that NY/LA Productions helped bring to the Tampa Theatre for a screening with about 400 people who attended, “and ‘Americanish’ has been acquired for release by several screening services, which is really great for them,” Nyla says. “Iman’s been a great mentor for me and other young and aspiring filmmakers.” 

She added, “We do often get scripts sent to us and we see if they fit what we’re trying to do. And, if they’re in line with our ideas and goals, we are happy to help.” 

As for how “American Fabric” will be distributed, Nyla said, “Short films are tough for distribution, but there are now some streaming services that will acquire short films, including WeShort and Hollywood Just4Shorts, to get short films to a greater audience. HBO does acquire some shorts and we will try our best to find a place to distribute it. Otherwise, I’m sure we can find somebody to acquire us for a streamer. And, there’s always YouTube and Vimeo. The film also will be available to anyone who goes to our website, NY-LA-Production.org.”

As for how this married, busy mom-of-two gastroenterologist finds the time for the film business, she says, “I don’t know, midnight-4 a,m.? When you have a passion for something, you find the time. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?”

Rep. Driskell Discusses The State Legislative Session

District 67 State Representative and State House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell is already up in Tallahassee, awaiting tomorrow’s start of the Regular 2025 Session of the Florida Legislature.

But, on Feb. 26, Rep. Driskell was at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, in front of 50-60 New Tampa residents (there may have been a few people from outside of our area, too), discussing that upcoming session.

Rep. Driskell said that serving in the State House, “has been the greatest honor of my life, but as you know, we are living in some heavy political times and there is a lot going on.”

She noted that Florida’s state government is somewhat mimicking the federal government, in that all four legislative houses have a Republican majority (a super majority here in Florida), and both chief executives — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. President Donald Trump — also are Republicans.

“It’s going to be challenging,” Rep. Driskell said of the upcoming legislative session, “especially when it’s already obvious that the State Legislature is in a posture to support the agenda of President Trump.”

Rep. Driskell said the state legislature already has held three special sessions on immigration. “We learned a lot from that,” she said. “There were two immigration bills that passed and I believe both are unconstitutional on their face, which I why I voted against both of them. But, I do urge the U.S. Congress to pass some meaningful legislation on immigration in its upcoming session.” She also noted that the bipartisan immigration bill that was on the table last year, “was effectively killed by then-candidate Donald Trump and I believe we need to get back to that (bill).”

As for the bills she plans to sponsor in this year’s regular session, Rep. Driskell said, “I’ll be carrying two bills with respect to the challenges we’re facing with governmental interference in health care, particularly with abortion. The first bill would kill the 6-week abortion ban and take us back to a time when patients and their doctors and families made those decisions. That would take politicians out of the exam rooms.”

She added that the second bill she’s bringing to session says that, “If we’re continuing to have this (six-week) ban, we need doctors to understand what the limitations are. We have heard stories about women getting to the point where they have sepsis because doctors are afraid to treat them because they don’t want to face criminal liability. This bill will provide clarity so health care professional can treat women. We don’t want women dying because doctors are afraid to treat them.”

Rep. Driskell also is carrying a bill about water quality, both with regards to drinking water and with red tide. “It’s shocking how much lead is in our drinking water,” she says. “We know there is lead in the water fountains at our schools.” She also mentioned that there was a red tide task force that worked on that issue two years ago, “but the recommendations have just sat there and have not been implemented. We are pushing to adopt those recommendations to protect our water.”

The State House Minority Leader also plans to work on tweaking the cemetery legislation she previously passed to help honor those buried in abandoned cemeteries, another to have a court reporter present during child custody hearings, “which can often get contentious,” to preserve the record of what is said during those proceedings, and more.

Rep. Driskell says she knows that nothing will come easy for her minority party this year, “But I have never been afraid to call out my fellow legislators or the governor when I feel they are moving in the wrong direction, focusing on the wrong things and not prioritizing you.”

We plan to receive additional updates from Leader Driskell after this year’s session ends, which is scheduled to be on May 2. 

Tesla Dealership & Verve Wesley Chapel Are Coming To Seven Oaks By I-75 

Photos of the construction of the new Tesla dealership (above) & Verve Wesley Chapel apartments (below right) by Joel Provenzano.

Local Tesla owners, both current and future, will soon have reason to celebrate. There are two new developments taking shape alongside I-75 in Seven Oaks, just south of the S.R. 54 exit, across Eagleston Blvd. from the existing Blue Heron Senior Living facility (see map below). 

Tesla, the electric vehicle (EV) powerhouse, recently poured the future dealership’s concrete foundation (photo, above) for a new one story building, which should be a little over 50,000 sq. ft. total on about eight acres. According to the description in Tesla’s permit, the new dealership will include a service center for electric automobiles, a showroom area, a customer lounge, a break room and office space.” 

The service area is slated to be about 41,000 sq. ft., which is downright huge for any dealership (with more than 50 service bays), leaving just 9,000 sq. ft. for all of the other functions. There will be 20 charging station parking spaces behind the building (of which half appear to be super chargers), and close to another 530 parking spaces onsite for inventory and customers’ vehicles. 

From what we’ve been told, Tesla might still get an offsite lot for additional inventory, depending upon how busy the dealership will be. Based on the number of Teslas already cruising around our area, the dealership could be one of the busiest in Wesley Chapel. 

According to a local Tesla sales representative, the dealership is slated to open by the end of this year. For those unfamiliar, these relatively new dealerships and the whole Tesla sales experience are very different from most other vehicle brands. 

How It Used To Work 

I still remember the very first time I rode in a new Tesla. Many years ago, a Tesla sales person came to my office at the time, in a silver ‘Model S’ P100D sedan. What a great-looking car it was, super clean and very modern. It also was the first time I had ever seen an almost all-white interior. 

Me and three of my coworkers piled in, with the sales person at the wheel, pulling out of our parking lot and onto the local street. He pulled slightly over to the side of the road, went to the drive settings on the touch screen, and went for a button labeled “ludicrous.” 

In my head I was thinking, “Why would anyone label a drive mode that way?” He hit the accelerator and we all found out really quickly how appropriate that name actually was! 

The map is from Collier Companies, modified by Neighborhood News.

The instant torque from the electric motor was nothing like I’d experienced before, as both my stomach and my brain were being relentlessly pushed into the seat back until he let off at 80 miles per hour, all of us finally able to take a deep breath after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was less than 4 seconds. 

I had raced motorcycles when I was younger at the local drag strip, but this sedan was faster than that! “What a great way to sell cars!,” I thought. The point of these early demos was to give potential customers more than just a glimpse of these EVs. The idea was to allow you to experience the difference between Tesla and vehicles by any other automaker. 

Back in those days, and for a few years after, the demos were the only way to appreciate a Tesla first hand, unless you knew someone who drove one. You could either book an appointment and drive to a small sales office (if you could even call it that) in some back lot of a corporate park, or if it was being demoed to enough people, the sales people would bring it to your group’s location, as they did in my case. 

But, you couldn’t buy the demo vehicle you tested, as the sales were online only, with a set, no-haggle price. And, in many cases, a deposit was required to secure your place in line to even begin to ‘order’ more popular or upcoming models. 

Even with the new dealerships, however, not much of that sales philosophy has changed, and the Tesla brand takes great pride in its unique way of selling its vehicles. 

How It Works Now 

Tesla sales are still technically online, which means you still can’t test drive the exact vehicle you want to buy. The vehicles are still sold at a set price, with no haggling, and a $250 ordering deposit is required to secure the specific vehicle you want to buy, although the deposit may be less depending upon the model. 

We were told that the vehicle you choose gets removed from the “available inventory” when the deposit is received, or if the deposit is for an upcoming or brand new model, it secures your place in the ordering queue. 

While this may be counterintuitive to the traditional dealership models people are used to, most customers have raved about the simplicity of the process in their Google reviews. 

From what we read in the reviews, and speaking with two different Tesla sales associates, one in the national online/call-in sales office and the other a local (Westshore) sales person we spoke with by text, we got some further clarity. 

The in-person sales associates at the dealership are there to help answer questions (they were good at answering all of mine), review vehicle inventory that may be available locally, help customers place their online order to get an inventory vehicle or a custom-ordered vehicle from the factory, provide and schedule test drives in their demo vehicles, and help customers take delivery of their vehicles when they arrive at the dealership (or if they’re already present in inventory), including providing any remaining paperwork that needs to be signed. 

The sales associates clarified that if a vehicle is in local inventory, that vehicle is assigned to one of the physical Tesla sales offices (or dealerships), and you would have to pick up the vehicle from that specific office when purchased, explaining that inventory vehicles cannot be transferred or shipped to other dealerships or offices for pickup — which can occur within three days for inventory vehicles. 

If purchasing a custom-ordered vehicle from the factory, you can specify exactly which Tesla location you want your vehicle delivered to in the app. 

One thing I’ve always heard is that Tesla can deliver to your door like Amazon, but there’s a caveat to that. The company does deliver to homes through a service called “Carrier Direct” but the Tesla website states, “This fee-based option is available for customers who prefer to have their vehicle delivered, and who live more than 220 miles from the nearest Tesla delivery location.” So basically, this service isn’t available anywhere near Tampa Bay, as the national sales rep confirmed. 

That rep also said that Tesla does take trade-ins. It’s all done over the app at the time of purchase and there’s never an in-person inspection required. They’ll give you a “take it or leave it” price quote for the trade (again, no haggling), and the rep stated that their prices are very competitive with other similar services like Carmax or Carvana. They even encouraged getting quotes from one or both of those services in advance to know whose would be the best. 

Do People Like The Tesla Dealerships? 

This is not the first full-size Tesla dealership to be built in the Tampa Bay area. The first is in North Tampa, on N. Florida Ave., near the intersection with W. Fowler Ave. The location was the former Bob Wilson, Jeep-Chrysler-Dodge that had sat vacant for years. The site already had a parking garage, so Tesla just built a new dealership building on the site in 2018, opening its doors shortly after. 

Currently, there are mixed reviews of the existing Tampa dealership; the positives were mostly those absolutely praising the super simple Tesla purchasing and delivery process, along with staff’s ability to answer questions. 

But, the negatives were mostly about how others have found that the service department was severely lacking, in both the availability of needed parts and installing them, communication with/and scheduling of customers, the exorbitant cost of non-warrantied issues and the overall quality of the services performed. 

We’ll see soon enough how this new Wesley Chapel location will stack up. 

Urbon Apartments Now Have Verve 

The Verve Wesley Chapel luxury apartment complex, formerly known as Urbon at Seven Oaks, is quickly taking shape (right photo) adjacent to I-75, just south of the under-construction Tesla Dealership, directly across the street from Blue Heron Senior Living. 

Verve is a little further ahead of Tesla, with the buildings now going vertical, and with the bare concrete elevator shafts looming like ancient monoliths next to I-75. 

The apartments are being developed by The Collier Companies, which on its website describes itself as, “a multifamily housing management and real estate development company based in Gainesville, FL, [with] 12,000 apartment homes & growing.” 

Collier’s Tampa Bay-area portfolio is situated around USF and includes traditional apartment housing called Lakeview Oaks Apartments on N. 37th St, and two student-specific apartment complexes called Reflections Apartments on E. Bearss Ave. and IQ Luxury Apartments (built in 2016), which are on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., immediately south of the Haley Veterans Administration Hospital. 

The website for Verve Wesley Chapel doesn’t have much information, but it does currently state, “We don’t just rent apartments. From the moment you walk through the front door, you’ll feel the comfort that makes our residents happy to call us home. Cutting-edge amenities, meticulously-groomed grounds and a dedicated staff contribute to a higher standard of living. Convenient shopping, award-winning schools, local museums and parks are all close at hand, with sponsored activities to develop new hobbies while getting to know your neighbors.” 

The complex will be a fairly large one, situated on 16.8 acres and consisting of six 4-story buildings with 360 apartments total — including 144 1-bedroom, 168 2-bedroom, and 48 3-bedroom units. The center of the complex will be situated around a large swimming pool, with an unobstructed pond view towards the sunsets. Other amenities and features, like elevators, a gym, meeting spaces, large common areas, and 30 rentable 1-car garages will be similar to other newer, high-end apartments in the Wesley Chapel area. Verve is expected to open sometime later this year; we did not have information at our press time about what the rents might be.