Zach Feinstein, the co-owner of The Feinstein Group, which has opened three successful restaurants in Dunedin (including the original Living Room on Main St.) since the group was established in 2014, says âThe Living Room should be open in Wesley Chapel by the first week in August.â
Zach and his wife Christina (pictured above), who took over The Black Pearl on Main St. together when they were just dating (âMy friends told me I was crazy,â says Christina. âBut obviously, itâs all worked out.â), are not only the proud owners of The Living Room and The Black Pearl, but also the Sonder Social Club, located on Douglas Ave. (off Main St.), and all three restaurants are completely different from each other.
The Sonder Social Club is primarily a cocktail lounge featuring, according to Zach, âsome of the best craft cocktails in the Tampa Bay area,â although it does have a few food items, including charcuterie boards and cauliflower-crusted artisan pizzas.
But, the Feinsteins say, The Living Room is the most âmainstreamâ of their three eateries, which Tripadvisor ranks #10 of 133 restaurants in Dunedin. âWeâre perfect for a âBig Night Outâ or date night,â Zach says, âbut our menu pricing is very fair, so weâll also be a great place to meet your friends for a craft cocktail and some appetizers anytime throughout the week.â
Zach and Christina, who got married in 2017, say they looked at South Tampa and other locations to open their fourth restaurant before they decided to bring The Living Room to Wesley Chapel. âWith all of the growth out here near the mall,,â Zach says, âwe felt that Wesley Chapel was our best option.â
The Feinsteins have spared no expense when it comes to their newest restaurant. When you walk in, the first thing youâll see is a 100-year-old bookcase and hand-carved hostess stand that both came from a historic home in Hyde Park. The bar area, although similar in size and orientation to what used to be in Ciao! at the mall, âis being completely redone,â says Zach, as are the spacious main dining area inside (with a huge wine selection), the expanded (soon to be covered) outdoor patio (with live music), and two interior private dining areas, one with seating for up to about 70 people and the other an almost-speakeasy-like room for up to 12 people that even has its own private entrance/exit door hidden inside a bookshelf.
âThereâs definitely no place like The Living Room in Wesley Chapel,â says Zach. âNo one can beat our food or our craft cocktails. And, Christina has outdone herself designing the place. Welcome Home!â
The Living Room is located at 2001 Piazza Ave., Unit 100, in The Shops at Wiregrass. For more info, visit TheLivingRoomonMain.com, and stay tuned to our âNeighborhood Newsâ Facebook page for the latest updates.
CEO Hope Kennedy has had a hand in putting Wesley Chapel on the map with her stewardship of the former Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, now known as the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC).
Hope Kennedy
Later this month, Wesley Chapel, and its massive growth, could play a hand in putting the Chamber itself on the map.
On July 26, Allen and Board member Michael Berthelette will be in Indianapolis answering questions from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) judges in a final test to see if the NTBC is named the Small Chamber of the Year for the entire country.
The extensive application process got the NTBC to the finals, but the 45-minute Q-&-A session on July 26 will account for 2/3 of the NTBCâs score.
The following night, at the Awards Show at ACCEâs annual convention in Indianapolis, the winners will be revealed.
âWhen I first looked at the application I giggled,â Kennedy says, referring to how difficult it looked. âBut Javan (Grant, the current Board chair) convinced me to do it. (The application) ended up being 31 pages long. Itâs very comprehensive. However, the end result is that we are a Chamber of the Year finalist.â
The NTBC touted two of its programs in 2020-21 in its application â a Road Show in which Kennedy went to businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic and filmed interviews for social media, letting people know which businesses were still open, and the Chamberâs reimagined Celebration of Excellence awards program, which was held both in-person and virtual last November.
The NTBC is a finalist in Category 1, the smallest category, along with the Mason City (IA) Chamber and the Zionsville (IN) Chamber.
The ACCE is comprised of more than 1,600 Chambers of Commerce from across the U.S. It will name four winners in four different categories (according to size, budget and location of the chamber).
âThis is the Academy Awards for Chambers of Commerce, Kennedy says. âFor me, this is the pinnacle of my career.â
The NTBC has 570 members, many of which are from Wesley Chapel and New Tampa, although there also are member businesses located in western Pasco and north Pinellas counties. Kennedy said when she started at the Wesley Chapel Chamber 11 years ago, there were roughly 200 members.
Awards are nothing new for the NTBC, which won the 2019 Small Chamber of the Year for the state of Florida from the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals (FACP).
As work continues on the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) at S.R. 56/I-75 and the widening of S.R. 54, some lanes will need to be closed at times to finish the job. Here’s a few upcoming things to keep an eye on, from the Florida Department of Transportation:
S.R. 54: The $42.8-million widening project from east of Curley Rd. to east of Morris Bridge Rd. (above) will have some around-the-clock lane shifts (essentially the closing of lanes in one direction while all traffic will use the lanes going in the other direction) scheduled from Monday, July 25 to Wednesday, July 27. The lane shifts are not represented on the map above, as they will be from just west of Curley Rd. to west of Meadow Pointe Blvd.
This project is widening the existing two-lane road to a four-lane highway with medians. A sidewalk will be built on the north side of the road and a 10-foot wide multi-use trail will be built on the south side. The sidewalk and trail will run the entire length of the project, from east of Curley Rd. to east of the Morris Bridge Rd./Eiland Blvd. intersection.
DDI
The S.R. 56 entrance ramp onto northbound I-75 may be closed from 10 p.m. Tuesday, August 2 to 5 a.m. Wednesday, August 3, weather permitting. Drivers will be detoured to enter from Wesley Chapel Blvd. The ramp could also be closed Wednesday, August 3 and/or Thursday, August 4 nights.
Here are the detour routes:
Eastbound S.R. 56 onto northbound I-75: Continue east past the closed ramp to S.R. 581 / Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. Turn left and go north on S.R. 581. At S.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd., turn left and go west to the entrance ramp onto northbound I-75.
Westbound S.R. 56 onto northbound I-75: Continue west past the closed ramp to C.R 54 / Wesley Chapel Boulevard. Turn right and go northeast on C.R. 54. After passing under I-75, turn left onto the entrance ramp to northbound I-75.
Southbound I-75 exit to SR 56 to be closed Monday night, August 1
The southbound I-75, exit 275 ramp to S.R. 56 may be closed from 10 p.m. Monday, August 1 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, August 2, weather permitting. If necessary, this ramp could also be closed any night from Tuesday, August 2 through Thursday, August 4.
Detour Route to S.R. 56: Use Exit 279 to S.R. 54/C.R. 54. At the bottom of the ramp, turn left and go east on S.R. 54. Turn right onto S.R. 581 (Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) and go south to S.R. 56.
Nazeraeh Montrond (back row, center) is raising her three siblings and going to school full-time as she tries to continue her motherâs legacy. A new home from PulteGroupâs Built to HonorÂź Program and Building Homes for HeroesÂź will help. (Photos courtesy of Nazeraeh Montrond)
Nazeraeh Montrond has thought about it a lot, and the first thing she says she is going to buy for her familyâs new Wesley Chapel townhome is a nice wooden table, or maybe a wooden chest.
On it, she will place side by side the urns of her parents â U.S. Army Sergeant Alberto Montrond, who was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device in Afghanistan in 2006, and Christl, who died in 2021 from several health issues.
âIt will have to be nice,â Nazeraeh says. âIt will have to be something I know she would put in her living room. My mommy had high standards.â
The three-bedroom townhome in the Wesley Reserve community at Chapel Crossings, which Nazeraeh and her three siblings will move into next month, is being built and provided mortgage-free by PulteGroupâs Built to HonorÂź Program in partnership with Building Homes for HeroesÂź, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has provided 300+ homes for injured military veterans and their families since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
PulteGroupâs program, launched in 2013, thanks returning military personnel who have been injured during their term of service by providing mortgage-free homes to veterans and their families. The program has built and donated more than 70 homes across the country, including five in the Tampa Bay area since 2016.
âWe are honored to provide Nazeraeh and her siblings a home of their own,â said Sean Strickler, President of the West Florida Division of PulteGroup. âTheir story truly touched all of usâŠ.We hope this home will not only provide comfort and make life easier for the Montrond family but will also be the source of many joyful memories.â
Alberto and Christl Montrond.
Nazeraeh was only six years old when Alberto was killed during his fourth tour of Afghanistan. She remembers riding bikes all day long with him, going to the park and stopping at Krispy Kreme along the way, where he would drink his coffee black, just like she now does.
Nazeraeh grew up fast. She helped Christl take care of the home, looked after her siblings, cooked and cleaned and became a rock for the rest of her family.
âI loved it, changing diapers, and cooking and cleaning the house,â Nazeraeh says. âI just loved making my mom happy.â
But, when Christl got sick in late 2020, the combination of kidney failure and Covid-19 giving her limited time left to live, Nazeraeh couldnât help but fear for the future.
âI didnât want to believe it,â she says, âbut I just knew she wouldnât leave this earth if she didnât think I could handle it. I just had to keep my composure, because of my siblings. Iâm their only person.â
She was only 21, and was trying to balance life as a full-time college student with a full-time job, and had three younger siblings â 10-year-old Bentley, 14-year-old Arabella and 18-year-old Kevyn â that would be her responsibility.
And then, in March of 2021, Christl passed away.
âThey told us in September 2020 she had three months to live, but she lived three months longer than that because she was a fighter,â Nazeraeh says.
Nazeraeh is continuing that fight.
âIâm not going to lie, itâs tough,â she says. âYou go from fun sister to parental mode. âIâm responsible for how they turn out as adults. They learned everything that my mom taught them, and now everything else is up to me. It has been tough, but it works. We all make it work, weâre a team, and we get things done as a team.â
Christl had been friends with Sally Farrell of the Military Warriors Support Foundation, that has helped other military veterans and their families in the past receive homes, helped pass along the familyâs story. Nazeraeh says she was encouraged by Farrell to apply for housing. Nazeraeh did so, but didnât think much of it, knowing there were lots of other families in similar predicaments.
But, while on a cruise in March with her siblings on the one-year anniversary of her motherâs passing, Nazeraeh received a call from Gina Cerami with Building Homes for Heroes, which works with PulteGroupâs Built to Honor program by identifying recipients.
Cerami said there was some property in Wesley Chapel she wanted Nazeraeh to look at, and she took her siblings to check it out.
âI told them not to get their hopes up,â Nazeraeh says. âI told them we were just window shopping for the future.â
The home, just a mile from where Christl last lived, was already under construction. As they walked in between the homeâs framing, they were told, âThis is where a bedroom will beâ…âThis will be the kitchen,â….and so on.
Ten minutes later, they let Nazeraeh know â âThis is your home.â She and her siblings were handed sharpies to write messages on the wooden frame. Nazeraeh started crying, writing her messages while wiping away tears.
âFor He will order His angels to protect you where you go.â (Psalms 91:11 NLT)
âPeace be to you and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.â (1 Samuel 25:6)
âMy health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.â (Psalms 73:26)
Nazeraeh and her siblings also doodled some drawings of their parents.
âIt was really an emotional moment,â she says. âMy siblings, they donât really understand, it was just a house, âWhy is this girl crying; what is wrong with you?â But in reality, this alleviated a huge stress of mine, because when I graduate college next summer, my benefits from my father that helped me pay for our living right now will be cut off. I wonât have to scramble next summer thinking about where we were going to liveâŠthose tears were real, so real, my siblings laughed but I didnât care. I just bawled my eyes out because I really didnât know what I was going to do. This genuinely has saved me and my family.â
Nazeraeh couldnât help but think her mother had something to do with it all. Not only did she make an impact on someone who was willing to help her children, but the townhome was so close to where they used to live, and in a school zone that was so important to her mother.
âItâs like she brought us back to where she wanted us to be from the beginning,â Nazeraeh says. âItâs like she chose that house.â
And, not that Nazeraeh needed any more convincing that her mother had a spiritual hand in the familyâs good fortune, itâs very likely the move-in date will be August 25, Christlâs birthday.
Nazeraeh, who graduated from Tampa Catholic High, is expecting to graduate from USF next summer with a degree in Health Sciences. She currently works in database management with Junior Achievement of Tampa Bay, a nonprofit that teaches financial literacy to elementary, middle and high school students.
She continues to stay focused on her siblings, while planning for the future. She is burdened by responsibilities that most 22-year-olds donât have to deal with, and she is tackling them all head-on. Having a place to live has opened the door to a brighter future for everyone in her family.
Sometimes, for fun, she and her family will visit the model home and just look around. Her siblings have picked out the colors of their rooms and canât wait to start painting, and Nazeraeh is determined to find that perfect table to honor her parents. Moving day is coming up fast. Nazaraeh may have wondered how she was going to make it all work in the past, but now she is certain brighter days are ahead.
âThis really is so life changing,â she says. âThis is our last home. We have moved around a lot. Weâve never been at a school for more than two years. Itâs nice to know that this is permanent. I love that feeling knowing that they know this is their space and itâs not going anywhere.â
For more information about Building Home For HeroesÂź, visit BuildingHomesForHeroes.org, and for more information about PulteGroupâs Built to HonorÂź Program, visit PulteGroupCares.com
Schools like Wesley Chapel (above) and Wiregrass Ranch high schools are slated to receive upgrades paid for with Penny for Pasco proceeds if the renewal of the one-cent tax passes in November. (Photo: Charmaine George)
Itâs officially campaign season and one of the most noteworthy items on the ballot isnât a Democrat or a Republican.
Itâs the Penny for Pasco sales tax referendum.
By a 5-0 vote, the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOC) voted to put the referendum on the Aug. 23 Primary Election ballot, hoping for it to be renewed for another 15 years.
The current Penny for Pasco tax expires in 2024. If renewed for a third time, the penny tax is expected to produce $1.9 billion from 2025 through 2039.
The Penny for Pasco revenues are used for a number of quality of life improvements throughout the county â for things like fire rescue services, roads and sidewalks, new schools and parks and economic development.
The money is split between the Pasco School District (45 percent), the county (45 percent) and Pascoâs municipalities, including Dade City, Zephyrhills, New Port Richey and others (10 percent).
Wesley Chapelâs Jennifer Seney told the Pasco BOC not to get complacent when pushing for the Penny for Pasco renewal. Seney was one of the community leaders in 2004 who pushed to get the first referendum passed by advocating for it and rounding up support. It wasnât easy. The referendum passed 52-48 percent but it was a hard and bitter fight.
âThis campaign needs a lot of money now this time around,â says Seney, who serves on a Penny political action committee that supports and seeks to educate people on the sales tax. âNot due to opposition, per se, but because there are so many new people to Pasco County that have not heard about this Penny for Pasco and donât understand it.â
Seney also suggested a citizensâ oversight committee for the Penny for Pasco projects, similar to what the school district has in place.
The first Penny for Pasco produced $320 million in revenue. In 2012, economic development was included in the revenue usage and it passed easily with almost 70 percent of the vote. It is expected to bring in $700 million by the time it expires in December 2024.
A formal Penny for Pasco project list is expected to be presented on July 12. A draft of that list includes projects that would impact Wesley Chapel residents, like new fire rescue and sheriffâs office vehicles, school sidewalk projects at Curley Rd. affecting Wesley Chapel Elementary, Weightman Middle School and Wesley Chapel High, improvements on Old Pasco Rd. and others.
The Pasco School Board already has its list of projected projects, and it includes school renovations at Wesley Chapel High ($35.8 million), athletic facility renovations at Wesley Chapel ($1.7 million) and Wiregrass Ranch ($1.8) high schools, cafeteria renovations at Wesley Chapel High ($2.7 million) and several other improvements.
