After what seemed like an eternity for new Wesley Chapel Contract Postal Unit (CPU) contractor Jevon Williams and his wife Cindy â and pretty much the entire Wesley Chapel community â the new CPU opened today in the Freedom Plaza at 30124 S.R. 54.
“I know we still have the old (3D Wellness) Pharmacy sign on the building, but we finally got it open,” Jevon told me when I became the new CPU’s second customer shortly after 9 a.m. “We’re here to serve the community.”
Jevon and Cindy, both local Realtors with EXP Realty, are now selling stamps and can handle your Priority and Priority Express mail, as well as send Certified and Registered mail, all at Post Office prices. They stock boxes, packaging tape and materials, have a few greeting cards and some candy and snacks, and also serve free coffee to their customers. The new location also is renting P.O. boxes to businesses and individuals who need them.
“We tried to keep the same P.O. box people from the old CPU,” said Argelis Castro from the Zephyrhills Post Office, who was helping Williams work out some issues at the CPU on opening day. “The problem was that the old CPU’s zip code (on Boyette Rd.) was 33545, while this is 33543, so not everyone who had a P.O. box there wanted to or was able to transfer that box here. Plus, the old location was closed for more than six months.”
In other words, P.O. boxes are available at the new Wesley Chapel CPU, which is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday.
And, until the holiday season kicks in, at least, it doesn’t appear as though there are any major parking issues at the new CPU. feel free to tell Jevon and his friendly staff that I sent you.
Hereâs yet another chance to win FREE dining to the restaurant of your choice! One entry per person, per question. Please vote for your Favorite Place for Latin Food in our distribution areas by clicking HERE! Please do not vote for a Mexican or Southwest restaurant for this Survey question. The Mexican places in our areas will have their own category. In other words, whether your Favorite Latin restaurant serves Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Cuban or a mix of Latin cuisines, please name that place!Â
We are giving you another chance to win a FREE dining prize of $100, $60 or $35!
Whether or not you already answered any of our other dining questions, youâre still eligible to have a second chance to enter and win free dining by also telling us your Favorite Latin Restaurant in New Tampa OR Wesley Chapel.
Each time you answer a different Dining Survey question, youâll receive an additional chance to win one of our FREE dining prizes â to the restaurant of your choice located anywhere in the Tampa Bay area!
All weâve been asking you to do is to please check the zip codes of the restaurants you choose, but that has still been something of a problem for several of the people who have entered so far.
Many of the nearly 700 readers who already have submitted entries have named restaurants in Wesley Chapel as among their favorites in New Tampa and vice-versa. Weâve also had people naming restaurants in Dade City, Zephyrhills and Land OâLakes as their favorites in our distribution areas, which they are not.
And, this is despite the fact that we also include restaurants located in Lutz (either on Wesley Chapel Blvd., S.R. 56 or S.R. 54, within two miles of I-75) as Wesley Chapel eateries, and those located in the Palms Connection Plaza on E. Bearss Ave. and the Oak Ramble Plaza on BBD Blvd. (both are located in zip code 33613) as acceptable places to vote for in New Tampa.
We also have had some people try to enter with just their first name only, and others taking the time to send us an entry without naming any restaurants.
Despite those issues, it definitely appears (as we expected) that more of you like this yearâs format â with no more than two questions for you to answer in each issue â than in the recent past, when we asked a full page of questions for you to answer in multiple issues.
Remember, whether you enter by mail, email or on our website, there is never any purchase necessary to enter and win, but we do need your first AND last name, the community you live in, your daytime telephone number and a valid email address to be eligible to win any of our FREE dining prizes. Your votes will still count, but why enter if you donât want a chance to win? Everybody likes free dining, donât they?
As always, thereâs no purchase necessary to enter or win a prize. All we ask is that you follow the following rules:
1. Enter by filling out the entry form in the issue or HERE.
2. You can mail us your filled-out entry form (send it to â2023 Neighborhood News Dining Contest,â 2604 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Suite 102D, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544) or email it to us at Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. *Note-Entries filled out on our website do not need to be mailed or emailed to us.
3. Please check the addresses and zip codes of the restaurants you choose, as we will only consider votes for restaurants in zip code 33543, 33544 and 33545 (Wesley Chapel), 33647, the portion of zip code 33559 (Lutz) and in the Oak Ramble Plaza (33613) as valid votes.
4. In order to be eligible to win any of our free dining prizes to the restaurant of your choice, your entry form with a response to at least one of our questions over the next five months must include your full name, the community you live in (Hunterâs Green, Grand Hampton, etc.), a daytime phone number where you can be reached and your valid email address.
We look forward to seeing how this yearâs contest shakes out. Good luck! â GN
What started out as New River Township more than 20 years ago is finally getting ready to come to full fruition.
That original community from developer Beat Kahli (of Avalon Park Group) does still exist today â with about 400 single-family (SF) homes in four subdivisions â but the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) formerly known as New River Township has changed names twice since those first homes (and the adjacent New River Elementary) were built.
The new sections, with a separate entrance off S.R. 54, were at first known as âAvalon Park West,â as Kahliâs original Avalon Park development exploded on the southeast side of Orlando. Today, the local 1,800-acre DRI is being touted as âAvalon Park Wesley Chapel,â which is planned for 4,800 single- and multi-family units, part of which will be a walkable downtown area.
Stephanie Lerrett (left) of Avalon Park Group gives VIP tour attendees some information (Photos by Charmaine George)
On Aug. 17, the Neighborhood News was included in a hardhat and virtual-reality VIP tour of the Downtown Avalon Park area, which has a single building under construction and a few retail tenants already signed to fill the twelve total available spaces on the ground floor of a multi-floor âneotraditionalâ building that also will feature rental apartments on its upper floors.
But honestly, as exciting as the first building in the downtown area may be, it really is only the tip of an iceberg as Avalon Park Wesley Chapel begins to add thousands of additional units, just as the widening of S.R. 54 â the primary east-west thoroughfare serving Avalon Park Wesley Chapel â nears its completion.
VIP attendees also got to check out a Virtual Reality tour of the downtown area.
Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, which previously had been known as both New River Township and Avalon Park West, is stepping up the development of its downtown, and the Neighborhood News participated in the Aug. 17 VIP tour of the first âneotraditionalâ building under construction to the east of the existing single-family home development in Avalon Park Wesley Chapel.
Developer Beat Kahli of Avalon Park Group/Sitex Development has modeled his Wesley Chapel development after Avalon Park Orlando, his companyâs successful 1,860-acre development neighborhood located in southeast Orange County that will have 3,400 single-family and 1,431 multi-family units at buildout. Meanwhile, Avalon Park Wesley Chapel encompasses about 1,800 acres with about 2,900 single-family and 1,900 multi-family units planned.
Despite a steady rain, the VIP tour helped introduce local business leaders to Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, which has its first three-story, 73,067-sq.-ft. mixed-use building well under construction. This building will include 40 multi-family apartments and 23,720 sq. ft. of commercial/retail space on the ground floor.Â
The VIP tour of the first downtown building.
âThis phase of construction really helps us move even closer to that vision of building a place where families can build memories and traditions together in a town they can call their own,â Kahli said in a recent news release. âAnd, while this may not be the most cost-effective time to begin construction, we feel like it is important to continue on to the next step in developing our vision for Avalon Park Wesley Chapel.â
The downtown area also will be home to a two-acre, dog-friendly community park with an amphitheater that currently is in permitting and will begin construction later this summer. The park will host community events such as the popular âAvalon Aglowâ and annual Fourth of July celebrations, as well as community partners like Jazz Under the Starz and the Wesley Chapel Theater Group, who are already hosting events and activities in the community. Construction of both the park and the first mixed-use building are scheduled for completion by January of 2024.
âWe have been working with Pasco County over the past several years to develop a program that will be a win-win for the entire Wesley Chapel community,â Kahli said. âCommunity partnerships are vital to our mission to change the way the world lives, learns, works and plays, by creating a place where everyone can feel like they belong.â
Upon completion, Avalon Park Wesley Chapel will include approximately 400,000 total sq. ft. of retail and 100,000 sq. ft. of office space in its downtown. The initial construction in Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel began in 2018 with the addition of the Pinecrest Academy K-9 Charter School. Pinecrest is also now under construction of its second phase, which will ad approximately 600 middle school student stations in a separate building.Â
Before & after pictures of the first building under construction in the downtown area. Â
Among the first tenants on the first floor of the 12-suite building include the previously announced Prime Barbershop, an unnamed Indian restaurant and an also-unnamed gym. The only other tenant announced at our press time is Ritaâs Italian Ice & Frozen Custard.
We got to meet Ritaâs franchise owners Antoine and Idalice Stokes, who also own the Valrico location, and they definitely seemed to be super-excited to be opening in Avalon Park Wesley Chapel.
With the first building in the downtown area expected to be completed only four months or so from now, we wanted to provide you with some updates on the development of Avalon park Wesley Chapel:
⢠A new traffic signal will be installed by the developer at Avalon Park Blvd. & S.R. 54.
⢠Avalon Park Blvd. will be extended diagonally through the downtown area from SR 54 to River Glen Blvd.
⢠The Zephyrhills Bypass right-of-way will be given to the county, but that road will not be constructed by the Avalon Park developer. When built, the Zephyrhills Bypass will eventually connect to the existing roundabout in Chapel Crossings to the west and to Eiland Blvd. to the east.
⢠The Avalon Park Blvd. extension and residential unit development (just north of Pinecrest Academy) are currently in for county review (as of last month).
⢠The majority of the single- and multi-family homes going in the northern section of Avalon Park have already been approved and platted.
⢠New River Township was originally 1,800 total acres, but now includes about 400 homes in the existing subdivisions along River Glen Blvd., but the MPUD approved for Avalon Park in 2017 shows a maximum of 4,800 residential units total, which is still believed to be accurate and close to the actual number that eventually will be built.
⢠On August 3, updated plans were submitted to show how Avalon Park Blvd. will hook around to meet up with River Glen Blvd.
Assn. of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Executive Committee chair Carlos Phillips (far left) and ACCE president & CEO Sheree Anne Kelly (far right) pose with (l.-r.) membership director Jen Tussing, president & CEO Hope Kennedy & foundation chair Michael Berthelette of the North Tampa Bay Chamber, at the ACCE awards event last month, where the NTBC was again a finalist for Chamber of the Year. (Photo provided by Hope Kennedy).
Both this year and last, the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC) has been named one of three finalists for Chamber of the Year in its category by the nationwide Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE).
Both years, the NTBC has come up short of winning the award, but thatâs not stopping this busy chamber or its leadership team. âWin or lose, itâs such an honor to be a finalist, and no other chamber in any of the four categories was named a finalist the last two years,â says NTBC President and chief executive officer Hope Kennedy. âIt was hard for us to come home without the top prize again, but weâre still so proud of the work weâve done and the successes weâve had.â
Kennedy says the application process, which the NTBC has gone through âfor each of the last ten years or so, is extensive and difficult,â as the ACCE has more than 1,800 member chambers of commerce and business organizations of all sizes and locations across the country.
Kennedy also notes that the NTBC also was again the finalist with the smallest paid staff (just two â Kennedy and membership director Jen Tussing). By comparison, the Pearland (TX) Chamber, which won this yearâs award in the NTBCâs Category 1 (for chambers with less than $500,000 in annual revenues), has a staff of six.
Neither current NTBC Board chair Justin Keeney, the VP and senior portfolio manager of Fifth Third Bank, or immediate past chair Javan Grant of Slater Grant, was able to travel to Salt Lake City for this yearâs ACCE 2023 Awards Ceremony on Aug. 1, so foundation chair and 2021 Board chair Michael Berthelette of Platinum Salon made the trip with Kennedy and Tussing.
âEven some of the larger Chambers in our area â including the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce â have applied to be Chamber of the Year the last two years without even being named a finalist,â Kennedy says. âWe take a lot of pride in what we do and what we have accomplished.â
How You Can Get Involved!
Although being a finalist for Chamber of the Year is a big honor and is based on a variety of factors â including membership retention, advocacy, community involvement and more â the bottom line is that the NTBC also exists to help small businesses.
The Chamber features a variety of ongoing activities, including the following:
⢠Breakfast-1st Tues. of each month
⢠Luncheon-2nd Tues. of each month
⢠Leading Ladies Network (formerly
WOW)-1st Fri. of each Month
⢠Final Friday-Last Fri. of each month
⢠Coffee Social-3rd Wed. of each Month
⢠Member Orientation-4th Wed. of each mo.
The NTBC also offers member businesses the opportunity to host ribbon cuttings at their locations, as well as a variety of annual events, including the upcoming Wesley Chapel Fall Festival the weekend of Oct. 28-29 (co-sponsored by Floridaâs Sports Coast and Penguin Productions).
Also upcoming is the NTBCâs Celebrating Excellence in Business awards gala (on Thursday, November 16) and nominations for the Excellence in Innovation, Collaboration, Integrity, Inclusivity and the Community Hero award are now open. The Chamber also will host its third annual 5K Honor Run in February.
For more information about joining the North Tampa Bay Chamber, visit NorthTampaBayChamber.org or call (813) 994-8534.
Although we told you in our last issue that the new Wesley Chapel Contract Postal Unit (CPU) was expected to be open at 30124 S.R. 54 in the Freedom Plaza by the end of the first week of August, the CPU is now expected to open by Sept. 6, or after this issue went to press. Â
New CPU contractors Jevon and Cindy Williams, the husband-and-wife team of Realtors based in Wesley Chapel with EXP Realty, told me that one important piece of postal equipment was holding up the opening, but that had now been received, so the CPU is ready to go.
âWe even hired a former postmaster to help us get everything in order and ready to serve the Wesley Chapel community,â Jevon told me.
Located between Boscoâs Italian-to-Go and Great Hope Preschool in the former location of the 3D Wellness Pharmacy, the pharmacyâs sign was still above the door at our press time, but at least the door of the new location (photo) itself now says âWesley Chapel Post Office Contract Unitâ and notes that the new CPU has shipping supplies and also offers fax, copy and Notary Public services.
Although it wasnât yet open, Jevon was happy that the last piece of equipment had finally arrived and that the CPU was now ready to open for business with its planned regular business hours â Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday.
And yes, he says the plan is still to offer free coffee to the CPUâs customers.
Although the Wesley Chapel CPU is located several miles from parts of Wesley Chapel, it will offer an alternative to driving to the much-further away (for most) Zephyrhills Post Office and will feature regular post office pricing.
