The S.R. 56 corridor just west of I-75 continues to be the hottest area in what we like to call Wesley Chapel.
Here’s a few projects picking up steam:
* On the north side of S.R. 56 between Bahama Breeze and the Hyatt Place Hotel & Conference Center, a La-Z-Boy furniture store has broken ground.
Headquartered in Monroe, MI, La-Z-Boy is best known for its recliners, although it offers a complete line of furniture.
The Wesley Chapel store will be 13,650 sq. ft., and will soon have company, as a 15,664-sq.-ft. parcel is being developed for retail/restaurant.
The nearest La-Z-Boy showroom is located on N. Dale Mabry Hwy., and there also are locations in New Port Richey, Brandon and Clearwater.
La-Z-Boy will be the fifth furniture store to open in roughly a 4-mile stretch on S.R. 56, joining Rooms To Go (intersection of S.R. 56 and BBD), Ashley, Haverty’s and the 70,000-sq.ft. El Dorado Furniture, which has not yet begun construction in Brightwork Crossing (next to the new Wawa, where 54, 56 and Wesley Chapel Blvd. meet).
* Main Event, which will offer bowling, laser tag and a restaurant/bar, and the KISS-themed restaurant/bar Rock N’ Brews are both under construction on S.R. 56, east of the Tampa Premium Outlets.
Rock ‘N Brews received approval from county planners to begin construction on Aug. 30, while Main Event has been under construction since July.
* Also potentially sharing the same space with the two eateries will be Cigars International, which filed site plans on Sept. 5 with the county to build a 9,497-sq. ft. store according to permitting records.
Cigars International, according to its website, is “the King Kong of cigar companies.” It was established in 1996 in Bethlehem, PA, and deals in all things related to cigars. It has a large online presence, and a Wesley Chapel location would only be its fifth store/center, joining two others in Bethlehem, one in Hamburg, PA and one in The Colony, TX.
The store would be flanked by the two roads used to get to Main Event, Rock ‘N Brews and the Saltgrass Steakhouse, which is still only in the planning stages.
* Representatives from 7-Eleven were scheduled to meet with county planners on Sept. 16 to propose building a 3,500-sq.-ft. gas station/convenience store on the southeast corner of Overpass Rd. and Boyette Rd.
* Aldi has begun construction just a little north and west of Costco, and it will be one of two new stores in our area.
Plans have been filed with Hillsborough County to rezone the property of the old Ruby Tuesday off BBD in Highwoods Preserve to make room for a proposed Aldi in New Tampa. — JCC
Above is a 3D rendering of the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, which shows eight basketball courts that can be divided into 16 volleyball courts. Source: RADD Sports.
After years of staring at renderings and blue prints and imagining what the new sports complex in Wiregrass Ranch will actually look like, general manager and RADD Sports CEO Richard Blalock’s vision is now coming into focus.
The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County is no longer just a large patch of cleared land, it has gone vertical, and the current schedule is looking towards a July 10, 2020, completion.
After three failed efforts since 2001 to build an athletic complex on the property located northeast of the Shops at Wiregrass and two miles east of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., off S.R. 56, the 98,000-sq.-ft. indoor gymnasium is on its way.
Blalock, however, is not letting his excitement get the best of him. While the $45-million facility — which will share a campus with a full-service, Marriott-branded, 120-room Residence Inn hotel featuring a rooftop bar — is a big part of transforming the Wesley Chapel area — and Pasco County — into even more of a sports tourism hotbed, he intends to proceed slowly out of the gate.
“We’ve got people lined up that want to sign a contract now,” says Blalock.
A drone photo of the progress on the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus. Photo by Charmaine George.
He is proceeding, though, like a quarterback with plenty of time on the clock. It’s not that he doubts the projection. But, he’s leery of Florida’s cranky wet weather that often slows down construction, most recently during Hurricane Dorian’s trip through the Atlantic.
“We had to take all of the cranes down,” says Jannah Nager, who was recently hired as RADD Sports’ director of marketing after working for more than four years as the marketing and events coordinator at the Pasco Education Foundation. She is the wife of Neighborhood News publisher Gary Nager.
With more bad weather lurking, it may not be the last time the cranes and other equipment have to be removed from the site for safety reasons.
“Everybody is beating us up, ‘When are you going to start booking events?,’” Blalock says. “But, I will not start booking events until after this hurricane season. Once the roof is on, or the side panels, I’ll be more comfortable.”
Blalock says a new facility in North Carolina jumped the gun on its opening and, thanks to Hurricane Dorian, had to postpone that opening.
“That’s the last thing we can afford to have happen here,” he says.
By October of 2020, Blalock says, he hopes to have events ready to go at the new facility, which broke ground in June of 2018. He hopes to book at least 25 events in the first 12 months the sports facility is running. Nager’s job is to help spread the word in the community while marketing the facility to sponsors.
“Jannah knows the community, she knows the people, she knows the ins and out, and she knows the politicians,” said Blalock. “We need somebody that knows community and is popular in the community. That makes our job so much easier.”
The primary sports at the new complex will be basketball and volleyball, and cheerleading is expected to be the third core sport at the facility, which can run eight basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts at any one time.
There also is room for multiple mats for wrestling and judo tournaments, with gymnastics also a possibility. Blalock said he even has been contacted by a youth soccer team in the United Kingdom that is interested in training for a few weeks at the new facility, which will have two outdoor soccer fields and plenty of room to train inside if the weather turns bad.
Local Use During The Week!
Weekend sports tournaments, however, will be just part of the big picture at the new facility.
Blalock says there will be plenty of sports programming for local athletes to participate in, too. He says there will be a three-tier system for each of its three core sports — Academy, Competitive and Development — which will allow opportunities for all level of athletes starting at the age of 9 and going all the way through high school
Jannah Nager and Richard Blalock are just beginning to market the complex to local sponsors.
The Academy will be for training elite athletes for travel teams, but will also include an educational component and require participants to maintain a certain grade-point-average. He says the sports will be programmed to not interfere with the local high school seasons.
“The ultimate goal is to change the culture of how these kids are trained,” Blalock says, adding that it is well-documented that youth sports are susceptible to being overrun by overzealous coaches and parents, as well as entitled athletes.
The Competitive program also will be in-house, with three days a week of practices and games — and the chance for advancement to the Academy level, Blalock says.
The Developmental program will be “quasi-recreational,” according to Blalock. Volunteer coaches will run the teams, although those coaches will have plenty of access to paid coaches on the complex’s paid sports staff to help develop more drills and gameplans.
The programming also will be competitively priced with the local market, according to Blalock.
For those who like sports but don’t play for whatever reason, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus will offer a Sports Administration & Hospitality program, where kids can gather data, travel with the teams and serve as managers.
And, now that ground has broken on a nearby 55-over community in Wiregrass Ranch (see story on pg. 8), more programming for older residents also may be in the offing, like pickleball and Rock Steady Boxing for those with Parkinson’s disease. There may even be room for some golf cart parking spots, Blalock says.
In addition to its youth and adult sports programs, the facility is able to provide space for conventions, banquets and other non-sports events.
Blalock and Nager are putting together sponsorship packages now, and also are accepting resumes for positions, although Blalock stresses that the actual hiring process is likely several months away.
For more information about sponsorships and more, visit RADDSports.com or email Jannah@raddsports.com.
The husband-and-wife team of Ramon Rivera and Nicole Barber have owned Little Feet shoe store for a few months now, but they’ve been fans of the store much longer than that.
When Ramon Rivera and Nicole Barber bought Little Feet Shoes earlier this year, it represented more than just a new business venture for the couple.
They consider it their opportunity to help others the way the store helped them.
Located on S.R. 56 in front of Sam’s Club, Little Feet is a shoe store just for children, carrying brand name shoes and more with sizes that fit infants and toddlers up to boys and girls size 6, in regular, wide and extra-wide widths.
For Ramon and Nicole, who are married with three children, Little Feet is a place that helped their middle daughter, Sophia, as she learned to deal with a sensory processing disorder.
Back in 2012, Nicole says that Sophia never wanted to put her shoes on. Sometimes it took 30 minutes to get them on her feet to get out the door in the morning, sometimes even longer.
Ramon and Nicole were tired, stressed and frustrated when Sophia began therapy and they learned that socks and shoes are a common trigger for kids like Sophia.
It was a therapist who suggested they take Sophia to Little Feet, which carried sensory-friendly brands, and have a fitting with then-owner Diana Ciccarelli, who was known to get on the floor with the kids and help them find the perfect shoes, showing patience as they tried on endless pairs, if necessary.
It was just what Sophia needed.
Diana passed away last year, leaving the future of the store uncertain.
“Our daughter was devastated,” says Nicole. “She was so upset as she asked us, ‘Where am I going to get shoes?’”
As an orthopaedic nurse, Nicole also knows how hard it can be for kids with orthotic braces to find shoes that fit over the braces. Little Feet carries those hard-to-find shoes, and helps each kid find the perfect fit.
So, when the store became available for purchase, Nicole and Ramon say they jumped at the chance to buy it.
Shoes For All Children
While Little Feet can be life changing for children with special needs, Ramon and Nicole emphasize that the store carries great shoes for all children.
Top-quality brands, specialty shoes and current favorite trends are all available at Little Feet. Some of the store’s most popular brands include Tsukihoshi, Pediped, Stride Rite, Mini Melissa, Livie and Luca, New Balance, Sperry, Saucony, and Plae.
“We carry everything from trendy shoes to formal shoes, or something that’s fun for parties, to school shoes in specific colors and specialized shoes for kids who need them,” explains Ramon.
Nicole adds that the store sells washable shoes, too, which can be a great benefit for a toddler who is potty training.
Little Feet also offers Capezio dance shoes, leotards and tights, and carries socks and bows.
Many customers travel long distances to get to the store, which is local to Neighborhood News readers.
“We are the only kids’ shoe store in the Tampa Bay area,” explains Ramon. “We have customers who come from Dunedin, Tarpon Springs and South Tampa.”
He says similar stores have closed because people no longer appreciate how important it is to have kids’ feet sized for proper growth and long-term development.
“In other stores,” he says, “it’s up to the parents to figure out what size shoe to buy their children.”
Parents don’t always do a great job of it. In fact, even Ramon and Nicole were once parents who didn’t know what size shoes their children needed.
“The first time I came in to Little Feet, my kid was in shoes that were two sizes too small,” laughs Nicole. “I had no idea.”
Ramon explains that kids can’t often articulate the problem with their shoes. They just take them off. However, he says, it’s really important for a child’s foot development to get them in the right size right away.
“Their bones are very soft, so if they’re in the wrong shoe, you can actually have damage,” Ramon explains.
“We provide a lot of education,” adds Nicole. She says they also encourage kids to run around the store to try out the shoes thoroughly. Plus, the shoes they carry have more stability, promoting proper balance.
Erin Guilbeault is a mom to a six-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter. She says she’s been buying her kids shoes at Little Feet for the past couple of years.
“I love their selection and how patient they are when it takes a while,” she says. “Sometimes it’s a few minutes and sometimes it’s an hour. Everyone is always really helpful and lets them try on as many pairs as they need to find the perfect (shoes).”
The experienced staff (l.-r., Alexis Pratt, Robin Goniea, Nicole Barber and Esther Vidal) at Little Feet shoe store on S.R. 56 will measure your children’s feet to be sure they always get a perfect fit for proper foot development.
Experienced Staff
Nicole is the first to admit that she has a lot to learn about running a shoe store. She gives credit to Alexis and Robin (see photo on previous page), employees of the store who have been there for about three years now, for teaching and helping her.
“They kept the store going through the transition, before we bought it,” says Nicole. “If it wasn’t for them, Little Feet would have had to close its doors.”
In fact, Erin says if she hadn’t heard that the previous owner had passed away, she probably wouldn’t have even known the store had been sold, because she says the transition has been seamless and the customer service has remained consistently excellent.
So, Little Feet remains open and ready to be discovered by families who want high-quality, trendy and fun footwear, fit by an expert.
“From a business standpoint, we’re hoping this model works,” says Ramon. “Others have given up on it, but we want to bring it back and even expand it. We hope to be able to allow people to purchase online, too, but they can still come in and get fitted for the right size.”
Erin says she will continue to take advantage of all that Little Feet has to offer.
“I kind of wish I had found them sooner,” says Erin. “I go in there and there are all these adorable toddler shoes. I’m going to be sad when my kids outgrow them someday.”
Sales and promotions are often announced on Facebook and Instagram, along with photos of some of the store’s in-stock shoes. Search “Little Feet Shoes” on either social media platform.
Little Feet is located at 27607 S.R. 56 (next to Wolf’s Den, in front of Sam’s Club). The store is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call (813) 991-1785 or visit LittleFeetShoes.net.
A ribbon was cut on Sept. 7 for Atonement Lutheran Church’s new building, which has added more space for the church’s many ministries, including a food pantry that feeds up to 250 families each week.
The newly built structure in front of Atonement Lutheran Church may be somewhat nondescript, but the fact that it exists at all is something of a miracle, considering the church was once facing its last rites.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Sept. 7, to officially mark the opening of the church’s new Fellowship Hall.
At about 2,800 square feet, it is triple the size of the church’s former multi-purpose room, which only held about 70 people. The new room’s capacity is 200.
Pastor Scott Lindner says it’s an exciting sign of growth for the small church, which has been a part of the community for 30 years, but almost closed its doors for good in the early 2000s.
Lindner says instead of giving up, a former pastor sold five of the church’s original 13 acres to a developer to create the neighboring office park.
“When I got here in 2006, they had just burned the mortgage,” Lindner explains.
As Wesley Chapel has grown, the church has grown, too. Atonement Lutheran church regularly sees about 100 families in worship during the summer, and that number doubles in the winter when the “snowbirds” return to Florida.
The church also just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its food pantry program, which feeds up to 250 families each week with 15,000 pounds of food.
“Our ministries have grown so much in the past five years,” says Rebecca Parker, a church member who also is a volunteer and chair of its worship and music committee. “We needed more space, so this is very exciting for us.”
Pastor Lindner agrees: “We’ve known for years this time would come.”
The new building will be used for not only Atonement’s own full congregation, but also for some ministries and outside groups to use. In fact, the New River Branch Library plans to host some of its programs in the building when it closes for renovations this fall.
The Fellowship Hall also will be used for a weekly family service the congregants call “Child of God,” which is held every Sunday at 11 a.m.
The entire family hears a message geared toward children from the pastor. Then, the kids break off to do a craft or activity, while the pastor goes over what he calls a “home blueprint” relating to the message.
“It’s like children’s church, but also a parent support group,” explains Lindner. “There’s a story, questions, prayer guides and suggested activities, so you can make your house an extension of the church.”
Five years ago, Atonement Lutheran held a capital campaign that raised $300,000 to fund the building.
“It took us years to figure out what would work and what we could get permitted and what we could afford,” Lindner says. Over those years, prices increased, and the church will take a loan to cover the rest of the costs, which are expected to come in at about $125,000, once all of the final expenses are tallied, including permitting, landscaping and other expenses.
“We’ve been able to be generous to nonprofits by allowing them to use our building at no cost, and we will continue to do that,” says Lindner. “We believe this is a special place; that’s what keeps us going.”
The Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary Club also has announced that it will again feed hundreds of people in need at Atonement Lutheran for the club’s annual “Turkey Gobble” meal on Thanksgiving morning.
Atonement Lutheran Church is located at 29617 S.R. 54. To learn more about the church, visit DiscoverALC.com or call (813) 973-2211.
(left to right) Sam Guyer, Ryan Clarke, Cody Guyer and Shashank Mishra hope to open Wesley Chapel’s first craft brewery, Double Branch Artisanal Ales, in December.
Friends and Wesley Chapel residents Ryan Clarke and Shashank Mishra, M.D., had both dabbled in making their own home brews, so it was only natural that when the two would hang out, craft beer was often not only the drink of choice, but also the topic of conversation.
One night, the conversation turned to the obvious – why not start our own brewery?
“We talked about it several times,” said Clarke, “We had the same thoughts and philosophy. Eventually the talks began getting more progressive.”
Those talks progressed to the point where, on June 6, 2018, the two founded Double Branch Artisanal Ales (DBAA), and in December Clarke and Mishra’s first craft brewery is expected to open at The Grove at Wesley Chapel.
The craft brewery will be Wesley Chapel’s first, and will operate in the “main street” area of The Grove. The 8,400-sq-ft. space will boast a 2,100-sq.-ft. production brewery, a 1,900-sq-ft. tap room, a 550-sq.-ft. outdoor patio and 1,850 sq. ft. of private event space.
It will offer a full spectrum of beers, from lagers to stouts to sours, but it’s first flagship beer will be called Chappie’s Lager.
“This will not only be a craft brewery, but something that offers the local culture of Tampa without having to drive 30 minutes,” says Clarke. “We have a large amount of nationally-syndicated restaurant concepts out here in Wesley Chapel, but not too many locally owned places. Wesley Chapel needs these type of things.”
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., the company behind Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Brew Bus Brewing, purchased the old Sports + Field site on S.R. 56 in May, with plans to transform the former sports training facility into a brewery and restaurant before opening in 2020.
Clarke and Mishra also think they could be part of something big, as The Grove at Wesley Chapel — hardly a bustling hotspot in recent years with all the expansion on S.R. 56 — was sold for $62.7 million to developers that they expect will reinvigorate the area by building additional homes and retail/restaurant.
Clarke and Mishra, who met at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel where Clarke is a nurse practitioner and Mishra is a Doctor of Internal Medicine, already had launched their plans. They actually announced DBAA on the brewery’s Facebook page months ago, but had to quickly take it down because The Grove wasn’t ready for the announcement.
Clarke takes pride in DBAA being Wesley Chapel’s first locally owned and operated craft brewery. He looked into the idea back in 2008, but couldn’t find the right situation. After finding the right financial backing, location and availability, he and Mishra were ready.
Because Clarke wanted a place that would become part of the community’s fabric, he chose Double Branch because it “related to the heritage of the area.”
The Wesley Chapel area was often referred to as “Double Branch” for the twin creeks that flowed through the property owned by the Boyettes, one of the area’s founding families. The Double Branch Church (now the First Baptist Church of Wesley Chapel) was the center of the community.
The area also became an area known for its share of moonshine stills and homebrews in the 1920s, which Clarke says the Double Branch brewery pays homage to.
DBAA, which is still waiting on a permit or two but hopes to begin construction on Monday, could be a major player in the transformation of The Grove, which is rumored to be readying for a number of significant changes.
DBAA will offer beer and wine on tap, a food truck-style kitchen (6-8 items), games and potentially, an outdoor beer garden.
Clarke and Mishra have hired head brewer Cody Guyer and his wife Sam, who will be the tap room manager. The couple just moved here from Iowa last week, and both also will be part owners of the endeavor.
Cody Guyer started his brewing career with a home kit he received from his sister for his 26th birthday, and since has worked as an assistant brewer in Iowa for Millstream Brewing Co. (located in Amana) and Barn Town Brewing in West Des Moines.
Cody says while DBAA will offer a few flagship styles, he is the experimental type and plans of brewing an assortment of revolving “fun-type” beers. “Whatever I feel like brewing at the time,” he says.
Cody will also pursue collaborations with other breweries, where ideas are exchanged via emails and implemented in a team process. While in Iowa, he worked on “collabs” with Mikerphone Brewing in Chicago, Wren House Brewing in Phoenix, Watermark Brewing in Stevensville, MI, and Pulpit Rock Brewing in Decorah, IA.
“It’s a great way to learn what other breweries around the country are doing,” he says.
As for what DBAA will be doing, Cody says just wait.
“It’s going to exciting,” he says. “I can’t wait to get started.”
