Dirt and excitement are in the air at the groundbreaking for Audi Wesley Chapel, which will open later this year off S.R. 56, a mile or so east of the Shops at Wiregrass. (Photo by Stephen John Photography)
A high-tech concept in luxury car sales is coming to Wesley Chapel. Dimmitt Automotive Group has broken ground (and has already begun going vertical; see photo below left) on its new Audi dealership, a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility off of S.R. 56 in Wiregrass Ranch, that’s considered Audi’s most innovative retail experience yet.
Audi Wesley Chapel is expected to open in the fall of 2017 (“probably in November,” according to Dimmitt CEO Scott Larguier). The project, referred to as Audi Terminal, will be a modern, open-area facility (rendering, bottom right, from the Dimmitt Automotive Group) that’s designed to be fully client-centric.
“From the moment you enter the showroom, you’ll notice that the entire facility is designed with the customer experience at its core,” Larguier explained during the building’s May 22 groundbreaking ceremony, which included members of the Dimmitt family, Bill, JD and Quinn Porter and Scott Sheridan of Locust Branch, LLC (which is developing the Porter Family Trust property in Wiregrass), Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore and Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce CEO Hope Allen, as well as more than a dozen WCCC business members.
According to a Dimmitt press release, the Audi Terminal will “capture customers’ imaginations before they even walk in the door. Its stunning architecture will look like a modern art building. Inside, customers will be greeted with exciting Audi automobiles, iPads and luxury lounges filled with sleek leather club chairs.”
Larguier explained that the high-tech building is reflective of the high-tech luxury Audi vehicles that will be on display and sold inside.
What customers won’t see are sales desks and phones. “It’s the perfect union of elegant interaction and advanced technology,” Larguier said.
Audi Wesley Chapel is the latest example of Dimmitt Automotive Group’s commitment to an elevated car buying experience. The Dimmitt family already features Cadillac, Land Rover, Jaguar, Toyota, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and McLaren dealerships.
Everyone on hand praised not only the Porter and Dimmitt families, but also Pasco County for bringing yet another luxury brand to “the Chap,” as Allen loves to call it. Audi will open just a few months after Lexus of Wesley Chapel, which is being opened by the Williams Auto Group.
This rendering of the recently-opened Sarasota DDI is nearly identical to what will will be built at S.R. 56 and I-75 in Wesley Chapel, which the major exception being I-75 passes over the intersection, while in Wesley Chapel S.R. 56 passes over I-75
A diamond could be a commuter’s best friend, according to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
A diverging diamond, that is.
That was the message delivered by Ryan Forrestel, PE of American Consulting Professionals, LLC, as he presented what he feels will be the solution to the snarled mess that is the S.R. 56 interchange of I-75 to the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) on May 23, during a meeting at the Mercedes-Benz of Wesley Chapel dealership located just a few hundred feet from where the construction of the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) will begin.
Forrestel, the consultant design project manager for the $24.1-million Diverging Diamond Interchange project, told a group of roughly 20 representatives from affectedbusinesses like Havertys, Tampa Premium Outlets, Chick-Fil-A, Florida Hospital Center Ice and others that it will be a good news, bad news proposition.
The good: engineers say the DDI is going to make traffic smoother and more efficient and in the long run yield improved results for local businesses.
The bad: during the long-awaited construction beginning in fall of 2018, the already-congested interchange is likely to become even more clogged.
No one, however, was surprised.
“I think this is a good opportunity for us,’’ said Stacey Nance, the general manager of TPO, located just west of the DDI. “Is it going to be cumbersome? Absolutely it is.”
Forrestel’s presentation seemed to assuage some of the concerns of representatives from those local businesses, many of whom are concerned that shoppers already are avoiding the area because of the traffic.
Ryan Forrestel
The project, moved up twice from its original 2024 and then 2020 start dates, is expected to expedite traffic through the much-maligned interchange, which handles roughly 100,000 vehicles a day and connects many of the residents of Wesley Chapel, Lutz and Land O’Lakes to Tampa.
Forrestel said he will have the DDI plans drawn up by January, and then in June of 2018, bidding will begin to find the company to build it.
Construction should start by the fall of 2018, and Forrestel said it could tentatively take anywhere from 18-36 months to build.
“We haven’t gotten that far yet,’’ Forrestel said. “That’s just a safe range.”
The timing of the construction is a concern to local businesses, as it will likely conflict with the busiest shopping time of the year.
“The fear was starting in the fall,” Nance said. “If there is any concern, it’s that it is hitting us all at prime time.”
Forrestel said the current LOS, or Level of Service, of the interchange is “F,” and “it is only going to get worse before it gets better” as development continues on the north and south sides of S.R. 56, both on the west and east sides of the interchange
Much of the traffic is caused by morning commuters trying to get on I-75 southbound, and evening traffic trying to exit northbound, which can back up two miles from where I-75 splits to S.R. 56.
“On the northbound off ramp and southbound on ramp, we’re making a lot of changes,’’ said Forrestel, who said he drives past TPO every morning and sees the eastbound traffic backing all the way up to Old C.R. 54 (or Wesley Chapel Blvd.).
As part of the DDI project, however, that mile-long backup during peak morning hours is projected to be reduced to 300 feet once a second lane is added to the exit for people getting on I-75 southbound.
The other change, which Forrestel describes as minor but really important, is widening the northbound off ramp. He said the original design had four lanes, with a center lane serving as a shared lane for travelers going east or west. But, they found that it created confusion for drivers and had a significant impact on the traffic, so the exit will be widened where the barrier wall on the east side of the ramp ends, and will now be five lanes.
Three of those northbound exit lanes will be dedicated to go west (turn left onto 56), and two lanes will be dedicated to go east (or right onto 56).
“It will be a significant improvement,’’ Forrestel said.
The first DDI in Florida was recently completed in Sarasota — at the University Pkwy. exit (No. 213)— and has drawn positive reviews (including from Neighborhood News editor Gary Nager, who will provide a video tour of the Sarasota DDI in the episode of WCNT-tv that will premiere on YouTube and Facebook on Friday, June 9), after nearly four years of construction that involved rebuilding everything. Forrestel said that the Wesley Chapel DDI project will involve no expansion of the overpass, although it will be reconfigured, so it shouldn’t take nearly as long to complete.
The median on the bridge, as well as the current walkways, will be eliminated to create an additional westbound lane, and the bridge (which is technically two bridges) will be connected. Pedestrians will be able to cross right down the center of the bridge.
Forrestel added there will be plenty of signs directing drivers. The fourth eastbound lane on S.R. 56 is being pulled back 500 feet, so signs can alert commuters much sooner about the interchange directions.
“All of these changes will be improving the efficiency of the interchange dramatically,” Forrestel said.
The real key to making it all work, however, remains the DDI’s signature crossovers, where the east and westbound lanes appear to cross over. Though other solutions were considered for the interchange — like a flyover similar to what was built an exit south at Bruce B. Downs Blvd. — the DDI was chosen for its ability to handle large swaths of traffic from both directions.
“Huge left turns lanes work best for the DDI,” Forrestel said. “In some places, they are a great solution; in other place they are a terrible solution.”
The Wesley Chapel interchange, however, it is expected to move more cars through the interchange in a free-flowing manner, as the left turn lanes will no longer be crossing in front of other traffic and only entail two phases of lights.
Forrestel showed a video of a DDI in Atlanta (which can be seen at youtu.be/gY8xU-UAQWs) which has fewer lanes but otherwise resembles the one coming to Wesley Chapel.
Forrestel said the timing of the lights will be adjusted to accommodate the busier traffic in the morning and evening.
The scope of the DDI project takes into account a model that projects traffic out to 2038 and considers the lengthening of S.R. 56 (one of the signs at the interchange will point you to Zephyrhills, in fact) as well as projected land uses in the Wiregrass Ranch area.
Local businesses asked that they be kept updated so they can inform customers of the construction. “We want everybody to be prepared,’’ said WCC CEO Hope Allen.
Have you ever seen hundreds of Scouts on ice skates? On May 6, about 350 Boy Scout and Cub Scout families from the Tampa Bay area and beyond gathered at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel for the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council’s inaugural Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Fair.
Boys of all ages, along with their families, tried out ice skating on one of the new skating center’s four full-size rinks, while more than a dozen vendors showed off robots and gadgets on the adjacent rink.
“We’re going to do this again,” says Jeff Smith, a Boy Scout volunteer who was one of the event’s organizers. “We had about 100 people more than we were hoping for. It was a great turnout.”
He adds, “The facility was stellar. The majority of the people who came for the STEM Fair had never been there before. The parking was great and the staff offered tours of Florida Hospital Center Ice.”
When they weren’t skating, the kids got to watch drone demonstrations and a couple of different 3D printing demonstrations. They were able to interact with robots built by high school robotics clubs, such as Tampa’s Middleton High, and check out summer camps from Busch Gardens and MOSI. Firehouse Subs provided meals for purchase. A couple of colleges also were represented, where parents and older kids could ask questions about technology and medical fields.
New Tampa Scout Kenny Lewis (center) receives his Supernova award during the recent Boy Scout Stem Fair at Florida Hospital Center Ice.
“This is a way to embrace new technologies and get kids excited,” Smith says. “If all we teach boys is how to tie knots and make a fire with two sticks, Boy Scouts will become obsolete. So, Boy Scouts is embracing STEM as a way to stay relevant.”
To acknowledge the Boy Scouts’ new emphasis on STEM, a few attendees were presented with the Council’s first “Supernova” awards. The Supernova awards are part of an awards program that are, “designed to motivate youth and recognize…advanced achievement in STEM-related activities.”
Because the program is so new, only one Scout in the New Tampa area has earned it. Kenny Lewis, who is now a member of Boy Scout Troop 180, actually earned his Supernova award as a Cub Scout in Pack 801, which is based out of Hunter’s Green Elementary and where his father, Ken Lewis, is the Cubmaster.
Two other Scouts, one from Land O’Lakes and one from Bushnell, also were presented with Supernova awards.
Smith says he is now working with Florida Hospital Center Ice to make next year’s Boy Scout STEM Fair even bigger and better.
For more information about Boy Scouts and the STEM connection, visit TampaBayScouting.org.
So, I saw democracy in action about three weeks ago and it made me smile. Unfortunately, the people who saw me smiling thought I was laughing at them, but I wasn’t, even though some of what was happening did make quite a few people who were on hand to see it laugh, even if a little uncomfortably, and others, maybe a little afraid.
I was just doing my job — covering the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting for Congressman Gus Bilirakis’ new office at the Chamber office in The Grove plaza in Wesley Chapel on May 9 — when an obviously organized protest with about 25 people holding signs basically blocked the Chamber’s front door.
Thankfully, it was a peaceful protest…those holding the signs and chanting certainly did not keep anyone who was there to celebrate the ribbon cutting from going in. On the other hand, several attendees mentioned that they were happy a deputy from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) was on hand to ensure that peace was maintained.
It seemed, from the signs and the chanting going on, that most of the protesters weren’t happy that Rep. Bilirakis voted for what the Congressman called the ‘first phase’ of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. I understood why some people were upset with that. What surprised me were the sign-holders who claimed that Bilirakis didn’t support veterans health care.
That really surprised me because, as long as I’ve known Gus (who is the senior Republican on House Committee for Veterans Affairs) veterans’ issues have always been at the top of his agenda, even though Rep. Bilirakis’ last challenger for his District 12 Congressional seat,Democrat Robert Tager, consistently tried, unsuccessfully, to show that Bilirakis wasn’t the supporter of U.S. vets that he claims to be.
But, what shocked me the most that afternoon was that Rep. Bilirakis didn’t in any way try to insulate himself from the obviously angry crowd. To the contrary, as soon as his ribbon cutting (which was held inside the Chamber office) was over, the Congressman first stepped outside to address those who were unhappy with him. He answered several questions, with people chanting in his face, and invited the protestors inside, 5 or 6 at a time, so he could address their criticisms and concerns as individually and completely as time — and his protesting constituents themselves — would allow.
As a long-time non-politico in a too-political world whose job it has been to cover more politicians and elections than I ever thought possible, there’s no doubt I was smiling as I witnessed democracy in action months removed from any election. Whether you were on the side of those laying on the concrete, chanting and holding signs, or the U.S. Congressman who gave every one of those antagonists the opportunity to be heard by an elected official they supposedly hated, if that tableau didn’t make you proud to be an American, then you’re very different than I am.
“Rep. Bilirakis, I have disagreed with every vote you’ve made since you took office.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Were you in favor of or against the federal budget this year?”
“Against, why?’
“Because I voted against it, too. Maybe we don’t always disagree on every issue?”
“Then yes, maybe that is true.”
Ahhh, democracy. Ya gotta love it!
Congrats To The Bartells
Congratulations go out to my friend Paul Bartell, his wife Jamie and their son James, as the Sean Bartell Foundation held its second annual spaghetti dinner, held a WCCC ribbon cutting and gave away its 10th $1,000 to Wesley Chapel High grad ((and future WCNT-tv contributor) Chase Oknefski from the proceeds from the Foundation’s previous events. The dinner, donated by Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering (see ad on page 40) at the Trinity Church of Wesley Chapel Fellowship Hall on S.R. 54, attracted more than 100 people, served as the official launch of the Foundation, which is why a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held.
I’ve seen the effort the Bartell family has put into the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for many years. Now that Paul is focusing more of his “free time” on the nonprofit named for James’ brother Sean (who lost his battle with a rare skin condition in 2014), watch out!
The red-shaded area is where new homes could replace the golf course in Quail Hollow.
Lingering concerns about whether or not the property rights of Quail Hollow residents are being considered strongly enough is giving some Pasco County commissioners fits.
At a contentious Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting on May 9 at the historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City, commissioners once again failed to come to a consensus on whether to vote to approve Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club owner Andres Carollo’s request to rezone his property.
Instead of making a decision, the BCC voted 3-2 to continue the issue, until June 6 at 1:30 p.m. in Dade City.
Carollo and his Pasco Office Park LLC is seeking to change the zoning of his golf course property to MPUD, allowing him to raze the course and clubhouse and pave the way for 400 single-family homes, including 30,000-sq.-ft. of office and retail space and a 10,000-sq.-ft. daycare center.
Carollo already has a R1 zoning, which means he already can build a maximum of 306 homes on the golf course located at 6225 Old Pasco Rd if he chooses to.
“I’m not comfortable pushing this,’’ District 5 commissioner Jack Mariano told his fellow commissioners.
District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who represents parts of Wesley Chapel, including the Quail Hollow area, and District 4 commissioner Mike Wells, voted with Mariano to continue the decision until June 6.
While acknowledging Carollo’s property rights, “I have concerns for the residents too,’’ Moore said. “It’s tough. Many of them were sold a golf course-front property, and when I met with them I saw titles that were signed by the applicant (Carollo). I saw the paperwork. It still concerns me.”
Attorney Barbara Wilhite, who is representing Pasco Office Park LLC, said her client deserved a decision, after four meetings and “countless” good faith changes to his original plan.
Wilhite argued that her client has gone back and made a number of modifications to the original plans to appease the residents and the county, but, “it is never enough.” She cited agreeing to a binding conceptual plan, traffic changes to improve safety and stormwater facilities to handle a 100-year storm (or a storm with a one-percent probability of occurring), when the county requires only 25 years.
Since the last hearing, Wilhite says Carollo has agreed to a very strict regulatory program in regards to offsite discharges, and agreed to hire an independent certified inspector to monitor stormwater erosion and sediment control both for pre-construction and during construction, at a notable cost.
“We have met conditions that far exceed your code,’’ Wilhite said.
When Mariano suggested a continuance to allow more time for Quail Hollow homeowners and Wilhite’s team to negotiate and work things out, Wilhite implored the BCC to vote. “I know what the (residents’) agenda is,’’ she said. “You heard them come here and object to conditions that anybody else that doesn’t want to stop a project would agree to. They want you to stop the project.”
Commissioners Kathryn Starkey of District 3 and Ron Oakley, whose District 1 borders Quail Hollow, voted against a continuance, saying they were on board with Wilhite’s request for a vote.
Both commissioners said they were in favor of the plan put forward by Carollo, because they are proponents of the rights of a property owner. Starkey said the adjustments made to the original plan made the current version “100 times” better.
“The fact is, these golf courses are going defunct everywhere…something has to be done with them and this gentlemen has property rights and I am definitely a property rights person,’’ Starkey said. “They have done as much as they can to negate the worst conditions.”
Dozens of Quail Hollow residents again packed the room for the meeting. A handful spoke -— including Sarasota-based attorney Maureen Jones, who is representing the Quail Hollow Neighborhood Citizens Group Inc. Those who did speak were often admonished by Moore and Pasco County attorney Jeff Steinsnyder for straying from the allowed topics — the four conditions related to pollution and run-off during construction that had been added to the development plan since the last meeting in April.
The June 6 meeting could bring to an end the long process of rezoning QHGCC, which was built in 1965 and despite closing from 2008-10, was bought for $1.7-million by Carollo and refurbished and re-opened.
In Jan. of 2016, the first rezoning request was filed by Carollo, and since then dozens of changes have been made to it.
This year alone, four meetings have been held regarding Carollo’s request to re-zone. On Jan. 12, a public hearing was held in Dade City, as the county’s Development Review Committee (DRC) heard from dozens of concerned Quail Hollow residents. The DRC continued that meeting to March, where it voted 4-1 to approve the zoning change.
That sent it to the BCC for final approval, but meetings in April and May both ended with continuances.
Mariano applauded Wilhite and her team’s efforts to get the rezoning approved. “This is the last hurdle,’’ he told her.
According to a Dimmitt press release, the Audi Terminal will “capture customers’ imaginations before they even walk in the door. Its stunning architecture will look like a modern art building. Inside, customers will be greeted with exciting Audi automobiles, iPads and luxury lounges filled with sleek leather club chairs.”
