Category: News

Moffitt’s Speros Campus Celebrates Outpatient Center’s Grand Opening!

*The Jan. 9 ribbon-cutting event and Grand Opening of the Moffitt Speros Outpatient Center in Land O’Lakes.* (Photos by Charmaine George)

Even though it’s located at least 20 miles from any part of New Tampa, perhaps the biggest news story in Pasco County for 2026 is the opening of the sprawling new 775-acre Speros FL campus of the Moffitt Cancer Center — the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida — located on Wilton Way in Land O’Lakes.

The first building to open in this amazing innovation hub, where science, technology and patient care will converge in the fight against cancer, is the 120,000-sq.-ft. Moffitt Speros Outpatient Center, which was introduced to an invited crowd on Jan. 9 with a huge event attended by an estimated 500 people, including Florida Secretary of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, State Senator Danny Burgess, State Rep. Kevin Steele, all five Pasco County Commissioners and 84-year-old former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives H. Lee Moffitt, the man who founded the nonprofit cancer center named for him.

The event included the following speakers:

• Dr. Patrick Hwu, the president & CEO of Moffitt, who noted that 2026 is the cancer center’s 40th anniversary year. Dr. Hwu also played the keyboards in the Speros band following the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He also noted that the next building to open in the Speros campus will be the Richard M. Schulze Proton Center, which will open in just a few months and will be home to one of only three proton radiation machines in Florida. That opening will be followed by the opening of the 100,000-sq.-ft. research center. Dr. Hwu also noted that the first patients will begin being treated at the outpatient center, “within a few weeks.”

*Speros & Moffitt Board members Tim Adams and Marty Lanahan*

• Dr. Josh Carpenter, the president of Speros who also is the VP & chief integration officer of Moffitt and who noted that Speros means “hope.” Dr. Carpenter thanked everyone who played a part — and those still playing a part — in the construction and opening of the many buildings coming to the Speros campus.

• Speros Board chair Marty Lanahan, the executive VP of First Horizon Bank, who introduced Moffitt Cancer Center’s Institute Board chair Tim Adams. Adams said that Lee Moffitt charged him with the task to cure cancer and sent him to Tallahassee in 2005 to talk to Simpson, who was then a State Senator who was going to be the president of the Florida Senate within three years. “Wilton told me that he’s had his eye on Moffitt for a long time,” Adams said, “but if we really want to cure cancer, you’re going to have to start thinking a lot bigger than a 20-acre campus in Tampa.”

• Commissioner Simpson, who said he knew Pasco had the land to “do something like this and that people could fly into Tampa International from all over the world and be here in 30 minutes to get treatment. I’m very proud of the tens of thousands of lives, starting now, that we’re going to be saving on an annual basis. How many grandparents will now get to see their grandchildren get older? How many children are going to be cured? How many moms and dads will see their kids get married because of the work that Moffitt will be doing on this site?”

• H. Lee Moffitt himself, who said, “What a day! The reason we’re here is because of the hard work of every single person in this audience and I can not thank you enough for your dedication, zeal and vision to help us get to where we are today. I would like to thank and applaud the efforts of all of our friends that have worked for us since I started the cancer center 40 years ago and embraced our mission and contributed to the prevention and cure of cancer. By golly, we are making a difference and I appreciate all of your efforts in this quest!”

• The final speaker was Debra Schulze, speaking on behalf of her father Richard M. “Dick” Schulze, the founder of Best Buy Co., the largest electronics store in the U.S. Dick Schulze was unable to attend the event himself, but his family’s foundation supported the Speros Center with a $15-million investment in the campus’ Proton Therapy Center, “which is more than just advanced technology,” Debra Schulze said. “It is a place where skilled clinicians, dedicated researchers and hope-filled patients will come together in the pursuit of healing and progress. On behalf of my father, our family, and our foundation, thank you to the Moffitt leadership and staff. We are proud to stand alongside you and share in the excitement and the impact that this Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Therapy System Center will have on the future of cancer care.”

For more information about Moffitt’s Speros Outpatient Clinic and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Center (16370 Wilton Way, Land O’Lakes), visit Moffitt.org.

Wesley Chapel 2026 — Skilled Nursing & The Goddard School-Oakley Near The Grove

The area near The Grove at Wesley Chapel has been busy, with both the new Target store, Woody’s Wash Shack and now, the Belk Market all opening recently. And yes, there have still been many changes in the KRATE at The Grove container park, too.

But, while it’s possible that neither of these projects — both of which are located across Oakley Blvd. from the entrance to The Grove (both also are in front of the Avasa West apartments) — will be completed before the end of 2026 (since only one of them has broken ground), we also wanted to tell you about them.

We’ve already mentioned the planned 202-bed Oakley Place Skilled Nursing Facility at the northwest corner of Oakley Blvd. and Grove Isle Dr., but we recently heard that the facility may be getting ready to break ground soon. Of course, we’ll keep you updated, but a large additional skilled nursing facility would be a welcome addition to the area.

We also recently saw that The Goddard School-Oakley — which will be the second Goddard School private pre-school in Wesley Chapel (the other is off Bruce B. Downs Blvd., across from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel — has cleared the land in preparation of getting ready to build on the southwest corner of the same intersection, across from the Goddard School.

New Clubhouse At Valencia Ridge

The upscale Valencia Ridge community being developed by GL Homes (next to the builder’s successful Winding Ridge community) is getting an equally upscale 29,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse on a 7-acre recreational complex. The facility will include on-site dining, a poolside bar, sports lounge, racquet club & pro shop, resort-style pools, a shaded yoga garden, fitness center, exercise studio, massage room and more.

Swig #2 Coming To Epperson

The day before we went to press with this issue, correspondent Joel Provenzano found that Swig Drinks had received its site development placard from the county in December, which means that construction of the area’s second Swig (the other, of course, is between Academy Sports & PopStroke on the north side of S.R. 56) could begin any day now off Curley Rd. Joel said that plans for the new Swig were not downloadable at our press time, but we’ll keep you posted.

Whole Foods & Lifetime Fitness

And of course, we also had to show a drone shot of the progress on the new plaza on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. north of Aronwood Blvd. in Meadow Pointe that will be home to both Whole Foods and Lifetime Fitness. We just provided a big update on this plaza — which also will have a Pop-Up Bagels, CAVA Mediterranean, Naked Farmer, Petfolk, Tox wellness spa & a nail salon in our Dec. issue or this would have been one of this issue’s biggest stories!

Feel free to let me know anything we’ve left out of this issue and we’ll try to cover it in our next edition! — GN

New Clubhouse Coming To Valencia Ridge

And, Of Course…Whole Foods & Lifetime Fitness!

Goddard School Valencia Ridge Wesley Chapel Wesley Chapel 2026 whole foods

What’s Also Coming To The Area In 2026? The Stunning Views In Pasadena Ridge!

In 2025, the premiere residential ‘talk of the town’ in eastern Pasco County was Two Rivers — a community we covered numerous times in this publication, given its massive scale, located just outside the southeastern edge of Wesley Chapel.

Now that we’re in 2026, however, the excitement has shifted just outside of Wesley Chapel’s northeastern edge, to an even bigger development, the Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) — and one new community inside VOPH has positioned itself to literally be at the top of housing market.

If you think our area is fully flat, think again. What if we told you that this new community, known as Pasadena Ridge, delivers not only the views one might expect — water and conservation — but also adds stunning (for Florida) high-elevation ridgeline views, all visible from the same lots!

Previously, some of the best new development views you could get were from the limited number of lots inside Epperson overlooking King Lake — truly million-dollar views. Those are all occupied now, but in our opinion, the views from Pasadena Ridge are on another level — and are coming available on a first-come, first-served” basis.

On Dec. 4, we attended an event for real estate agents at the adjacent Handcart Garden Center, which is providing all of the landscaping for the community. We were taken on a tour of Pasadena Ridge in buses that looked just like trolleys.

Located on the east side of Handcart Rd., north of the rear entrance to the Watergrass community, Pasadena Ridge is shaping up to be something very unique. Honestly, we were so impressed with the brief views from the tour, that we drove back on Dec. 12 to get proper photos to share.

Not What We Expected

The Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) area is building fast, REALLY FAST, with multiple communities currently under construction.

Back in our September 2025 article, “Where Are The Villages Of Pasadena Hills & Why Should You Care?,” we first talked about Pasadena Ridge as an upcoming community in Pasadena Hills (Villages G & H), that was proposed to have 579 single family homes.

The ‘Ridge’ name has become very popular around Wesley Chapel; however, this “Ridge” community is not being done by GL Homes like the “The Ridge at Wiregrass,” “Winding Ridge,” and “Valencia Ridge” (all off S.R. 56), but is instead a new WestBay Community — with the creative tag line “Elevated Living.”

Very fitting, as Pasadena Ridge is located on top of a large (and somewhat steep) sprawling hill, which reaches a maximum height of 250’ above sea level. That might not seem like much to some from “up north,” but with the adjacent land to the north, east and west dropping away by 100’, new houses at the top of the hill’s ‘ridge’ will have the equivalent view of a 10-story building at sea level.

This means you can literally have a view that is unobstructed for miles — and those views are a breath of fresh air in what can seem like a monotony of perfectly flat new developments.

The community’s 250’ maximum height is actually pretty impressive, considering that the highest elevation in the entire region is only 305’ above sea level — a point on Clay Hill Rd, nearly 10 miles north of this Pasadena Ridge — and only 95’ shy of the state’s highest point, Britton Hill, located in the panhandle just south of the Alabama line.

The expansive ridge view photo (top photo) was taken at ground level, so you can imagine how much more impressive the view will be from a second story balcony, which is being offered by WestBay on some of their models (above photo).

The builder representatives at the event stated that these premium views will never change, as most of the land nearly a mile north of the development is protected wetland conservation (for the adjacent Buddy Lake).

If you’re interested in a house in Pasadena Ridge, you’ll definitely want to see the actual lots in person (not just on a map), as the elevations, grading and views from each lot vary wildly, but the best view we identified was looking north from the backyards of the lots along Peak Willow Trace — it honestly didn’t even feel like Florida.

The builder knows what they have, so their representative told us, “Expect to pay a substantial lot premium for the absolute best ones,” but unfortunately, pricing on those premiums have not been released yet.

What We Do Know

Pasadena Ridge offers homes by three builders — Homes by WestBay ($600k-$1M), Casa Fresca Homes ($300k-$500k) & Mattamy Homes ($300k+). Since this community is part of a VOPH model, parcels leading into the community off Handcart Rd. will be future commercial, and there is a future school site set aside within the development. The plan also shows a future Pasco County park site immediately to the west.

The development also promises to provide an amenities “club” and, while it does advertise a large resort-style pool, dog park, fitness center, pickleball courts, playground and event space, the cost of this club is not being absorbed by the CDD fee, as a separate club membership fee ($44.94/month) and club expenses fee ($115/month) will be charged once the club opens in 2027.

Add that to a $90.67 monthly HOA fee (which DOES include high-speed, 2-gigabit internet and trash) and up to a $217.66 monthly CDD fee for Casa Fresca, the only one we could currently find (Note-those fees could be higher for the WestBay homes, based on lot width), and monthly association fees could stack up quickly to $467/month ($5,610 annually), which is a little on the high side considering there’s no lagoon, restaurants or other standout amenities.

The only ones we’ve seen higher in a similar category, are the total association fees for Two Rivers West, due to the required “Landing Private Club” membership. But, when comparing, Two Rivers offers substantially more in a true club sense, including personal/poolside food & beverage service and a full restaurant, along with tennis clubs, spin instructors and other things not mentioned for Pasadena Ridge.

For more information about Pasadena Ridge, visit PasadenaRidgeFL.com.

Pasadena Ridge Villages of Pasadena Hills Wesley Chapel

Wesley Chapel 2026 — New Light At Overpass Rd. & Epperson Blvd. Just The Beginning

*The new traffic signal at the intersection of Overpass Rd. & Epperson Blvd. has replaced the former four-way stop. (Photos by Joel Provenzano)*

Residents and commuters traveling through the Epperson community are beginning to see long-anticipated improvements finally taking shape along Overpass Rd., the main east–west corridor connecting Epperson Blvd. to Curley Rd.

Construction is currently under way to widen this short, but critical stretch of roadway, a project that aims to significantly improve traffic flow, safety, and daily travel times for the growing northern Wesley Chapel area.

When finished, the work being completed by Epperson developer Metro Development Group will allow this portion of Overpass Rd. to transition from its current two-lane divided configuration to a four-lane divided roadway, with an additional through lane added in each direction.

This expansion reflects the rapid growth of the Epperson community and surrounding areas and the increasing traffic volumes, especially during peak morning and afternoon hours.

One of the most impactful changes is occurring at the signalized intersection of Overpass Rd. and Curley Rd. Additional eastbound left-turn lanes are being added so that two eastbound through lanes will be able to continue straight through the intersection.

This improvement will align the roadway configuration with the existing layout on the opposite side of Curley Rd. in the Watergrass development, eliminating a common bottleneck that has caused backups during busy times of day.

*Additional turn & through lanes are being added at the intersection of Overpass Rd. & Curley Rd.*

In conjunction with the widening project, a new traffic signal has been installed at Overpass Rd. and Epperson Blvd., replacing the former four-way stop located in front of the entrance to the Epperson lagoon. This signalization is expected to enhance safety and improve traffic operations at one of the community’s most active entrances, benefiting residents, visitors, pedestrians and bicyclists alike.

Perhaps the most welcome news for daily commuters is what comes next. Once construction has been completed, the existing eastbound right-turn-only lane along Overpass Rd. (approaching the new signal) will be re-striped and converted into an additional through lane.

This change will allow traffic to move more efficiently eastbound, particularly during peak travel hours, and should substantially reduce the delays that drivers have been experiencing.

While construction can, of course, be just as inconvenient, these improvements represent a major investment in the area’s transportation infrastructure — facilitated with private funds instead of taxpayer dollars.

The expanded roadway, improved intersections and upgraded signalization are designed to support continued growth while making everyday travel smoother and safer.

Motorists are encouraged to remain patient during the construction, follow posted signage and exercise caution while crews complete the work. Although we don’t know exactly when the work is expected to be completed, it will be in 2026, so residents can look forward to a more efficient and commuter-friendly drive through the heart of their Epperson community soon.

construction Epperson blvd Overpass Rd Wesley Chapel

Wesley Chapel 2026 — The Hub At Lexington Restaurants & More To Begin Opening Soon!

Bonchon Korean & Hummus Republic Added To The Hub At Lexington Lineup; Grand Opening Event To Be Announced

Have you driven by The Hub at Lexington recently? If it looks like it’s ready to open, your eyes are not deceiving you. But, before you think you’ve already missed something, co-developers Courtney Bissett-Hayes of Center Connect Development and her brother Paul Bissett say that now that the buildings themselves have been completed and turned over to the tenants, it will be several weeks before the first businesses start turning on their lights to several months for all of the previously announced restaurants — and two new ones recently added to the lineup — to be fully open.

“The first businesses could start opening this quarter,” Bissett-Hayes told me just before my deadline for this issue. “And we are planning a big Grand Opening event for a few months from now, but we will definitely keep you posted about the date for that event.”

The two new eateries are both growing national chains that have existing locations not too far from us.

The first is Hummus Republic, a counter-serve Mediterranean eatery offering customizable bowls, pita bread and wrap sandwiches that has an existing location at 7021 E. Fletcher Ave. (between USF and I-75).

Hummus Republic, which has more than 60 locations in 15 states, offers bases like rice, couscous and warm garbanzo beans, plus a variety of hummus flavors and other spreads, five different proteins (including falafel, chicken or mushroom shawarma, gyro meat and lemon chicken), more than a dozen toppings (from beets to kalamata olives) and six different dressings and you get to choose all of your favorites.

For info, visit TheHummusRepublic.com.

The other newcomer is Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken, which has a nearby location at 24814 S.R. 54 in Lutz among its nearly 150 U.S. and nearly 500 worldwide locations.

In addition to crunchy Korean drumsticks, wings and boneless options (below) with five different sauces (from Korean BBQ to sweet & spicy Yangnyeom sauce), Bonchon offers starters like pork, veggie, shrimp and even octopus (really!) dumplings, plus Bao buns, Korean tacos and edamame, main dishes like udon noodle soup, bibimbap bowls, bulgogi, chicken katsu and more).

For more info, visit Bonchon.com.

And, don’t forget all of the other eateries coming to The Hub we previously announced:

• La Creacion Bistro, the sister restaurant to La Creacion Express in the KRATEs, which will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with a completely different menu than what they serve at the container park.

• Brew Bar Self Pour, which will share a space with Urban Crunch Creamery Café.

The Brew Bar/Urban Crunch combo will offer self-pour beer and wine, similar to what the Brew Bar offers at the KRATEs, plus ice cream, açai, coffee and perhaps most important of all, frozen drinks like daiquiris.

• The Landing Bar & Grill, which is where you’ll watch all of your favorite sports.

• The Monk’s Indian Fusion Cuisine, a “Desi-Chinese” eatery combining the different flavors of India and China in one location.

• Saigon Pho Wesley Chapel, which has a location called Banh Mi & Boba at The Hub at Bexley. Saigon Pho also will feature beloved Vietnamese fare, including pho noodle soups, grilled plates, banh mi sandwiches and more.

• Farmer’s Milk, which is a café and bakery with a sister location in Hollywood, FL.

• Cinnaholic Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls

• Island Grill Caribbean fusion restaurant

The other non-food businesses previously announced as coming to The Hub are :

• The Clubhouse golf simulator

• Headlines Barber Shop

• Suncoast Charging (for electric vehicles)

• Lexington Nail Lab, which is the only Hub business that had a sign on it as we went to press with this issue.

Of course, we will keep you posted about all of the openings as they happen, in these pages and on our Facebook & Instagram pages! — GN

Hummus Republic The Hub The Hub At Lexington Wesley Chapel