After 17 years at Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC), which includes leading the Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, president Timothy L. Beard, Ph.D., will retire effective January 31, 2024, the school announced on Mar. 1.
By the time he retires, Beard will have served nearly nine years as the state college’s president and CEO. Prior to that, he served more than eight years as PHSC’s Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.
The school announced that it is conducting a nationwide search for Beard’s successor. Myers McRae Executive Search and Consulting firm will lead the search for PHSC’s fifth president, teaming up with a presidential search committee comprised of community stakeholders and PHSC faculty, staff and students.
During Beard’s presidency, PHSC constructed the $18-million Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC), located on Old Pasco Rd. in front of Cypress Creek middle and high school. The facility opened in 2021, and provides instruction in music, dance, theater and multi-media design.
“Serving as PHSC’s president has been the crowning achievement of my career,” Beard said in a release. “The College has made exceptional progress, thanks to the guidance of our trustees and the dedication of our administrators, faculty and staff. I remain in awe of the transformative power of education.”
Beard also has been at the helm for a number of other major projects, like adding a $5 million Burn Center and Fire Academy training center at PHSC’s East Campus in Dade City, which will also be home to a future STEM Student Success and Community Engagement Center with a projected $25-million budget.
Dr. Beard earned his Bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M (FAMU) in 1984, and received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Florida State University. He worked on the staff, faculty and in the administrations at FAMU, FSU and the University of South Alabama in Mobile before accepting the vice president’s position at PHSC.
He succeeded former PHSC presidents Katherine M. Johnson, Ed.D., in 2015. Johnson was preceded by the late Robert W. Judson, Jr, Ed.D., and Milton O. Jones, Ph.D., the college’s founding president.
PHSC, which has six locations in Pasco and Hernando counties serving nearly 10,000 students annually, saw its operating budget increase by nearly 40 percent under Beard, and the PHSC Foundation’s assets increased by more than 60 percent. Beard personally raised several hundred thousand dollars to establish and fund scholarships.
PHSC’s nine-member District Board of Trustees is hoping to find and introduce Beard’s replacement in September.
A new Harley Davidson dealership will be one of the new business highlights of the growth along the soon-to-be-widened road. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Pasco County finally has the land it needs to widen Wesley Chapel Blvd. from a two-lane to a six-lane road. Now all the county needs is a final plan.
The county completed the needed right-of-way acquisition for the long-planned project in January, and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is working on the final reviews of the design plans, according to county spokeswoman Tambrey Laine.
“As soon as those reviews are complete (likely by the end of March), we’ll be able to move forward with the bidding process,” Laine told the Neighborhood News.
Construction could begin as soon as this fall, and will take approximately three years to complete.
When the widening project has been completed, Wesley Chapel Blvd. (also known as C.R. 54) will be a six-lane roadway from north of S.R. 56 (near the Cypress Creek Town Center) to I-75, near The Grove.
The widening of Wesley Chapel Blvd. (the roadway portion in red, north of S.R. 56) should begin soon. Many of the major projects along the roadway are either under construction or already open. Please note that the locations of these projects are approximate & not to scale
Of course, the name Wesley Chapel Blvd. — which has been known as much more of a country road connecting Land O’Lakes to the fledgling Wesley Chapel and ultimately, to Zephyrhills prior to the opening of S.R. 56 — is something of a misnomer, as most of the developments on both sides of the road that actually travels north and south, even though it is labeled as an east-west road, are actually located within either Lutz or Land O’Lakes zip codes.
Also located off of Wesley Chapel Blvd. is the North Tampa Aero Park, the small (one-runway) private airport that used to host a popular annual air show. The more popular the air show became, the worse the traffic snarled throughout the Lutz/Wesley Chapel area. The last year the air show was held, people were stranded on Wesley Chapel Blvd. for several hours.
At a Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting on May 23, 2017, meeting, the commissioners approved a County Incentive Grant Program Agreement with FDOT for the right-of-way acquisition for the project. The estimated right of way costs were $11,718,400, with FDOT contributing half, or $5,859,200.
The construction phase of the Wesley Chapel Blvd. project is estimated to cost $36,392,250, with FDOT agreeing to fund $5,733,308 of that. Including the design costs and right-of-way acquisitions, the total estimated cost of the project is $50.8 million.
The widening will include a six-lane “urban typical section,” with a sidewalk, bicycle lanes, a multi-use path, lighting, and new signals at the intersections at Stagecoach Village Blvd. (the entrance to the Stagecoach Village subdivision, which become an active traffic signal a few months ago), at Compark Dr. and Grand Oaks Blvd. (the latter of which has been in existence for several years).
The project will be constructed in two parts. One part will widen Wesley Chapel Blvd. from north of S.R. 56 to Magnolia Blvd., which is just south of Amici’s Pizza (see map above).
The second phase will widen from just north of Magnolia Blvd. to north of Old Pasco Rd. That portion will include the addition of two new lanes in a 48” median to tie into the existing six lanes to the east and proposed six lanes to the south.
A Look Back…
The idea of widening Wesley Chapel Blvd. was considered as far back as 2003, when there was an initial study to widen it to four lanes. But, later studies showed that would not be enough to accommodate the growth in the area on both side of the road.
There are three major multi-family projects already under construction on WC Blvd., including the Maeva apartments, located just north of PopStroke.
Business on both ends of Wesley Chapel Blvd. has exploded in recent years, with the development of the Cypress Creek Town Center to the south and The Grove to the north. But, in between, new businesses and apartment and townhome communities continue to sprout.
There continues to be additional expansion at the Cypress Creek Town Center development north of S.R. 56. PopStroke opened last month, Academy Sports + Outdoors is being built next to PopStroke and a 260-unit luxury apartment complex, Maeva, is under construction just north of those two large businesses, as well as Total Wine & More. Maeva is expected to open around September.
On the west side of Wesley Chapel Blvd. north of S.R. 56, a 42,000-sq.-ft. Harley-Davidson dealership is nearing completion,and there also are plans for a 5,000-sq.-ft. restaurant on the same site.
North of Harley-Davidson, the Cypress Bend Professional Park also is under construction. While none of the tenants have been named, the complex is being built on nine acres and will include 23 buildings ranging in size from 2,612 sq. ft. to 5,868 sq. ft. The entire Cypress Bend Prof. Park project will be 74,172 sq. ft.
Other projects — including a storage unit, Valvoline oil change facility, small businesses in the plazas that dot the boulevard on the drive from I-75 to S.R. 56 – continue to pop up.
And, if Wesley Chapel has proven anything over the last few years, development along Wesley Chapel Blvd. isn’t likely to slow down.
Among the new features unveiled at B&B Theatres Wesley Chapel’s ribbon-cutting event on Feb. 15 included the fully-reclining seats at B&B’s Max Relax theater. (Photos by Charmaine George)
The New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC) will hold its first event for the community on Saturday, March 25, with a performance by the New Tampa Players (NTP), following a dedication to the theatre troupe’s founder, the late Doug Wall.
The doors to the new 20,000-sq.-ft. Hillsborough County-owned facility — located across from the entrance to the Hunter’s Green community — will open at 6:30 p.m.. Doors to the theater open at 7, with the ceremony and a performance scheduled for 7:30.
While the grand opening for the NTPAC itself actually will come at a later date, organizers are using the dedication and NTP performance as a soft grand opening and an opportunity to honor Wall, a major driver of the arts in the New Tampa area prior to his death in 2017.
Wall founded NTP, which held its first production “They’re Playing Our Song” at both Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club and at Hunter’s Green Country Club, in 2002. NTP has survived as a gypsy-like troupe, putting on performances at a number of different locations while Wall and others fought for a permanent New Tampa home for the organization, which NTPAC will be.
After the dedication, NTP will put on a cabaret-style show that will give attendees an idea of how a performance is put on by the group, as well as how the troupe plans its seasons.
Shows already scheduled for this season include:
• “Beauty & the Beast Jr.: A Penguin Project Production” (Apr. 14-16)
• “Grease” (July 21-30)
• “Shrek” (Oct. 20-29) and
• “Dreamgirls” (Feb. 2-11, 2024).
For tickets to and more information about NTP and these upcoming performances, visit NewTampaPlayers.org.
MOVIE UPGRADES: Speaking of places to watch shows, the B&B Theatres Wesley Chapel (formerly the Cobb Theater) held a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event on Feb. 15 to show off some of B&B’s remodeling efforts since taking over management of the theater in 2022. Among the new options at B&B Wesley Chapel are:
• Premium Large Format (PLF) Grand Screen, which provides a true wall-to-wall experience.
• ScreenX, which, according to B&B Theatres’ director of communications Paul Farnsworth, is the world’s first multi-projection platform, allowing viewers to experience select films in an expansive, 270-degree presentation, as the two sidewalls of the theater are utilized to give a more immersive experience.
• The Lyric, a smaller (32-seat) theater designed for a more intimate and upscale theatrical experience. The Lyric will be used for showing independent and art films — such as the poignant comedy “80 for Brady” — and offers other high- end touches, including seat-mounted tray tables and elegant waterfall curtains
• Max Relax — Located in another smaller (only 50+ seats) theater, Max Relax offers commercial-grade, electric, heated, fully reclining leather chaise lounge chairs that are great for movie watching….and, if the movie isn’t great, a nice little nap.
Among the new features unveiled at B&B Theatres Wesley Chapel’s ribbon-cutting event on Feb. 15 included (left) the Cycle Cinema.
• Cycle Cinema, which is being leased to owner Pascal Collard of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness center in Zephyrhills and three partners (Nick Walton, Andy Sorrentino and SVB co-owner Andy Green), which brings a Peloton-type shared workout experience to the big screen, with classes for everyone from total beginner to expert.
• SideSplitters at The Grove, the comedy club which already has been operational for more than a year before the Grand Reopening event.
For more information, visit bbtheatres.com or Facebook.com/bbtheatres. For more info about Cycle Cinema, visit TheCycleCinema.com.
These are just a few of the roughly 4,000 people who showed up for BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel’s community open house on Feb. 18. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Scooping his free Island Fin Poké Co. poké bowl into his mouth, Trey Walker paused for a second before answering the question of the day at BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel’s open house last month.
“I don’t like hospitals,” the Tampa truck driver said, smiling, “but if I ever need to go to one, I hope it’s this one.”
Walker was one of an estimated 4,000 people who took part in the area’s newest hospital’s open house on Feb. 18, which featured tours, food trucks, vendor booths and a kids area.
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel was expected to open to at least emergency room patients today (Mar. 7). The 86-bed, state-of-the-art hospital is located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. just south of S.R. 54.
BayCare Wesley Chapel president Becky Schulkowski was thrilled to finally unveil the hospital to the public.
“It’s just been extremely exciting, rewarding, and humbling seeing the response from the community,” she said. “I’m being thanked for coming to this community. It just feels like such a blessing…and we will live up to their expectations.”
The new hospital features private rooms with Alexa-enabled services, and a Da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel boasts 318,000 sq. ft. of space, and will feature comprehensive medical services and health care resources, including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as imaging and on-site lab services, and physical rehabilitation. BayCare is investing $246 million in the project, which will be the 16th link in the nonprofit’s chain, which has locations throughout Central Florida. The Wesley Chapel location will be just the second full-service BayCare hospital in Pasco County and will feature outstanding technology like the CT scanner and a DaVinci Robotic Surgical System.
The DaVinci robot drew a few oohs and aahs from those on the tour, its multiple arms coiled like a resting octopus. It allows for very precise incisions and techniques used by surgeons, including things like hernia repairs and colorectal surgery.
“So, if anyone with colon cancer needs to have parts of their colon removed, it can be done with the robot,” Schulkowski said. “The procedures with the robot really allows you to heal faster and get out of the hospital quicker. With some of those bigger surgeries, before we started using the robotic surgery, you would be in the hospital for five days (or more) after that procedure. Now, you can be home in one or two days.…and what most people want is to get out of the hospital and get home.”
Much of the planning that went into BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel was about comfort.
“We really thought about what it feels like to be a patient, and how much most people really don’t like to be in a hospital,” Schulkowski said. “So, we really tried to design it with that perspective in mind, and really make it a comfortable, healing environment.”
That means all of the patient rooms are private, and have integrated Alexa, a voice-controlled virtual assistant that allows you to call your nurse, dim the lights, raise the blinds or the thermostat and other things, with just your voice.
The hospital provides most general surgeries, orthopaedic surgeries, urology and a cath lab to diagnose any heart issues, Schulkowski said.
“We went all out to make sure we had the absolute best technology available for the community,” she added.
While 86 rooms may not seem like a lot, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel is expandable. Schulkowski said the option is available to build a second tower directly above the ER if needed. “We can pretty much double everything,” she said.
Also planned is a 20-bed observation unit, which could be built next to the ER on the backside of the hospital, by 2027. “That will allow us to cohort what we call observation patients, patients that come in and maybe have chest pain, and we need to run a couple tests and see is it a heart problem? Or is it just really bad heartburn?,” Schulkowski said. “While you’re waiting for those tests, you don’t need to be up in the hospital, you’re just waiting on getting some test results. We’re gonna keep you comfortable, get those test results and then, hopefully, send you on your way.”
It was ten years ago that AdventHealth (then Florida Hospital) Wesley Chapel opened its doors, giving the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa areas newer (and closer) options for care. And, next up is Orlando Hospital Wesley Chapel, a 300-bed facility under construction on S.R. 56.
The nonprofit company that is opening BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel understands that there are options. Schulkowski said her staff is ready to meet the challenge. In fact, one of her pet projects was the sculpture out front — five ribbons coming together. Each ribbon has one of the five BayCare values engraved on it: Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Excellence and Dignity.
“I wanted the very first thing that our community saw when they came onto campus (were) the BayCare values, because that’s what we bring to this community,” Schulkowski said.
Radha Guntuku (left) and Denise Rose sit at the table that started their whole journey together trying to help a family in need of a kidney.(Photo: Charmaine George)
The story of how two New Tampa women combined forces to try to help a Land O’Lakes man find a kidney donor starts with a table.
It was a table that Denise Rose, who lives in Tampa Palms, was ready to purchase from Sylvia Moreta via the Facebook Marketplace a little more than a month ago.
Denise was supposed to pick the table up on a Tuesday, but Sylvia abruptly canceled and asked if Friday would work.
Denise thought that was odd, and worried about a scam, so she took a look at Sylvia’s Facebook page for clues. What she found out was that Tuesday was that Sylvia’s birthday was that Tuesday, but what really jumped out at Denise was that Sylvia was asking for donations for the Florida Kidney Foundation, because her 34-year-old son was in dire need of a kidney.
The Moreta family (l.-r.) Maverick, Kristina, Anthony and Amelia. Anthony is awaiting a kidney donor, less than a year after his brother received a transplant. (Photo courtesy of Kristina Moreta)
That hit close to Denise’s heart. In 2021, she had donated a kidney to her brother Dennis, saving his life. She understood the fear and the worry that likely was gripping Sylvia.
So, Denise called Sylvia, and they talked for an hour, and they shared their stories with each other.
Denise was moved to action. Not only had she had faced the same worries when she donated a kidney to her brother, but she knew someone else who had a similar experience — fellow Tampa Palms resident Radha Guntuku, who contacted the Neighborhood News in 2020 when her son Raj was in dire need of a kidney.
Because Denise was going through her donation at the same time the Neighborhood News had published its piece on Raj’s plight, she found some solace following the story. Raj found his donor in K-Bar Ranch resident Joel Morales, who had seen the same story and was compelled to help.
After Raj received his kidney in March and Denise donated hers in May, she reached out to Radha for the first time, they talked, and she eventually met Radha and Raj.
“It’s like we were living parallel experiences during that time,” says Denise, who has even written a children’s book on kidney donations.
It was only natural, then, that Denise would connect Radha, also once a worried, frightened mother, to Sylvia, who is now going through the same thing.
“I just thought, ‘(Radha’s) gonna want to help Sylvia,’” Denise said. “And, she did. I mean, she responded within a minute of my text. Sylvia was so gracious. I told her. ‘You’re not by yourself.’”
Radha eagerly offered assistance. They began spreading the word, hoping a donor would step forward. Radha used the same contacts she used when searching for Raj, including telling Denise to contact the Neighborhood News, because that’s how she found her donor.
“You know, she’s just giving it back, because you guys helped her so much,” Denise says. “She’s been great. Just trying to help someone out, right?”
For Sylvia, it has been a fear-filled year. Her sons were both always going to need kidney transplants, having grown up with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which is a disease that attacks the glomeruli, the tiny filtering units inside your kidney where blood is cleaned.
When Sylvia’s older son Victor, who had been on the donor list for a few years by then, had his kidney transplant in May 2022, she thought it would be years before Anthony, who was seven years younger, would need one as well.
But, only a few months later, Anthony wasn’t feeling well and his blood pressure was sky-high, so he had to be hospitalized.
“It was kind of a surprise because his brother is older and he just got a transplant last June, so we were kind of hoping we had a few more years and our (3- and 4-year-old) kids would be a little bit older during this crazy thing,” said Anthony’s wife Kristina. “But, in August, we were told he was in complete kidney failure, that we were really lucky to get him in that day. He ended up staying there for almost a week in the hospital, getting dialysis pretty much every day, which normally you go three times a week for.”
For Sylvia, the news was devastating.
“It is very hard for us,” said Sylvia, who lives in Lutz. “More for my husband. I have stronger faith, so I relied on God in order to survive. With this one, I feel numb. I am in shock. I think the surprise is still affecting me.”
While there have been glimmers of hope, Anthony is still awaiting a donor. It can be a difficult process, because while many people may want to donate, the percentage of finding perfect matches is still pretty low.
Despite knowing that the day would eventually come, Sylvia says it wasn’t any easier last May when Victor was in the hospital receiving his transplant.
“I would say when we saw (Victor) in the hospital, probably around May of last year, I think it really hit us hard,” Kristina says. “Anthony said, ‘The clock is ticking.’ And, he was trying to make sure to kind of get everything in order because of our kids.”
A donor for Anthony is waiting in the wings, Kristina says, but nothing has been finalized. She knows better than to get her hopes up too much,
Anthony receives dialysis at a facility three days a week at 5 a.m., and continues to work as an auto mechanic at Tampa BMW. Victor, a police officer who received his kidney from a friend, continues to offer support and advice.
Denise and Radha are diligently scouring the area, online and offline, for a suitable donor. They understand. They want to help any way that they can.
And, Sylvia continues to have faith for her son, even though some days it is harder to maintain than others.
“Remember what I told you about my faith? Well, God did it once, he’s going to do it again,” Sylvia says. “I think it’s going to happen like the first time, I really do. But, I have been scared. I get a little anxious. I have my days. And then, I have to go back to trusting that something good is going to happen.”
Potential kidney donors for Anthony Moreta must have the O blood type. If you know of anyone who might be willing to donate or want to help yourself, call Anna Harrop, RN BSN CMSRN, Living Donor/Pre-Kidney Transplant Coordinator, at (727) 588-5618. To help the Moreta family, visit https://gofund.me/02e64627.
