How easy is it to win a $25, $50 or $100 gift card? Just fill out the form below and if you’re one of the first 100, you’ll get a free square. Before the Feb. 12 Super Bowl, we’ll post the squares so you can see what number to root for. Good luck!
Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter says that athletics have always been important to his family, so when the chance came to play a significant role in helping the University of South Florida add a state-of-the-art training facility, Porter said it was impossible for him to resist.
On Jan. 10, Porter and his family were on hand to celebrate the opening of the Porter Family Indoor Performance Facility on USFâs Tampa campus. The 88,000-sq.-ft. facility features a 100-yard turf field, an observation deck, scoreboards, locker rooms, a reception lobby and more.
âWe think itâs going to be a difference maker,â said Porter, echoing the sentiment of everyone involved.
For decades, the lack of quality on-campus facilities has been a detriment to recruiting, particularly for football, which also has been saddled by the lack of an on-campus stadium.
But, the Porter familyâs $5.1-million donation is the first step towards correcting those deficiencies, and a new on-campus football stadium is right around the corner, perhaps as soon as fall 2026.
At the event on Jan. 10, new USF football coach Alex Golesh said that not having this type of training facility is a huge disadvantage, âbut I think a facility like this puts you on a level playing field.â
The Porter family has steadfastly supported USF. The James H. and Martha M. Porter Endowment for Alzheimerâs Research was established to benefit the USF Health Morsani College of Medicineâs pursuit of collaborative Alzheimerâs research with the USF Health Byrd Alzheimerâs Institute. In addition, the Porter family started the James H. & Martha M. Porter Alzheimerâs Research Equipment Operating Fund to support equipment purchases for use in that collaborative research.
Porter said his family, which founded a branch campus of Pasco-Hernando State College in Wiregrass Ranch and donated the land for the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, was happy to help, and applauded the team that helped make it happen, which included Wesley Chapel resident (and former Speaker of the Florida House) Will Weatherford, who currently is the chairman of the USF Board of Trustees.
âIt was a natural fit,â Porter said. âAthletics and education have always been important to our family, and this was just a great opportunity. Knowing that the right team was at the helm to actually execute the plan made it a fairly easy decision for us.â
AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) marked its 10th anniversary late last year, but due to bad weather that canceled its big party, the hospitalâs administration and staff, and the Wesley Chapel community, never got to celebrate the big event.
On Sunday, February 5, the official ten-year celebration will finally be held. The hospital, Wesley Chapelâs first, promises a âfree, fun-filled day of family-friendly activities and health & wellness for every ageâ from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
The celebration will be held in the parking lot behind the hospital, which is located at 2600 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
AHWC has been a well-known and active fixture in Wesley Chapel, since opening in 2012 as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, coming along at a time when there was not nearly as much in the area.
âI think we were really the catalyst for the growth here in Wesley Chapel,â Connie Bladon, the director of community outreach for AHWC, told us last October when the hospital turned 10. âYou always want a good hospital, (as well as) good schools, safety and security, things like that….Everything (else has) sprung up around us.â
Since opening in 2013, the hospitalâs popular 100,000-sq.-ft. health & wellness center building, which is now called the AdventHealth Wellness Plaza Wesley Chapel, also opened, and a major expansion in 2016 saw the number of beds double (from 83 to 169) and the hospital went from having just four operating rooms to its current 12, and from 20 emergency room beds to 35.
There is still room for AHWC to expand to 300 total beds. Since it opened, the hospitalâs doctors have performed more than 56,000 surgeries and delivered more than 5,000 babies.
In 2021, AHWC teamed up with the Moffitt Cancer Center on a new three-story, 100,000-sq.-ft. medical office building, a new oncology unit with 24 in-patient rooms and two new operating rooms.
To register to attend, visit AHWesleyChapel.com/Events. â JCC
BayCare Preview Feb. 18!
Meanwhile, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel, an 86-bed, state-of-the-art hospital that will open in March is hosting a Community Event preview of the new hospital on Saturday, February 18, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel will contain comprehensive medical services and health care resources including: Breast health, diabetes and endocrinology, diagnostic services (including imaging and lab), ear, nose and throat, emergency room, gastroenterology, heart and vascular, intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, interventional radiology, orthopedics, primary care, pulmonology and respiratory, rehabilitation, surgery (including robotic surgery), urology, wound care and more.
The family-friendly event will include hospital tours, cuisine from local restaurants, wellness screenings, a local market, live music and entertainment and a kids village with games, activities, puppets and more.
For more information, and to register to attend, visit baycare.org/baycare-is-growing-in-wesley-chapel. â GN
Considering that New Tampa has had its own full-service U.S. Post Office for more than 20 years, it was hard for me to understand why Wesley Chapel has only had a Contract Postal Unit (CPU). In fact, it wasnât until after I moved out of the community around Saddlebrook Resort in 1995, that Kelly Rossi, who has had the contract to run the CPU in Wesley Chapel for 26 years, took over the operation of the local CPU.Â
But, I have been one of the most frequent customers there ever since, especially since Kelly moved the unit to its current location on Boyette Rd. (after a short stint in a trailer where the current Kia dealership on S.R. 54 is located) a couple of years later.
I canât even tell you how many times I heard Kelly and her long-time âright handâ Gini Ruggiero explain to customers that if they received notices from the U.S. Postal Service about a piece of Certified or Registered mail or anything they had to sign for, they would have to make the 25-minute (or more) drive to the Zephyrhills Post Office to do so.
Even so, Kelly, Gini and the rest of the staff at the Wesley Chapel CPU, which also had a variety of cute gifts for sale, sold stamps, taped up and accepted Express Mail and Priority Mail packages for mailing and did virtually everything else a ârealâ post office does other than actually deliver the mail.
The bottom line is that Kelly says she notified the Zephyrhills Post Office in October that it was finally time for her to retire and that Dec. 31, would be her last day. She and Gini are probably still packing up the remaining items in the converted trailer as youâre reading this, so they can vacate the building by Feb. 1.
âIt was a very hard decision (to leave),â Kelly said. âI have loved serving the people of Wesley Chapel and I have received such wonderful feedback and made so many really good friends that have become like family to me. But, I havenât been able to spend much time with my husband and ten grandchildren. Itâs just time for new adventures.â
So, Whatâs Next For The CPU?
David Walton, who is in Corporate Communications with the U.S. Postal Service, told me in an email that although there are still no plans for Wesley Chapel to get its own full-service post office, there is still an opportunity for someone to become a new Wesley Chapel CPU contractor, although he notes that it may not necessarily be in the same location.
âThe previous CPU was located in a leased facility,â Walton wrote in his email. âCPU operators need to provide their own space. I bet if (interested parties) contact the previous CPU operator, she would gladly share the name of her former landlord.â
And, even though I had been previously told that a new Wesley Chapel CPU contractor had already been selected, Walton said at our press time, âItâs my understanding things never materialized with the other party who had expressed interest. If (anyone) is still interested, I would highly recommend they reach out to the Zephyrhills Postmaster.â
Kelly believes the earliest a new CPU can open here is the end of Feb. or the beginning of March, but until that happens, Wesley Chapel residents will have to travel to Zephyrhills, Land OâLakes, Lutz or New Tampa for postal services without additional convenience charges.
As to why Wesley Chapel isnât getting its own full-service post office, Walton said:
âThe Postal Service closely monitors growing communities. We expand service when necessary to meet our customersâ needs and to maintain a quality level of service. However, community growth in itself is not sufficient cause to establish an independent Post Office. We generally consider establishment of an independent Post Office when present postal facilities fail to meet the needs of the community.â
We will keep you posted about the CPU.
More than 18 months after The Grove teased a new grocery story in an online post, the mystery about which one would be moving into the development may be over.
It appears Super Target is, well, targeting the parcel of land on The Groveâs main property, right across Pink Flamingo Ln. from Cost Plus World Market (see map).
While nothing had been officially announced prior to our deadline (but probably will be shortly after we go to press and before you receive this issue), Target Wesley Chapel-The Grove has applied to the Southwest Florida Management District (aka Swiftmud) for an environmental resource permit (ERP), which is required before any construction can begin. Detailed plans for the construction also have been submitted.
Representatives from The Grove said nothing has been signed with Target, only. that it is one of a number of companies with which it has been negotiating with and it expects to make an announcement soon.
While it may be disappointing to those hoping for a Whole Foods or Trader Joeâs to open a store in the space, itâs not that surprising that Super Target, a popular retail-grocery hybrid, was the choice. A pre-application meeting was held with Pasco County planners on Oct. 18 where plans for a 147,000-sq.-ft. retail building, with nearly 500 parking spots, was presented by an unnamed party (most likely Target or The Grove).
Due to the size of the proposed building, it was clear it would not be any of the trendy grocery stores desired by locals, and likely would be a Super Target or Walmart.
There already is, of course, another Super Target in Wesley Chapel, located at the corner of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., although proximity to their other stores doesnât stop big names like Publix, Walmart or Starbucks. And, considering the future growth planned in the S.R. 54 corridor, itâs not like the area canât handle a second Target store.
Traffic on Oakley Blvd., however, should be interesting, considering that new apartments and townhomes will soon be completed in the area, and will be adding hundreds of more cars per day to the already-congested road.
The Super Target is the second new grocery store planned for Wesley Chapel. Just a few miles east on S.R. 54, plans have been filed with the county by Publix for a new 60,548-sq.-ft. center, which would be anchored by a 48,848-sq.-ft. grocery store that also will include a 2,100-sq.-ft. liquor store and 9,600 square feet of retail space.
As weâve previously reported, the new Publix will be located behind the Bank of America, Advance Auto Parts and Starbucks-anchored Pleasant Plaza on S.R. 54.