The first Rotary Club chartered for New Tampa or Wesley Chapel — the Rotary Club of New Tampa (RCNT), which has met on Friday mornings at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club for 25 years, now has a satellite club.
On April 7, twelve Charter (11 new and one returning) members of the Rotary Satellite Club of New Tampa After Hours were introduced by Rotary District 6890 Governor Mark Skolnick and After Hours chair Bob Thompson and inducted by RCNT president Walter Oles at Florida Ave. Brewing Co. on S.R. 56.
Although the club is a Satellite Club of the RCNT, Thompson, After Hours Sergeant-at-Arms Cam Caudle and membership chair Jason Contino say that the new club will meet in person only once each month (at least for now) on the first Wednesday of each month at locations throughout New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. “We’re also planning to have a Zoom meeting on the third Wednesday of each month,” Thompson said, “and begin working on service projects right away.”
The new satellite club’s first service project was a recent painting event at the Friends of the Joshua House Foundation, Inc. (FJHF), painting and prepping the residences of the abused and neglected children who live there for an upcoming Grand Re-Opening event.
The painting party was part of the After Hours Club’s promise to its Apr. 7 guest speaker, DeDe Grundel — the executive director of the FJHF, pictured above — when Thompson announced that the Joshua House will be the first charity of focus for the new Satellite club.
Contino says, “The Satellite club appeals to those who found Rotary attractive but couldn’t or didn’t want to meet at 7 a.m.”
The Rotary Satellite Club of New Tampa After Hours’ next meeting — which is open to prospective members and guests — will be held on Wednesday, May 5, at 7 p.m., at Double Branch Artisanal Ales in The Grove at Wesley Chapel. — GN
When I first started what was then called WCNT-TV (Wesley Chapel New Tampa Television) with a partner in 2016, my intent was to create something of a hyperlocal TV news station that would one day become a 24-hour “channel” featuring news and informational content solely about New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
A couple of years later, not only had I taken over complete control of our online content from that former partner, we began focusing on short news and informational videos about the people, businesses and restaurants in our communities. That same year, as I was re-branding our online video content as NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net, with the help of a former producer, I applied for — and was stunned to receive — one of only 86 grants worldwide (and one of only 23 in the U.S.) from Google to expand that video content, as part of the online giant’s attempt to combat the growing proliferation of “fake news” online.
I was told by Google that even though our Neighborhood News print editions were only about two tiny (but growing) markets, a big reason we received a grant was because we had been in the business of providing real news to and for the residents and businesses of these two small submarkets of the Tampa Bay area for 26 years.
And, that grant money from Google did help us expand our online presence from an average of one video release every two weeks to more than two releases each week of 2019.
Unfortunately, Google didn’t see fit to provide us with another grant for 2020 in order to keep that momentum going the following year, which then ended up also being the year that Covid-19 changed everybody’s business.
Thanks to a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, however, I was able to retain and continue paying all of our employees, including videographer/video producer Charmaine George, but with most people not venturing out of their homes, and working mainly from home from March through much of the summer last year, it was harder for us to continue putting out the same amount of content and even harder to create and release content that people wanted to watch, despite having so much less to do outside.
Even so, we were still able to put out more than two video releases per week, with 74 total releases for 2020, which were viewed nearly 200,000 times, with a Facebook (search “Neighborhood News”) reach of more than 300,000, bringing our overall viewership to close to 2 million through our first five years.
Our ten most-viewed videos of 2020 (all of which were viewed more than 5,000 times each, reaching an average of 12,000+ people each on Facebook) were primarily about new business and restaurant openings, especially Aldi, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County (which had three of our top-10), The Grove, Aussie Grill, Main Event and Pasta di Guy.
Our pace for new video releases has slowed somewhat in 2021, and fewer of you have been watching them, although we also have been encouraged by the fact that our most-watched video ever was our exclusive sneak peek of the all-new Grove Theater (photo) in January, which has, to date, been viewed by more than 32,000 people with a Facebook reach of more than 53,000. We also have had decent viewership of videos about New Tampa’s new Fresh Kitchen and others.
To that end, our plan is to greatly expand our focus on dining and new business opening videos for the rest of 2021. So, if you or someone you know has a new business or one opening soon in either of our distribution areas, please email me at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com.
The apartments at the new Blue Heron Senior Living in Wesley Chapel are cozy and comfortable. Come check out the facility’s Open House on Apr. 28. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Whether you’re a senior citizen considering assisted living yourself or you need memory care for an aging parent, I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to check out the Blue Heron Senior Living & Memory Care getting ready to open off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. south of S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel, which will be the first in our area that also will provide on-site skilled nursing and rehabilitation services in either of our distribution areas.
Blue Heron, which is being developed by TLC Management, is hosting an incredible Open House celebration on Wednesday, April 28, 1 p.m.-3 p.m., so if you or someone you love is considering moving to an assisted living facility, you should definitely visit that event (or call the number at the end of this story to arrange a tour if you can’t make it that day).
The Open House event will include a variety of foods prepared by Blue Heron’s in-house chef, refreshments, live music and tours of this beautiful new addition to the Wesley Chapel community.
Blue Heron’s community relations director Sarah Dymond and executive director Kimberly Lehigh took the Neighborhood News on a recent sneak preview tour of the 159,000-sq.-ft. facility and we definitely came away impressed.
The place, which is visible from I-75, looks huge from the outside (see drone photo), but actually is laid out so that it still feels cozy, comfortable and homey.
The entrance lobby is warm and inviting, with comfortable seating and a gas-fired fireplace where residents and visitors can sit and enjoy each other’s company. Directly behind the lobby is the equally attractive main dining area, while to your right is an open kitchen area called The Bistro, where residents can enjoy grab-and-go snacks, coffee drinks and other beverages (there’s even wine on tap) and watch TV as they enjoy their snacks and beverages.
Behind the main dining room is a beautiful outdoor patio, complete with a gas grill, a putting green and plenty of umbrella-covered seating, all overlooking a sizable pond. The outdoor area also will feature live music events for residents.
The first floor also features a great workout facility/wellness center, as well as an art studio/gallery, spa/salon and a life enrichment center.
The separate and secure Memory Care area, which has its own lobby, its own dining room and 22 studio apartments featuring a front-porch-cottage theme, also is on the first floor.
The upper floors are home to Blue Heron’s 73 one- and two-bedroom assisted living apartments, all of which are beautifully designed, with their own kitchens, washer and dryers and easy-access showers.
And, perhaps best of all, Blue Heron is a true rental community, with no buy-in required. “Our residents are free from long-term financial commitments,” Sarah says, “and have the flexibility to manage their own assets and investments.”
Skilled Nursing & Rehab, Too
As mentioned earlier, Blue Heron is the only assisted living facility in either of our distribution areas that also offers both short-term rehabilitation services and skilled nursing care on-site.
For residents who require 24-hour nursing care, Blue Heron has private suites in its health & rehabilitation center, where each resident will enjoy consistent care delivered by a dedicated team of professional, licensed specialists.
Offering short-term rehab in Florida’s newest state-of-the-art therapy center, Blue Heron’s health and rehabilitation blends the comforts of a luxury hotel with advanced therapies and facilities in a unique “Return to Home” program that includes private suites, advanced therapy equipment, physical, occupational and speech therapies, virtual reality workouts and neighborhood amenities.
“There’s really nothing like us in this community,” Lehigh says. “Our leadership team is super-excited. I believe we’ve hired the best of the best.”
For more information about the Apr. 28 Open House at Blue Heron Senior Living (5085 Eagleston Blvd.) or to arrange a private tour, call (813) 454-0513 or visit SeniorLivingatBlueHeron.com.
Drivers pulling out of Hollybrook Plaza need to be cautious.
Residents were assured during a sparsely attended virtual public hearing hosted by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in February that the plans to redesign and modify part of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. south of its intersection with S.R. 54 are ongoing.
Construction on the median project is expected to begin in early 2022.
The project centers around the northbound and southbound median just south of the actual intersection.
The median currently has an opening allowing motorists to cross from exits between the Sonny’s BBQ and Sun Trust Bank adjacent to the Publix-anchored Hollybrook Plaza to southbound BBD or straight across to the west, to the Village Market shopping center, and from the Village Market to northbound BBD or across eastbound to the Hollybrook Plaza.
The plan is basically to extend the median and eliminate any cutting across BBD from either side.
The medians along this stretch will be combined into one.
It is not an uncommon sight to see an accident at the northbound side in front of the Sonny’s BBQ or Taco Bell.
According to FDOT, the median project was initiated by an intersection study that showed 233 “crashes” had been reported in that area from 2011-15.
A Neighborhood News Reader Survey in 2017 voted the BBD/54 intersection as the second-worst in Wesley Chapel, behind the I-75 and S.R. 56 intersection (which will have a new Diverging Diamond Interchange by the end of 2021).
The plan to make the location safer centers around closing what is now a split median and constructing one long median from Eagleston Blvd. to the south all the way north to S.R. 54.
Under the current set up, the northbound far left turn lane, when filled during busy traffic hours, extends beyond the median opening and blocks those trying to cross BBD.
Now, with a single, longer median, that left turn lane will be extended to accommodate more vehicles, which will reduce congestion.
There also will be a new traffic signal installed at Eagleston, and new roadway lighting added to the northbound lanes, as well as some resurfacing.
At the southbound end of the new median where the light will be installed, a dedicated U-turn lane will be built for motorists wanting to get to Hollybrook Plaza (this also can be achieved by merely driving east through the BBD/54 intersection and entering via two entrance points off S.R. 54).
FDOT says it plans to let the project out to bid in October, with construction beginning a few months later.
DHI Communities has closed on 34 acres of land it plans on developing as a multi-family residential community just west of I-75 and S.R. 54.
The multifamily division of national homebuilder D.R. Horton says the DHI Communities development is located between Old Pasco Rd, and Oakley Blvd., north of Wesley Chapel Blvd. and adjacent to The Grove.
DHI paid $9.5 million for the parcel, which is zoned for 330 apartments and 82 for-sale townhomes. The $80-million development will be called Ascend at Grove West, and is DHI Communities’ first multifamily project in the Tampa Bay area. It will be within walking distance from The Grove entertainment complex, which will soon include dozens of new restaurants and businesses at the under-construction KRATE container park.
“Developers are taking every opportunity to develop along the State Road 54 corridor,” says Mark Eilers, executive managing director of land services at Colliers International, which represented DHI Communities in the sale. “This is a great location for DHI Communities to enter the Tampa Bay market due to its superior access to State Road 54 and Interstate 75, proximity to major employment centers and walkability to nearby retail and restaurants.”
Construction is expected to begin this month, with completion by early 2022. — JCC
