By Matt Wiley
The Grove shopping plaza in Wesley Chapel (located off Oakley Blvd.) is about to get really busy, with the holiday shopping season about to kick into high gear. With several big box retailers, the plaza is a hot spot for shopping in our area. But, what if what you see isn’t all you’re going to get?
That’s the question that Jim Mazzarelli — managing director at Genesis Real Estate Advisers, LLC (the company that manages the plaza that today includes the Cobb 16 movie theater & Cinebistro, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods and several other national retailers) — hopes will be answered if a new traffic signal is installed at the main entrance to The Grove at Oakley Blvd. and C.R. 54.
Currently, there is a light at C.R. 54 and Gateway Blvd., which winds its way behind the Holiday Inn Express, where Gateway Blvd. becomes Dayflower Blvd. and intersects with Oakley Blvd. However, Mazzarelli says, for many other big-box retailers who continue to eye the popular plaza, that light alone isn’t cutting it.
“It (the lack of a signal at Oakley Blvd. and 54) is an issue,” Mazzarelli explained during the October 23 Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Economic Development Council meeting at American Consulting Engineers. “The (Grove) is successful, but it’s only half built out. The DRI (Development of Regional Impact) allows for double the amount of retail, along with housing. In order to lure more retail, we need that light.”
The Grove currently is approved and zoned for about 790,000 square-feet of commercial space, 149 acres of retail and for 300 multi-family units. Mazzarelli says that his company has been in talks with a “well-known” national department store that is interested in building on a vacant 17-acre parcel, but the traffic signal is an issue in the negotiations.
“(Not having the signal) makes it tough to negotiate with the big tenants,” he said.
That’s not the only project on hold because of the light, as Mazzarelli claims to have six letters of intent from other national retailers, each of which lists a traffic signal at Oakley Blvd. as a contract requirement.
The problem right now is that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) requires 2,640 ft. between the end of an interstate exit ramp and the first full median opening (or traffic signal). If there are too many signals too close to one another, traffic could back up onto the exit ramps. The Oakley Blvd. entrance to The Grove is only about 500 ft. from the end of the southbound I-75 exit ramp.
“FDOT has asked the developer to do a traffic analysis so we can see what safety issues and congestion the signal may or may not cause, especially the impacts to the interchange at I-75,” said FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson after the meeting. “We have staff working with the developer to see ‘if’ or ‘what’ effects would happen to the interstate if a signal were put in place (at Oakley Blvd.).”
The issue not only concerns FDOT — because of the potential light’s proximity to the interstate — but also Pasco County, since Oakley Blvd. would be intersects with a county road.
Pasco traffic operations manager Richard Reck told us after the meeting that the county’s traffic signal spacing requirement for arterial roads like C.R. 54 is a half-mile, the same as FDOT’s. But, because of the interchange, signals already are located at the entrance and exit ramps. In fact, there currently are four signals in the one-mile stretch of C.R. 54 between Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Gateway Blvd.
“We have concerns about the impact on traffic on C.R. 54 if (another) signal were to be permitted for the intersection (at Oakley Blvd.),” Reck said.
Mazzarelli noted that it’s very likely that he and other representatives from Genesis and The Grove eventually will have to present their case to the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to get approval for the signal once the traffic study has been completed.
He said that the plaza, which recently saw the beginning of construction for its newest tenant — Chuck E. Cheese (a deal he says took two years to ink) — always is working to bring more entertainment and restaurants to Wesley Chapel. He says that there have been talks with popular restaurant chains like Chipotle and Zaxby’s chicken, but that any hope for a Dave & Buster’s adult arcade and restaurant is now gone.
“That deal is dead, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be resurrected,” Mazzarelli explained. “But, we’re working on bringing a bowling alley concept (think Splitsville in Channelside) and more restaurants.”
For more info about The Grove, please visit GroveShopping.com.
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