Pasco Officials Weigh Options For Wiregrass Sports Complex

By Matt Wiley

It’s been about two months since the deal to build a massive youth baseball complex in the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) was terminated, and Pasco County officials are trying to figure out the next step for the project.

During a Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) workshop on March 3 in Dade City, the commissioners sat down at a table with members of the county’s Tourism Development Council (TDC) to discuss the options for proceeding with a sports complex on 120 acres of land donated by the Porter family (which owns and is developing the Wiregrass Ranch DRI).

In January, a deal a year in the making between the county and Pasco Sports, LLC (which included businessman James Talton and retired MLB star Gary Sheffield), to build 19 baseball fields with on-site dormitories was terminated, after Pasco Sports failed to meet multiple deadlines to prove that they had the financing to construct the proposed $34-million facility. Talton and Sheffield told the BOCC that it was tough to get investors on board because they could not use the land as collateral because the county owned it. The contract said that once the proof of funding was provided, the county would sign over the land and invest up to $11 million in tourism funds in the project. 

Pasco Planning & Development administrator Richard Gehring presented options for moving forward, drawn up by the county staff. He described the land donated by the Porters as the “hole in a donut” of economic growth in Wiregrass Ranch because the property is at the center of much of the planned exponential growth in the area, with Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) and the Shops at Wiregrass already built and housing developments like Estancia at Wiregrass and The Ridge at Wiregrass (see pages 14-15) currently building. Plus, financial giant Raymond James plans an employment center in the area and the state allocated $10 million last year for a future performing arts center in Wiregrass Ranch.

“From the day this started years back, this ‘donut’ has only gotten more valuable,” Gehring said, adding that the proposed sports complex property itself has grown into a $25-$30-million asset.

Decisions, Decisions

Gehring said Pasco is looking into conducting a “Sports Complex Feasibility Study,” which would hire a consulting firm for as much as $35,000 to take a look at the county, and determine the best financing options, strengths and weaknesses for any potential project at the site. The data collected could then be included in a future Request For Proposals (RFP) to contractors so they can better understand what type of facility could work best for the site and for the county.

Gehring also discussed going into another RFP process and described three different options. The first is similar to the previous RFP, which would ask a contractor to help design, operate and manage a multi-purpose sports park. The second has the county building a sports facility and then hiring a private operator to market, manage and operate the facility at their own cost. The final RFP option would have the county lease the land to a private operator who would build, maintain and operate the facility and would split the cost of improvements with the county.

County staff recommends the feasibility study, but commissioners and TDC members weighed in on all of the options at the March 3 workshop.

BOCC chair and District 1 Comm. Ted Schrader suggested reaching out to Gordie Zimmermann of Z Mitch, LLC, which recently broke ground on the $20-million Cypress Creek Ice & Sports Complex near the I-75/S.R. 56 interchange (see page 1).

“They may have done the market analysis already,” Comm. Schrader said. “We should see if they have any data they’d want to share.”

District 5 Comm. Jack Mariano expressed concern about the contract with Pasco Sports and suggested meeting with Talton again. “We don’t know what we want to do right now,” Comm. Mariano said. “(Pasco Sports) said they needed a better long-term contract. They didn’t want to pay any revenue back and they needed a road into the project (built by the county). I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to bring them back to the table and see what exactly they’d want in the contract. Lets ask them directly instead of relying on a consulting firm to tell us.”

New Port Richey city councilman and Pasco TDC member Chopper Davis said he would be in favor of the feasibility study.

“Let’s see what the market will bear,” Davis said. “I have a big problem with just letting one sport come in. We should go with a consultant.”

Saddlebrook Resort Tampa president and TDC member Pat Ciacco agreed.

“(What is built on the land) has to be multipurpose,” Ciacco said. “It has to be busy all year long, and we need to make sure it’s regional. We need to take care of the county and understand the demographics of the county to find out what will get you a better ‘bang’ for your dollar. I’m looking out for the best overall option.” 

Ciacco also suggested building facilities for multiple sports on the property.

“Take the land and break it up,” he said. “Then you can have something that benefits the region at all times.”

Pasco director of tourism Ed Caum said the benefit of using a consulting firm this time around could show what uses would be a benefit for more than just Pasco County.

“The one thing no one has really put their head around is, what’s good for Florida that we could have in the region?,” Caum asked. “What could Pasco contribute to the state with this sports destination?” 

He mentioned that the previous proposed project didn’t fully consider everyone involved. “We need to listen to our stakeholders, the hoteliers,” he said. “They weren’t excited about the dormitories in the previous project.”

Pasco administrator Michele Baker also favored funding the study.

“Let’s do a serious feasibility study and see what’s next,” Baker said. “They’ll tell us, ‘For your market, where you are, this is our recommendation.’”