Chick-Fil-A Goes Vertical Across From Epperson 

Although not everyone is happy about yet another chicken-driven restaurant opening in Wesley Chapel — with Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Chicken Guy! and Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken all opening in our area within a few months of each other — Chick-fil-A may be the one chicken restaurant that most locals still embrace. 

Chick-fil-A — which is currently the third most popular fast food restaurant by sales, behind McDonald’s and Starbucks (in that order) — has now gone vertical (photo) on the east side of Curley Rd. (north of Curley’s intersection with Overpass Rd.; see map) across from the Epperson community, within the Watergrass Master Planned Unit Development. Most of the building’s shell is now in place. 

This new sign announcing Chick-fil-A’s latest Wesley Chapel-area location gained quite a bit of attention on social media, as Patricia Elizabeth, who has previously described herself on Facebook as the marketing director for “Chick-fil-A Wesley Chapel,” was quick to step into the conversation and give everyone the link to the store’s new Facebook page (created on Jan. 31) and explained that it would be, “Owned and operated locally by the same owner as Chick-fil-A Wesley Chapel” — the one on S.R. 54 just east of Bruce B. Downs Blvd., on S.R. 56, not the location in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets, as some may have been thinking. 

The new Chick-fil-A will be located five miles away, on a 1.9-acre lot appraised at more than $1.28 million. 

According to Patricia, despite being located in Watergrass, the new store is being called “Chick-fil-A Epperson Ranch FL,” because it was named by corporate. However, she assures everyone that, “We are happy to be a part of both neighborhoods!” She also announced that this Chick-fil-A should be open by the end of May. — JP

Neighborhood News Online Video Content Keeps Adding Viewers — And Sponsors!

If you’re somehow still not watching our ongoing online video content, you’re part of an ever-dwindling minority. Our team of videographers and video editors, led by Charmaine George, with Richard Nasrallah and Matt Tsvetkov, have been providing the residents and businesses of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel with a wide variety of videos, all with beautiful footage and outstanding editing.

And, there’s no doubt that businesses are starting to take notice and are getting on our video/online bandwagon.

Our very first video partner is Total Air Solutions, which was the first business to sign up with us (in April) for this new “subscription” program.

From the first video we posted on April 7 with Total Air’s sponsorship, the air conditioning company’s logo has appeared on eight videos in less than six weeks. Among those videos were:

1) the groundbreaking for the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center (6,733 views, 11,204 FB reach & 262 engagements);

2) my interview with the owners of Smallcakes in Tampa Palms (12,153 views, 22,575 FB reach & nearly 1,000 engagements);

3) the groundbreaking for Pasco’s Performing Arts Center in Wesley Chapel (8,709 views, 12,223 FB reach & 950 engagements); 

4) Our most recent News Desk, about new openings on S.R. 56 and the Crystal Lagoons® amenity opening to the public (8,856 views, 14,461 FB reach & 1,925 engagements).

In just those four videos, Total Air Solutions’ logo has been viewed more than 36,000 times, reached more than 60,000 people, with more than 4,100 engagements — and that’s before Total Air’s Video Business Feature airs in early June! Not bad, right?

And now, our second video sponsor, Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam Edmonson, has had her logo sponsoring at least  four videos, with her best one being the opening of Chick-fil-A on S.R. 54 (above), which has had a Facebook reach of 18,198 and has been viewed more than 12,200 times.

Pam also sponsored our video about the groundbreaking for the Blue Heron Adult Living Facility in Seven Oaks (5,291 Facebook reach, 2,600 views) and not only sponsored, but also appeared in, our video about my “25 Years of Neighborhood News” celebration, which reached more than 5,700 people and had been viewed more than 3,200 times. For those three videos alone, Pam’s logo has been viewed more than 18,000 times and had reached nearly 30,000 people. Look for Pam’s upcoming Video Business Feature, which will be released in late-June.

However, Pam is currently only sponsoring our videos, which costs her business only $100 per month in addition to her print advertising cost, and includes that 2-3-minute-long Video Business Feature.  

Total Air, however, also has a “clickable” ad our website, NTNeighborhoodNews.com, which costs only $50 per month, on top of Total Air’s video sponsorship of $100 per month and the cost of Total Air’s print advertising.

And, there is value in sponsoring our website, too. Managing editor John Cotey posts different news items each day on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page, which get online readers to click through to our website at a fairly impressive rate. Our top posts over the last few months include “Chick-fil-A Sets a Date” (17,705 FB reach & 2,800 link clicks), “Cypress Creek Town Center Lands Three Restaurants” (16,886 FB reach & 2,457 link clicks) and “Sprouts/Hunter’s Lake” (12,913 FB reach & 2,077 link clicks). 

To sponsor our online and video content, call (813) 910-2575 or email me at ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. 

Chick-fil-A On S.R. 54 Sets The Date


What we first reported in 2015 is about to become a reality.

Chick-fil-A will open its second Wesley Chapel location, at 28295 S.R. 54, on Thursday, May 2.

In its traditional, 15-year fashion, Chick-fil-A will hold a First 100 event, allowing the first 100 customers in line at the Grand Opening to win free meals (consisting of a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, medium waffle potato fries and a medium beverage) for a year.

There will be a First 100 Campout party, with games and Chick-fil-A food, leading into the morning opening. You will be able to register in the new store’s parking lot beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1.

The event is open to guests who live in the vicinity of the restaurant, so make sure you check out the eligible zip codes RIGHT HERE.

Prizes will be awarded shortly before 6 a.m. on May 2, and the restaurant will open shortly afterward.

Jim Larreau, a Tampa native, will operate the new Chick-fil-A. He is transferring from St. Petersburg’s Chick-fil-A at Tyrone Blvd. restaurant, where his team earned the Symbol of Success – Chick-fil-A’s highest honor for its Operators.

Larreau is partnering with Bridging Freedom to combat domestic minor sex trafficking during his grand opening celebration. He is encouraging First 100 participants and guests taking part in the Wesley Chapel event to bring items such as individual craft kits, toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, healthy snacks and gardening seeds during the grand opening week to be donated to Bridging Freedom.

Chick-fil-A always seem to have long lines, but Larreau says, “I hope to be the quickest Chick-fil-A drive thru in the Southeast.”

S.R. 54 Commercial Development Is Heating Up, Too!

For the last few years, when people have talked about the growth in Wesley Chapel, they mainly have focused on the S.R. 56 corridor, from west of I-75 all the way east to the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

Now, however, it appears that the portion of S.R. 54 from near I-75, east to Morris Bridge Rd./Eiland Blvd., also is heating up, as a flood of new meetings, permits and construction are ready to transform the one-time sleepy road that cuts through the middle of the county from Zephyrhills to New Port Richey.

In Wesley Chapel, the aforementioned segment of the S.R. 54 corridor has been sparsely populated with businesses and restaurants. But, with the widening of the road all the way to Zephyrhills, as well as a house-building boom taking place on the north side of 54 (in addition to the growth of the northern portion of Wiregrass Ranch), Wesley Chapel’s portion of S.R. 54 is taking its turn as a fast-growing area.

“I think it will be the next area where you see some things happening,” said Hope Allen of the North Tampa Chamber of Commerce. “There are a lot of things coming to that corridor.”

And, it’s not just businesses.

On the north side of S.R. 54, Avalon Park West and WaterGrass (on Curley Rd.) are still building hundreds of homes and even smaller communities like Saddleridge Estates are still adding new homes.

In between those soon-to-be larger developments, the massive high-tech Connected City project, which is starting in Epperson, features the first Crystal Lagoons® amenity in the U.S. (which is finally open), and soon in Mirada, which also will be home to a lagoon.

The nearly 8,000 acres of the Connected City are bordered by S.R. 52 to the north and Overpass Rd. to the south, and from I-75 to the west and Curley Rd. to the east.

Combined, Epperson and Mirada will have nearly 6,000 new homes and 1,500 apartments.

“First come the homes, then the     commercial,” says Bill Nye, founder of Century 21 Bill Nye Realty, Inc.

Nye has been in real estate in the area since 1974, long before there was anything on S.R. 54 and when Pasco’s C.R. 581 (now called Bruce B. Downs Blvd., or BBD) was nothing but a dirt road. Over the years, Nye has watched the Porter family ease along the development of Wiregrass Ranch, and seen the Sierra family’s vision for the western portion of S.R. 56 come to fruition.

He says that most of the property on S.R. 54 isn’t owned by a Porter or a Sierra. Instead, a hodgepodge of owners are now cashing in. Nye says the “For Sale” signs along S.R. 54 are snowflakes — “You don’t see any two signs that are from the same owner,” he says.

A majority of the traffic emanating from all those new homes is likely to pass right through the intersection of BBD and S.R. 54, and local drivers will soon have new places to stop for gas, coffee, lunch, dinner, groceries and more.

And there is still a wealth of options coming along S.R. 56 from the Lutz area past the Shops at Wiregrass mall.

“I think everyone is growing together,” says District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who along with District 1 commissioner Ron Oakley, represents the Wesley Chapel area on the Pasco County Board of Commissioners. “One thing comes, and then more things come.”

Here’s what is under construction, in permitting or proposed for the area along S.R. 54:

1. Nye Commons:

This little strip center recently hosted a ribbon cutting for its six businesses, including the popular O.T.B. (“Only the Best”) Café, which has moved right up the road from its previous location across BBD from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.

For more about the tenants at Nye Commons, see “Nibbles & Bytes” on pg. 42 our our current issue.

2. Twistee Treat

3. This will be Wesley Chapel’s third Wawa, joining two locations on S.R. 56. After a seemingly endless stay in permitting, the new store is going up quickly.

4. Chick-fil-A gained final approval in July. Ground should be breaking soon.

5. Dunkin’ Donuts is still under construction, and Dental Care at Quail Hollow is all but complete, and there may be additional retail coming to what is called the Scherer Center.

6. The Publix at Hollybrook Plaza (on the corner of BBD and S.R. 54) is escaping the traffic and moving closer to the new Wal-Mart. Publix closed on the land for its new location in October.

7.  Parks Ford of Wesley Chapel is in the middle of a major expansion that is expected to be completed by early spring 2019.

8. As part of the development of the northernmost portion of Wiregrass Ranch, a new strip center is going up that could be home to two new restaurants. They’re not named in the county filings, but the 5,610- and 6,995-sq.-ft. spaces are both labeled for retail/restaurant.

9. Already under construction, the RaceTrac will give local travelers four options for gas and snacks. Also under construction immediately to the west of RaceTrac is Bay Breeze Car Wash’s 10th location in Tampa Bay, and first in Wesley Chapel.

10. The Pasco C-Center: According to a conceptual plan filed with the county, this center is proposing a fast food restaurant with a drive-through, a 14,698-sq.-ft. pharmacy with a 4,000-sq-ft. retail building divided for three businesses, and a 5,500-sq.-ft. retail building divided for four occupants.

Business Notes: The Latest On Publix, Main Event, Steak ’n Shake & More

The S.R. 56 corridor in Wesley Chapel, while still changing almost daily, has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past few years.

And, it looks like S.R. 54 might be next in line for a whole new look.

A host of new projects — Wawa, Chick-Fil-A, RaceTrac and some strip complexes with as-of-yet-unidentified retailers and restaurateurs, are currently under way. But, the biggest of all the projects is finally beginning: the Hollybrook Plaza Publix Super Market is expected to move from the corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and S.R. 54 to behind the Walmart located right down the street.

Construction plans have been filed with the county to begin work on the $4.4-million parcel in the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI). Publix closed on its $3.3-million purchase of its share of the parcel in June.

There also are plans in the county system to connect Wiregrass Ranch Blvd., which runs north and south through the DRI, to S.R. 54, where the road current ends at the Walmart.

Also, just north of the future site of Publix, construction has begun on a 12,600-sq.-ft. strip center (see picture) that West Palm Beach-based commercial developer John Dowd hinted at way back in May of 2016 at a Wesley Chapel Economic Development meeting.

Dowd said at the time the that two restaurants had already signed up, but they are not named in the county filings, which list 5,610- and 6,995-sq.-ft. spaces both labeled for future retail/restaurant.

PLAY BALL: Is yet another sports bar is headed to Wesley Chapel?

Just a few weeks before Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar broke ground in Cypress Creek Town Center North on Nov. 3 (across S.R. 56 from the Tampa Premium Outlets), representatives from Bubba’s 33 filed preliminary plans with Pasco County hoping to build right down the road, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Bubba’s 33 will be located on Silver Maple Pkwy., off the south side of S.R. 56 and the east side of I-75, near the Texas Roadhouse that is already there. The founder of the Louisville, KY-based Texas Roadhouse, Kent Taylor, also started Bubba’s 33 in 2013.

Boasting wall-to-wall televisions and a garage-like feel, Bubba’s 33’s menu offers your typical sports bar fare — burgers, wings, pizza and beer — but with housemade burger buns and pizza dough. It also serves a special burger blend with 33-percent ground bacon.

GO TEAM!: Another sports-related business moving towards opening in Wesley Chapel has officially filed its site plans with the county.

Main Event Entertainment, which will be located on the south side of S.R. 56 between the Tampa Premium Outlets and I-75, submitted construction plans on Oct. 9 to build a 49,608-sq.-ft. center that will feature state-of-the-art bowling, multi-level laser tag, gravity ropes adventure courses, billiards, video games and other entertainment, as well as a restaurant.

Main Event Entertainment representatives initially met with the county on April 24, filing preliminary plans to build Main Event’s third Florida location, joining centers in Jacksonville and Orlando on International Dr.

Main Event, which the company claims serves more than 20 million guests annually, also will offer full-service catering with private rooms that will appeal to large group events, and also is expected to bring roughly 150 full- and part-time jobs to the area.

HOW CONVENIENT: First, it was a run on shopping, then restaurants, and then storage centers.

Now, developers can’t seem to build gas station and convenience stores fast enough.

There are at least four convenience stores that have submitted plans with the county that already have begun work in Wesley Chapel, most notably the Wawa on the northeast corner of S.R. 54 and BBD next to Walgreens. Wawa began construction last month.

The others in the process include a RaceTrac on S.R. 54 at Vandine Rd., across the street from Freedom Plaza and approved last month, and a Circle K a little further east on S.R. 54 at Meadow Pointe Blvd., which was approved Nov. 7.

A 7-Eleven on BBD is currently under construction at Vanguard St., just south of the Shops at Wesley Chapel plaza across the street from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.

SHAKES AND MORE: A new Steak ’n Shake has been approved for construction on S.R. 54 between the Palms Car Wash and the Ker’s Wing House of Wesley Chapel, and a Twistee Treat is headed to the Wesley Chapel Village Market just south of the Burger King on BBD at S.R. 54

Steak ’n Shake, founded in 1934 in Normal, IL, pioneered the concept of burgers — or, in its case, STEAKburgers — and milkshakes, according to its website. There are roughly a dozen locations in Tampa Bay, including one in New Tampa, but the Wesley Chapel location will be only the third one in Pasco County, joining locations in Port Richey and Trinity.

Twistee Treat, which serves soft-serve ice cream, shakes and sundaes, is known for its 25-foot tall ice cream cone shaped building.

FORE!: For more than a year, local residents fought a proposal by owner Andres Carollo to build homes to replace Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club, but Pasco commissioners okayed the plan for proposed new homes in July 2017, and now construction plans have been filed with the county.

The project will be called Siena Cove, and plans call for 379 single family detached homes to be built in five phases on 174 acres of what were formerly fairways and greens off of Old Pasco Rd.