The smaller dirt mound near Enterprise care rental on Mansfield Blvd. is expected to be home to a drive-through coffee shop & self-storage facility. (Photos by Joel Provenzano)
If you thought we were done after last issue’s updates about some of the new businesses now open or still coming to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe (and Wiregrass Ranch), guess what? We’ve got quite a few more for you!
Drive-Through Coffee & Self Storage
Ever since the end of 2023, when a 400’ long and 25’ tall dirt mound, perfectly shaped like a car jumping ramp, appeared along Mansfield Blvd. in the dirt lot near the new Enterprise car rental place, bets could have been made that more than a few passing motorists probably envisioned what it would be like to take a Dukes of Hazard or Evel Knievel-style jump off the end of it. It was just beckoning.
Well, if you didn’t do it — and we’re assuming no one did — you won’t get the chance again, as that dirt mound has been whittled away over the past few weeks and is being used to level out the rest of the roughly 21 acres of property owned by Wiregrass Ranch upon which it sits. The property is now being prepared for some new and future developments.
On the 1.6 acres immediately adjacent to Enterprise, it’s been long rumored that a drive-through coffee shop, specifically Ziggi’s, was going there. That is still a possibility, as site plans for the coffee shop were approved by Pasco back in June of 2023, showing a 1,947-sq.-ft. building, plenty of parking (23 spaces), and a long drive-through lane that could handle a 14-car queue from the window, which would put most Starbucks to shame.
It’s still not known for sure if Ziggi’s will still be the brand coming, or if what’s shown in the approved plan is what will be built at all. Time will tell after they’re done moving the dirt. Nothing else has been submitted yet for that parcel.
On the remaining 19.30 acres, there’s only one other development currently being proposed — and it’s likely to be the subject of still more jokes on local Facebook pages — a 102,600-sq.-ft., 3-story self-storage facility on the southern half of the property, furthest away from Mansfield Blvd. (near the school access road).
Plans for this storage facility were started months ago, but the most recent layout was submitted this month, making it a safe bet that this project is moving forward towards vertical construction. This would be the second self-storage place in Wiregrass Ranch, as a Morningstar storage (located behind the Audi dealership) opened in late 2018.
On the northern half of the property (closest to Mansfield), no business development plans have yet been submitted to the county, so Wiregrass is likely just making it “pad-ready” for future development with all those bulldozers — where the land is compacted, graded (leveled), zoned & platted, with approvals and utilities ready to go.
In these cases, specific building permits might be all that’s needed in the future.
Bay Paws Pet Resort
Back in our Apr. 16 issue, when we first announced Bay Paws Pet Resort was coming next to Wiregrass Ranch High, construction had not yet begun and building materials were being piled up behind a temporary chain link fence, in preparation for what will surely become a popular place for local pet owners.
There’s been a lot of progress on the Bay Paws Pet Resort on Mansfield Blvd.
Those materials have now taken shape, and the 15,000-sq.-ft. pet resort is coming together at a fairly brisk pace, with substantial and visible progress being made every week.
As the sign hanging outside states, Bay Paws will offer boarding, daycare and grooming on site (along with numerous other services). With it being located next to the schools, I’m sure many parents will be dropping off all their children (furry ones included) in one trip. The facility will offer a portal where customers can use cameras to monitor their pets throughout the day.
In addition to the building, there’s also going to be a generous 17,375-sq.-ft., fenced-in “outdoor turf group play area” and, according to the recently created Bay Paws Wesley Chapel Facebook site, this outdoor area also will include a “state-of-the-art splash pad” (there’s a cute video of what that looks like, with dogs enjoying it, on the Facebook page), like the one at the new Bay Paws location that just opened in Trinity. The page also says that a “Fall of 2024”opening is planned, with the exact opening date still to be announced.
MH Nail Studio
Two suites down from the new Enterprise Car Rental, and also in front of Wiregrass Ranch High, is the recently opened MH Nail Studio. While this isn’t the first nail salon in Wiregrass, it is the first one centrally located and closest to all the neighborhoods surrounding Mansfield.
The inside of the 1,800-sq.-ft. nail studio is a pleasant place to be, nice and bright (while still having soft lighting), with a very airy feeling, not too big or too small, with tall ceilings and everything appropriately spaced apart — MH has a well-executed and modern upscale layout with a welcoming staff.
Originally planning to open in August, some delays ended up pushing the salon’s Grand Opening to Sept. 12. Owner/operator Rubin Bao said that he lives just outside of Wesley Chapel, but decided to start looking for a location in Wesley Chapel, specifically the Wiregrass area, because he saw it as a developing and expanding area poised for growth.
Rubin explained that they signed this location in November of 2023 and had permits for construction in April of this year, and have worked diligently since then to get everything ready. Rubin credits his family and friends for helping him out, and getting him quickly past the learning curve of how to start and operate his very first Nail Studio.
He also credits and appreciates his customers for getting word out about their opening and says that being right near multiple schools has worked out pretty well, as staff from those schools, including one of the principals, has visited and told others about their experience.
And, since a lot of parents pick up their high schoolers from that plaza/gas station area, many have come in to check it out and decided to get their nails done together. He said it’s typically hard to find parking for about a 15-30-minute window each school day in the afternoon, but the exposure is a great upside!
When asked if he knew what was coming to the empty suites on either side of his nail salon, Rubin stated that he heard one might be a ramen noodle place. We’ll see!
Meadow Pointe II To Build On Empty Mansfield Blvd. Lot
A game plan has been formulated, and preliminary designs are finally moving forward for the large empty grass lot next to the Kids R Kids Learning Academy, on the southeast corner of the signalized intersection for Mansfield Blvd. (photo below) and County Line Rd., directly across the street from the neighborhood CVS Pharmacy.
This empty lot sits right in the heart of Meadow Pointe II, caddy-corner from the existing clubhouse, and is being planned as additional facilities for the community.
Justin Wright, the operations manager for Meadow Pointe II, says that, “The plan is to build a multiuse building for Meadow Pointe II. There are no plans [drawings] at this time as we just selected an architect to start the design process.”
The architect referred to will be Renker Eich Parks Architects, who were selected by community staff in August of this year. They are a local firm from St. Petersburg, who specialize in historic preservation and urban planning, but have done a number of public school and government building design projects, including for USF and the Pasco County School Board.
According to Wright, the uses of the future space are being specifically envisioned for maintenance operations, meetings and staff office space. The target year for construction to begin is 2025, and the community has currently set aside $900,000 for the building.
The additional land was purchased by Meadow Pointe II in November of 2018 from Trout Creek Properties for $850,000 (according to appraiser records). The total size of the parcel the community owns on that corner is now 5.32 acres, which includes the existing paved access road and the drainage pond behind (to the east of) Kids R Kids, and part of the wetland to the south. The buildable project area, that most residents see as the empty grass lot next to the signal, will be between 1.5-2 acres of the total 5.32 acres.
This current proposal might be a relief to many who have seen this lot sit mostly empty for 25 years, except for some rubble/rock piles and the occasional semi-truck that used to park out there.
The previous major proposal, that caused an uproar with the community residents in 2017-18, even leading to a signed petition against it and the eventual purchase of the property by Meadow Pointe II, was for a 7-Eleven gas station, which ended up going in front of Wiregrass Ranch High instead, at Mansfield and Hueland Pond Blvd., and which opened in 2022.
Dist. 2 Pasco Commissioner Seth Weightman (below left)is proud of Pasco’s new ordinance to limit new car washes to no more than one every 1.5 miles. (Above)
District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman says he has learned a lot about the inner workings of the county government since he took office in 2022.
Weightman also says that listening to his Dist. 2 constituents has had him working to solve county problems — such as limiting the ability for new car washes to open countywide, but especially in the Wesley Chapel area, where there already are 25 or more…with more still to come.
“I’m proud that, at our September 17 Board of County Commissioners meeting, we passed (by a 5-0 vote) a new ordinance limiting new car washes to no more than one in a Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) and to keep them at least 1.5 miles apart,” Weightman says, noting that already approved (and built) car washes would not be affected by the new ordinance. “I agreed with my constituents that this needed to get done.”
After seeing the overwhelming number of car washes in the Wesley Chapel area, Weightman asked the county staff several months ago to come up with a map showing the existing car washes, many of which were so close to each other the labels for them were on top of each other on the map. He also hopes to create a similar map showing all of the storage facilities in Pasco (there are at least 12 in the Wesley Chapel area).
“The problem is that businesses like these take up a lot of area but don’t really bring a lot of new employment to the county,” he says. “We want our commercial land to be home to businesses that are employment centers.”
Weightman, who attends the openings of as many new such employment centers as possible (including the Grand Opening of the new downtown building in Avalon Park), also has been keeping tabs on all of our area road projects, especially the widening of both Old Pasco Rd. and Wesley Chapel Blvd., a new traffic signal at the intersection of S.R. 56 and Lajuana Blvd., and intersection improvements at S.R. 56 and Meadow Pointe Blvd.
The long-awaited Old Pasco Rd. widening (sign above) is proceeding apace, especially the grading of the land (below) along Old Pasco Rd. (both north & south of Overpass Rd., including in front of the new Sanctuary Ridge subdivision). The contract for the widening was amended in July to add a 6-ft.-wide sidewalk on the west side of Old Pasco Rd. heading south from Cypress Creek Middle & High Schools.
Old Pasco Rd. — Weightman says that in July, the $22-million contract between the county and B.R.W. Contracting was amended (it is now a nearly $30-million agreement) and the length of time was extended (by an additional 400 days) to extend the project further north of Overpass Rd. and to add a 6-ft.-wide sidewalk on the west side of Old Pasco Rd. to provide “connected pedestrian and bicycle facilities and needed roadway capacity to the Cypress Creek school campus, improving safety for all roadway users. The amendment results in substantial time and cost savings to the County by precluding the need for a separate solicitation for the shorter additional length of road.”
Wesley Chapel (WC) Blvd. — Although we had originally heard that the $69.4-million WC Blvd. widening was going to begin sooner than later (we reported an expected August start date in our May 14 issue), at our press time, we hadn’t seen much, if any activity — not even utility work.
Because WC Blvd. is a portion of S.R. 54, Weightman says that the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) is responsible for the project, but that he was going to find out when the actual work was set to begin.
“What we do know is that once this project starts, a lot of people who live along Wesley Chapel Blvd. are going to be affected,” he says.
The three-year project will impact those living from south of Lexington Oaks (including in Grand Oaks, The Oaks, Cypress Estates, Stagecoach and others), “but the sooner it starts the sooner it can get done,” Weightman says.
S.R. 56 at Lajuana Blvd. — If you check out the local Facebook communities, there is agreement that one of — if not the most dangerous — intersections in the Wesley Chapel area is the intersection of S.R. 56 and Lajuana Blvd., which is the road with Cooper’s Hawk on the west side and the Audi Wesley Chapel dealership on the east side.
Although many locals believe that the speed limit also needs to be reduced on S.R. 56, Comm. Weightman says that, at its Sept. 17 meeting, the County Commission acted to help try to fix the problem at this intersection with a new traffic signal. The $139,590 project was awarded to Kissinger Campo & Associates Corp.
“There’s no doubt that this is a huge deal and really needed,” Weightman says. “I’ve been pushing for it ever since I first came into office. We got that expedited. That is definitely a dangerous intersection, so I’m excited that it’s finally happening.”
S.R. 56 at Meadow Pointe (MP) Blvd. — Although this item was passed in July, Weightman also says that improvements are coming to the intersection of S.R. 56 and Meadow Pointe (MP) Blvd. (see graphic on this page).
The big news with this item is that a much-needed second left turn lane will be added for the traffic heading eastbound on 56 onto MP Blvd. northbound. In addition, a second left turn lane also will be added for northbound traffic on MP Blvd. to turn west onto S.R. 56. The project also will include signal modifications.
County Budget — “With the passing of this budget (also on Sept. 17), we cut general operating millage and, with me being the budget guy, I always want us to be very measured in taxes on folks. We dropped the road maintenance MSTU (Municipal Services Taxing Unit) from 0.5 mills to 0.4 mills. Among the items in this budget are several intersection improvements in the Meadow Pointe/Union Park area and those, by government speed standards, are going to be coming along pretty quickly.”
Unfortunately, those planned improvements were not presented as line items in the budget, so I can’t provide specifics as to what those improvements will be until (most likely) next issue.
Live Local Update — Although he says that there has not yet been any significant change in the plans for the previously commercially zoned parcel being called the ”Woods at Wesley Chapel” (or, as some still refer to it, the previously planned Lowe’s Home Improvement) site off S.R. 54 at Curley Rd. attempting to re-zone for apartments under the so-called “Live Local Act,” Weightman says that there has been progress made on the other Wesley Chapel site that had considered rezoning under Live Local, on Overpass Rd. at Old Pasco Rd.
“They are not using Live Local, but they are now proposing a different mixed-use site plan with residential components on it that currently aren’t there (in the approved zoning) today,” Weightman says. “There is still conversation and activity around that, so even though they’re not using Live Local, they are proposing something that isn’t in the zoning the Board approved a couple of years ago. In other words, ‘We won’t play the Live Local card if you approve this kind of project instead.’ At least it’s collaborative and not hostile.”
AdventHealth Wesley Chapel president Erik Wangsness at the groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital’s expansion. (Photos by Charmaine George)
When AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) opened as the first hospital located in Wesley Chapel almost a dozen years ago (when it was called Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel) with just 83 total beds, the community was told that the plan was to eventually expand the number of beds to 300.
Since then, AHWC has done a lot more than just go through a name change to AHWC in 2019. First of all, two medical office buildings have opened (the AHWC Wellness Plaza in 2013 and the Outpatient Cancer & Research Center, in partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center, in 2021).
In addition, the hospital more than doubled its original 83 beds to 169 in 2016, which also included increasing from four operating rooms to 12 and from 20 emergency room (ER) beds to 35.
But, along with the recent establishment of the new family care residency program and the freestanding emergency room in Meadow Pointe (as we reported last issue), AHWC held a groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital’s upward expansion on Aug. 15. Although Jannah and I were not personally able to attend that event, photographer Charmaine George did attend and made sure she recorded all of the proceedings for me, so I could write this story.
On hand for the event were District 54 State Rep. Randy Maggard, Pasco Commissioners Jack Mariano (Dist. 5), Seth Weightman (Dist. 2) and Board Chair Ron Oakley (Dist. 1), and Pasco Fire Chief Tony Perez, as well as members of both the hospital’s Governing Board and its Foundation’s Board and the AdventHealth Division office. AHWC president Erik Wangsness also introduced Bill Porter of the Porter Family Trust and Scott Sheridan of Locust Branch, LLC, the developer of Wiregrass Ranch, “since we are located on the Porter family’s land,” Wangsness said.
Wangsness also thanked those involved in the design and construction of the hospital expansion, including the AdventHealth Office of Design & Construction, architects HuntonBrady, design engineers Smith Seckman Reed, Atwell civil engineers and general contractor Batson Cook.
“This hospital is not yet 12 years old,” Wangsness said. “It opened in 2012 with 83 beds but was designed to grow with the community. We’re at 169 now but this expansion will allow us to add 72 inpatient beds, which is important for us — even though there are other facilities opening around us — since this community continues to grow in a meaningful way.”
Several different groups took part in the groundbreaking. This photo includes State Rep. Randy Maggard (far right) and three Pasco County commissioners, as well as the hospital’s management team.
“Case in point,” he added, “We have around 20 patients waiting at our Emergency Department this morning for admission. We need the [additional] capacity to continue to serve this growing community. And, the development isn’t going to stop, so it’s time for us to continue to grow.”
In addition to the inpatient beds, Wangsness said the expansion will add a couple of additional operating rooms, endoscopy suites, pre- and post-op beds, additional imaging, a PET-CT (positron emission tomography-computed tomography) suite and a hybrid lab (a traditional lab that also can double as a surgical operating room), “that will help us grow in the severity of the patients we can serve. I want to thank all of you for joining us on this warm, muggy morning.” Wangsness also said the expansion should be completed by the end of 2025.
Also on hand were Bill Porter (left) of the Porter family & Scott Sheridan of the Wiregrass Ranch development team.
Wangsness then introduced Rep. Maggard, who said, “We all know how important it is for Advent to be doing this for our community. I can truly say that when I go to Tallahassee, people know [there is] no district like we have, District 54, with the community partners we have here. It is special and I feel very honored to be able to help in any way I can to help this area grow.”
Rep. Maggard also mentioned Pasco Hernando State College and its nearby Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, which recently expanded its nursing program (as we reported last issue). “We can see a future that’s bright for our area.”
He also mentioned that the need for health care facilities will continue to grow. “We expect a 20% population growth for Pasco County by 2045,” he said. “If you think the traffic’s bad now, just wait.”
Comm. Oakley also said he was honored to be on the Foundation Board for AdventHealth, and to be on-hand for yet another major event for the hospital, “which is such a great community partner.” He also said that AHWC’s competition, with one additional hospital built and 1-2 others being built, means all of the hospitals “will be competing to be number 1. The benefactors of that competition are the people of Pasco County.”
Wangsness said that because Comm. Oakley mentioned AHWC’s competition, “I just want to say that we’ve been recognized by Newsweek magazine three years in a row as one of the ‘World’s Best Hospitals.’”
Comm. Weightman, whose Dist. 2 includes the hospital, then also thanked the Porter family for its vision for Wiregrass Ranch.
Norm Stein
“It wasn’t long ago that this was all wide open… with cows roaming around…and Bruce B. Downs was a road to nowhere. But, we’ve grown in incredible leaps and bounds over the past decade. The vision of Wiregrass Ranch and AdventHealth…it’s just such a fantastic place to be for our community. The investment that Advent continues to make…and the jobs… it’s just phenomenal.”
Speaking of vision, the final speaker before the groundbreaking was former University Community Hospital president and long-time AHWC Board member Norm Stein, whom Wangsness credited with having the vision for the need to build a hospital in Wesley Chapel.
“It was Dec. 14, 2010, when we had another groundbreaking,” Stein said. “The late Don Porter had walked into my hospital and told me of his idea to build a hospital in this part of Pasco and to have a college that could provide nursing students for that hospital. And, he wanted to see both of those institutions come together on his property. And you know what? It wasn’t easy, but it happened.”
According to admin Kelly Gilroy’s personal Facebook profile, the Facebook page called “Pasco County Development & Growth Updates” (PCDGU) was first created and started posting in July of 2023, and there’s no doubt that it has quickly become the most trusted online source for new information about new residential and commercial developments — not just in Wesley Chapel but for all of Pasco County — in a very short time.
And, for good reason. As the editor of the most trusted print source of news and information about Wesley Chapel and New Tampa for the last 30 years, all I can say is that page administrators David Hutsell and Kelly Gilroy have done — and continue to do — an amazing job of releasing information supplied to the county, usually the same day these development applications are filed.
Rather than express any kind of professional jealousy about how they’ve captured the imagination of local residents, I have found that PCDGU and the Neighborhood News have developed a kind of synergy — they make the announcements and we (myself and editorial researcher/correspondent Joel Provenzano) follow up to try to give additional information about them. A few times, we’ve been the first to note that a previously announced development was scrubbed or its application was withdrawn, but most of the time, the information, site maps and other graphics in PCDGU are truly spot-on.
Of Facts & ‘Myth’
One of the things that makes the volume of information they put out on an ongoing basis so impressive is that Kelly and David both apparently have full-time jobs. We found this out when we exchanged private Facebook messages with Kelly — once — and have tried a few times to get an actual interview with her and/or David (which she said they were amenable to do, but that they’re both super-busy; she also said that it was probably best for us to interview David, since PCDGU is his page), but as of the day I am writing this column, no such interview has yet been set up.
A few local news reporters, including yours truly, have tried to find out from our county commissioners and county staff if perhaps either David or Kelly or both currently or previously worked for the county, but several months ago, one Pasco commissioner told me, “No one in Pasco County government even knows who they are or how they keep such close tabs on everything that comes before us. Some of our staffers have even said they think their profiles are fake or that the administrators don’t use their real names on their page.”
Whoa. This mythology about them has grown in part because Kelly has only one photo on her personal profile page and, according to many people I’ve spoken with about it — and it seems that everyone I talk to about it wants to know — “it looks more like an illustration or AI-generated than a photo.” Her profile also says her work is “AVP – Risk Analytics at Banking Industry” and that she is married and lives in Lutz. Whenever she is asked in the comments of a post what her actual job is, she says “I work in commercial banking” (the same thing she told me on the phone).
Meanwhile, David’s personal profile says that he works at St. George Capital Partners, LLC, which is based in Palm Beach Gardens.
Considering the amount of valuable information Kelly and David put out, and the fact that (it seems) everyone wants more information about them, it’s probably a good idea that they have remained mostly anonymous doing what I assure you is not easy to do.
Back in the “good old days,” before everything submitted to a county or city government was available online, in order to get information about new developments, I’d have to go to the New Port Richey Government Center (for Wesley Chapel) or to downtown Tampa (for New Tampa), pull the files and take film pictures of the maps, charts and development info. Easy, right?
Nowadays, however, all of that info, once it’s been filed, is available online — if you know where to look. We have usually waited until a development review has been put on an agenda of the county’s Planning Commission or Board of County Commissioners (BOC) before putting that information in front of our readers. But, even though some of what PCDGU puts out is preliminary and subject to change — and Kelly and David always mention when it is — there’s no doubt that they continue to do an amazing job of providing that information.
And, this is true despite the fact that whenever someone asks on their page, “What’s coming to…,” too many people are still making the same tired jokes about car washes and self-storage facilities, while others try to turn every post into a political argument (usually) condemning the BOC and county staff. It’s a lot for them to put up with, considering that this isn’t either of their full-time jobs. Kelly, in particular, continues to try to shut down such unnecessary nonsense, but I’m sure it isn’t easy.
We also appreciate it whenever Kelly or David post Neighborhood News stories in response to comments on their page. Keep up the great work, you two! Let’s make that interview happen!
Above is a list of new developments from PCDGU since Aug. 1 that we plan to update.
The Road Connecting Wesley Chapel To San Antonio Is Rapidly Becoming A Unique Destination Of Its Own
The map shows the portion of Curley Rd. from S.R. 54 on the southern end to where the northern portion meets S.R. 52. The numbers on the map correspond to the numbers in the story on pgs. 9-12. (Source: Google map modified by Neighborhood News; numeric locations on the map are approximate & map is not to scale)
While growth is inevitable when you’re anywhere along the outside edge of Tampa (the third largest city in Florida), the explosive growth in Wesley Chapel has been pretty much unfathomable, and northern Wesley Chapel (along Curley Road) has been no exception.
In fact, the area near Watergrass and the Epperson Crystal Lagoon (see map) has already grown so much, and so quickly, that the state and county realized a new interstate interchange was needed at I-75 and Overpass Rd. to handle all the current and future traffic this area will produce.
To give an example of the amount of growth we’ve seen, two years ago, Pasco County finally surpassed Hillsborough County in the total number of development permits requiring state approval. In 2013, there were just a handful of these new developmental permits, but each year since then, the number grew almost exponentially, and anyone who’s been here that long (or longer) has been able to see it with their own eyes. Even someone who moved here just three years ago could easily see massive changes around them — and not everyone is a fan of it.
If you go back 20 years or so, Curley Rd. featured unobstructed rolling hills, green pastures (many with cows) and spectacular countryside. There was a sense of calm and serenity many couldn’t find anywhere else. Curley Rd. was like a gateway to peace and freedom. Today, when you turn off S.R. 54 heading north on Curley, things have changed quite a bit.
First, the road itself needed to change. A number of roundabouts were added, and Curley Rd. was redesigned to be easily expandable to a 4-lane divided roadway in the future, without much reconfiguration. Eventually, the road also will be realigned at its south end through the Chapel Crossings community, where it meets up with Meadow Pointe Blvd. (as we’ve reported before).
But, if you drive in the new neighborhoods, past the houses on the western edge of Epperson, you can still catch glimpses of sprawling vistas between houses, especially near King Lake, which is visible from a section of recently completed M/I Homes. Those few lucky home owners now get to enjoy those million-dollar views for far less. But, long before now, this part of Wesley Chapel has been growing new communities to take advantage of this beautiful landscape.
Along Curley Rd. itself, Bridgewater was the last community that was completed during the pre-recession boom. Watergrass was started soon after, before the Great Recession of 2008-09, but sat stalled for nearly six years, before finally picking up steam again. Then came Epperson. Then came the Sentosa Epperson Apartments, literally centered on the area. Then came the pressing need for more “stuff.”
With the growth in population inevitably comes the need for support businesses like grocery stores, gas stations, medical offices, restaurants and schools. Some of these have already been added along Curley Rd. — such as the new Publix with its drive-through pharmacy and sit-down bar, Starbucks, Circle K and Florida Medical Clinic — and are a joy for most local residents. For entertainment and relaxing, the Epperson Lagoon and the even larger Mirada Crystal Lagoon (just north of Wesley Chapel) have proven to be very popular.
Note – Each of the developments mentioned on pages 9-12 corresponds to a number on this map.
The sign shows the location of the wooded 26-acre lot (one acre is for the access road) where a mixed-use apartment & office/retail development is proposed north of S.R. 54, on the west side of Curley Rd. (#1 on map) (Photo: Joel Provenzano)
1. Apartments and Commercial — On the northwest corner of the signal at S.R. 54 and Curley Rd. is a 26-acre wooded site (adjacent to the community of Pine Ridge; photo) that has caused quite a stir for both the county and residents alike, for a few different reasons.
In the fall of 2021, the first proposed mixed-use development at this site, called “Oakview,” was submitted by Heidt Design for a pre-application meeting with the county, but after many delays, Heidt contacted the county and canceled the meeting and the project itself. Oakview would have included an adjacent parcel (for a total of 42 acres) and would have required a county plan amendment to make it work.
The next proposal came in early 2023, for a corner medical facility with garden apartments in the back. This development also required a plan amendment and the county issued comments, but no further action was taken. The thing that made many local residents excited (except for the county and the state) was the proposal that came less than one month later (in March of 2023), this time for a Lowe’s Home Improvement store with a gas station in front and multiple other commercial outparcels. The announcement caused quite a stir in local social media communities, with many excited for the possibility of a Lowe’s being built.
But, this was only a concept proposal and both the county and state were very hesitant about it, due to the Lowe’s causing major traffic concerns, as the property didn’t have the appropriate access to handle the heavy traffic a Lowe’s and additional outparcels would generate. The pre-application meeting with Pasco ended up being canceled by the developer a month later (in Apr. 2023), but people were so excited that they didn’t realize the plan was withdrawn, and the story about Lowe’s kept getting shared on social media well into the beginning of 2024, causing a little confusion, because the next development proposal for apartments came in Aug. 2023. It’s unknown if a Lowe’s is planning to build anywhere else in Wesley Chapel.
As we reported in our Dec. 26, 2023, issue, the “Woods at Wesley Chapel” ended up proposing apartments for the entire 26-acre parcel (with one acre for an access road), which lessened the major traffic concerns (as apartments are much lower traffic generators than a major commercial development), but ended up creating new concerns for the county.
Pasco still wanted to see at least a lower intensity commercial use on the property — like medical/dentist offices or something similar — for job creation and to keep the land use diverse (not all residential), but the developer strictly wanted apartments, and even invoked the recently created “Live Local Act” (a state mandate that allowed “workforce” apartments on land not necessarily set aside or zoned specifically for that purpose, as long as it met certain affordable housing requirements).
Well, as we reported in that June 11, 2024, issue, the county has since opted out of the “Live Local Act,” which required the developer to go back to the drawing board, and they did. The most recent proposal (submitted on July 17) for a new pre-app meeting has now integrated commercial and retail in a very unique and slightly odd way, by “vertically integrating” and setting aside the ground floor of the apartment buildings facing S.R. 54 entirely to commercial use, and also have two traditional commercial outparcels on the east and west corners of the development (totaling 2.5 acres).
The vertical integration is what’s also being proposed for the apartments next to Sam’s Club on S.R. 56, again to appease the county’s desires for land to be used for jobs and businesses. When it’s all said and done, these “Woods at Wesley Chapel” apartments on Curley Rd. and S.R. 54 will have a total of 51,600 sq. ft. of commercial space. There will be eight apartment buildings of four stories each, with ten units per story, for a total of 300 units. Remember that for two of those buildings, the bottom floor will be entirely commercial (what would have previously been 20 additional residential units). Of the 300 units, 90 would have just one bedroom, 150 would be two-bedroom and 60 would be three-bedroom rental apartments.
There’s a proposed connection to Rotella Dr. in Pine Ridge which will give users of this site access to Curley Rd. It’s unknown when the developer for this current plan will be meeting with the county, but we’ll keep an eye on the status and see what the county decides.
2. Gas Station & Small Grocery Store — On the opposite side of Curley Rd. from the proposed Woods apartments, on the northeast corner of the signal at S.R. 54 and Curley Rd., are five connected parcels totaling about five acres that are currently sitting with just a couple of older houses on them.
Back in June of 2023, Solid Rock Property Group submitted a preliminary concept plan for a pre-app meeting (covering these five parcels) that proposed a 6,000-sq.-ft. gas station with 18 fueling positions and an adjacent 20,000-sq.-ft. small grocery store, consistent with something like an Aldi or even (but don’t even think it!) a Trader Joe’s?
Comments were submitted by the county in Aug. 2023, but no further action has been taken, no site plans or other documents have been resubmitted by that developer or any other, so it’s still up in the air what development will be on this property.
3. Storage Facility — Immediately north of the proposed gas station (on the east side of Curley Rd.), on a 4.5-acre lot, is a proposed two-story self-storage facility, totaling approximately 110,000 sq. ft. Plans for this facility started back in spring of 2023, but a rezoning of the property was required, and the plan ended up changing from three stories to only two, but still retaining the same total square footage. In addition, the original two driveways were reduced to only one, to satisfy access management requirements.
The developer (Public Storage) is still actively working on getting this facility approved. The most recent plans were submitted in June, but those were denied on a really odd technicality — due to the developer already having plans submitted only a month earlier in May that hadn’t been fully reviewed yet. And, since those plans were still active (not yet withdrawn), the county, according to its staff’s notes, must finish its review on the earlier plans first before starting review on the second set. The first plans (from May) show a minor widening of Curley Rd. to allow for a left turn lane into the driveway. The newer plans were not yet viewable in the county’s system.
4. Townhomes — Immediately to the north of the proposed storage facility (on the east side of Curley Rd.) was a planned 87-unit townhome project (by Resibuilt Homes) on a 13-acre lot, but that plan was withdrawn in Apr. 2022 before the developer even met with the county. It’s likely that the developer was just doing preliminary due diligence as the property has not been purchased yet and is still with the owner from that time (MRM Family Trust). No other plans have been submitted to the county since then, but the property is currently listed for sale by Doyle & McGrath for $13 million.
Vida’s Way (#5 below & on map) is a new single-family development that will be built on the eastward extension of Wells Rd. from Curley Rd. (Photo by Joel Provenzano)
5. Single Family (Depue Ranch/Vida’s Way) — Immediately to the north of the proposed townhome site (still on the east side of Curley Rd.) and extending north past Wells Rd. to the southern edges of the Bridgewater and Watergrass communities is the massive Depue Ranch Master-Planned Unit Development (MPUD), which encompasses approximately 930 acres. The first community being built in Depue Ranch is Vida’s Way, a 332-acre single-family-home community by Pulte Homes.
One of the most noticeable parts of this community for Curley Rd. will be the eastward extension of Wells Rd., which is a Pasco Vision Road. Today, Wells Rd. serves primarily the Wesley Chapel school complex, which consists of Wesley Chapel Elementary, Thomas Weightman Middle School and Wesley Chapel High, although there also is an entrance to Bridgewater from the already-built portion of Wells Rd.
There’s currently a signal at the T-intersection with Curley Rd., where (at some point) Wells Rd. will be extended to the east for almost four miles, to eventually connect with Eiland Blvd., providing residents another way to get to Zephyrhills. Along the route, Wells Rd. will pass through and intersect the Watergrass Pkwy. extension (which currently is under construction) and the future Zephyrhills Bypass extension. The developers along this route will be responsible for building their respective sections of Wells Rd. and then conveying it to the county.
6. Standalone Emergency Room in Epperson — On May 13 of this year, Epperson submitted a zoning verification letter request to Pasco, stating, “I hereby request a zoning verification letter that a Free-Standing Emergency Department is a permitted medical office use in the Epperson Ranch CC-MPUD and is a permissible use in the Service Ready Site Acreage portion of the MPUD. The proposed FSED will NOT allow for overnight stays. See LDC Section 522.9.I.4.c(1). Parcel ID Nos. 34-25-20-0000-00100-0012 and 35-25-20-0000- 00300-0020.”
The two parcels mentioned in this request (totalling 35 acres) make up the entire (and currently vacant) southwest corner of the signal for Curley Rd. at Overpass Rd., across Overpass Rd. from the new Publix. A freestanding emergency room would only take up a small portion of the 35 acres, but this is the very first hint at what might be coming to this corner.
Rave Commercial’s future medical & retail site (#7 on map)
7. Retail & Medical Offices — Immediately to the north of the existing Florida Medical Clinic office building on the east side of Curley Rd. (photo, near right) lies an empty grass field of approximately 2.4 acres, where a single sign installed by the developer, Rave Commercial, currently says “Medical Office Retail For Lease.” This is where a proposed two-story retail and medical office building, totaling 28,000 sq. ft., is going to be built. The site plan received approval on Feb. 12 of this year and the developer has since requested additional development documents to get started with construction, so the moving of dirt may begin soon.
8. Nail Salon — Noire Nail Bar is planning to develop 2,100 sq. ft. of space next to the new Publix in Epperson, as part of the Epperson Commercial-Phase 1 plan, which was started in 2022. Leaders Construction Inc. has been planning the build-out, and has been busy securing all necessary permits, appearing to have received final plan approval on July 24. Noire Nail Bar currently has 180 locations in Florida, including one next to the Mellow Mushroom on S.R. 56. Keep an eye out for it, as it was announced it will be opening with a staff of 20 in the fourth quarter of this year.
The site that could include a future Chick-fil-A.
9. Dentist, Veterinarian, Spa, Car Wash & Chick-fil-A? — Immediately south of the new Circle K gas station (on the east side of Curley Rd.), lies roughly 4.5 acres of land that are currently being developed with five potential different uses (three of which are under the same roof). The most recent was a permit taken out last month for the build-out of the 4,137-sq.-ft. Heartland Dental. The Goodvets and Ann’s Spa & Nails would occupy the remainder of this 9,220-sq.- ft. building (although the exact size of each business was unknown) that’s currently under construction.
The most exciting part of this land for most local residents was the Chick-fil-A that was reported to be coming as early as last year. Well, Chick-fil-A did submit a preliminary site plan on Oct. 25 (SITEPLN-2023-00234) for a pre-app meeting and the chicken sandwich chain also submitted a plan for permit approval of a 5,333-sq.-ft. restaurant on Feb. 28 of this year, which appears to have extra-long dual drive-through lanes. Time will tell if and when the Chick-fil-A might be built, as no sign announcing its arrival was yet on the property at our press time for this issue.
What was on the sign out front was “Clean Freak Car Wash Powered by Circle K” which is assumed to go next to the 9,220-sq.-ft. Promenade Retail building. Unfortunately, plan specifics for the car wash were not viewable on the county’s permitting site.
10. Wendy’s, Bank & Drug Store — Just north of the new Starbucks (on the east side of Curley Rd.), at the northwest corner of the roundabout with Victory Crossing, sits an empty parcel that is just under four acres. There are a few things in the conceptual planning stage for this parcel. Closest to the Starbucks is a 3,000-sq.-ft. bank that just came in for a pre-app meeting with the county on July 8. Pasco staffers seemed generally favorable but listed a number of requirements for developments in this area to achieve the specific look the county wants.
Immediately north of the bank, on the same parcel, a new 2,239-sq.-ft. Wendy’s is being proposed. Preliminary plans were submitted on July 9 for the county’s consideration. North of the Wendy’s, a new 10,000-sq.-ft. Walgreens Pharmacy has been proposed, but the meeting for Walgreens was back in Oct. of 2023 and nothing additional has been submitted to the county since then.
Many more “support” businesses along the Curley Rd. corridor are currently under construction, in the planning stages, on hold, or may not be coming at all. We listened to the rumors and investigated the facts and will try to continue to bring you more answers about all of these in the future.
The Kirkland Ranch K-8 Magnet School (#11 on map)
11. Education Facilities — But, “more” is definitely still coming, as would be expected with an area of so many residents. Two that are opening now are thankfully education and child-care related.
On July 25, the Amazing Explorers Academy held the Grand Opening of a new 12,110-sq.-ft. building, located on the southeast corner of Curley Rd. at Overpass Rd. The preschool’s sign says that Amazing Explorers caters to “Infants, Preschool, & After School,” while offering ‘a “STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) Investigations Curriculum.”
The other new educational facility — which is expected to open in time for the fast-approaching 2024-25 school year — is the brand new Kirkland Ranch K-8 dedicated magnet school (photo above). Located behind the existing Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, the Pasco School District’s website says that the new K-8 school will be focusing on world languages and entrepreneurship.
Considering how much more of Curley Rd. there is extending north into San Antonio, all of these new and proposed uses are probably only the beginning. Of course, we’ll keep you posted as additional retail, restaurant, office, residential and other uses are announced and opened.
