Orlando Health Meets The Local Community At Chamber Event At PHSC 

(Above, l.-r.) NTBC President Hope Kennedy, PHSC Porter Campus Provost Dr. Davina Jones, Pasco EDC VP Mike Bishop, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter, Orlando Health VP John Walsh & Turner Construction VP Kim Neuscheler provided more than 150 attendees (photo below) with information about Wesley Chapel’s newest hospital at an NTBC-sponsored panel discussion on Feb. 21. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

Although Wesley Chapel already has two full-size, full-service hospitals located within a couple of miles of each other, the area’s largest hospital is now being built less than a mile from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, the first hospital to open (more than a decade ago) in any of Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes (33543, 33544 and 33545). 

And, although Orlando Health Wesley Chapel has not yet begun going vertical, when the nonprofit hospital operator asked North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) president & CEO Hope Kennedy if she would be interested in hosting a community meeting to introduce Orlando Health to the local community, Kennedy says she jumped at the opportunity. 

“It was a no-brainer for us,” Kennedy said after the meeting was held on Feb. 21 at Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, which is located within a few hundred feet of the new hospital site now under development at the corner of S.R. 56 and Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. 

Kennedy asked Porter Campus Provost Dr. Davina Jones if she would be interested in having the meeting at PHSC, where the Chamber hosts its monthly Business Breakfasts, and the event was quickly put together. 

More than 150 NTBC members and a number of local contractors interested in working with Orlando Health on the project came to the meeting, which featured Kennedy, Dr. Jones, Pasco Economic Development Council VP Mike Bishop, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter, Orlando Health VP of Facility Development & Asset Strategy John Walsh and Kim Neuscheler, the VP & general manager of Turner Construction Tampa, which is building the new hospital. 

Walsh said the 103-year-old Orlando Health decided to make its first foray into Pasco County and Wesley Chapel because of the area’s “amazing growth and opportunity,” especially after recently acquiring Florida Medical Clinic, the 52-office physician group that will allow Orlando Health to not only staff the new hospital, but create new partnerships in the area. 

When it is completed, Orlando Health’s will be the largest of the three hospitals in Wesley Chapel, at 395,000 sq. ft. and 300 total beds (although the $300-million first phase will include about 102 beds — 90 medical/surgical and 12 ICU and six operating rooms, with room for 78 additional beds in the building’s shell). It also will include two large (one 60,000 and the other 80,000 sq. ft.) medical office buildings on the same 35-acre site. 

Walsh also said that in addition to the Tampa office of Turner Construction, all of the subcontractors also will come from the local area, which explains in no small part why so many of those providers attended this community event. 

“This is such an exciting opportunity for Pasco County and the Wesley Chapel area,” Kennedy said. 

Walsh also stressed that although Orlando Health is building a hospital, “this is not a one-and-done kind of project…we’re also already working in Lutz to put in a free-standing ED (emergency department); we’re also building the two medical office buildings, which will have an ambulatory surgical center, imaging center and an array of acute care facilities and physician specialists to keep us all healthy, so maybe we won’t have to go through the doors of the hospital (which will need about 400 employees when it opens). It’s important to have that whole array of services. This is not ‘sick care,’ it’s health care.” 

Walsh also mentioned the possibility of adding 10-bed “micro-hospitals,” as needed to serve communities located further from the hospital that couldn’t necessarily support a full-size hospital of their own. 

“The most important things we build in a community is not the buildings,” Walsh added. “It’s the relationships.” 

Porter, who admitted that, “Our biggest fear was that this could turn out to be an albatross if we built too many hospitals,” also said that he knew Orlando Health was a great partner to work with and that, despite the presence of what will be three hospitals by sometime in 2026, “With all the growth out here, this area is actually still underserved. We’ve got a long, long way to go.” 

And, when Kennedy asked about what PHSC could do to help ensure that there is a useful workforce for the new hospital, Dr. Jones responded that, “As a State College, with a history as a Community College, we have a responsibility to know what the needs are in the communities that we serve. So, we’re asking ourselves now, ‘Do we have…are we offering… the right programs…to serve the business community that’s here?’ Our goal is to never get too comfortable and to always be willing to change with the community’s needs.” 

Meanwhile, Bishop agreed with Dr. Jones and talked about the growing life sciences in Pasco and the need for more partnerships. 

“Our challenge is to bring business to this county,” he said. “But, if we all work together, we can address the challenges we all face.” 

And, speaking of those partnerships, Neuscheler said that Turner, as one of the leading health care builders in the U.S., always strives to be a good community partner, giving “opportunities to smaller, local companies to do business with us, with our Turner Construction School, which many of you already have gone through, and is something we’ve done since 1969. We will be holding another one of those in October.” She added that veteran- and minority-owned companies will definitely be offered the opportunity to participate in this process. 

Neuscheler also noted that the hospital’s foundation should begin being built sometime in April or May, with vertical construction taking about six months once the foundation is laid. 

The panelists all also talked about innovation as an important part of the new hospital, which includes in construction, doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel and the equipment that they will be using — from robotic surgery to 3D printing, artificial intelligence and more. 

Walsh said that the merger with a respected partner like Florida Medical Clinic will help ensure that the right doctors will staff the hospital. 

“One of our mottos,” Walsh said, “is that we don’t just care for you, we care about you.” 

Business Briefs — Updates On The New Publix & The Latest Chamber Breakfast 

The very cool beer & wine bar at the new Publix on Overpass Rd. at Curley Rd. 

When Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I visited the new Publix supermarket at 32265 Overpass Rd. (at the corner of Curley Rd.) in a new shopping center called Innovation Springs, I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, drinking beer and wine at a supermarket isn’t anything new — I’ve had free samples at other Publixes and been able to walk around with wine at the local Sam’s Club — so I just had to go check it out and report back to you. 

First of all, even though there’s no hard liquor being sold (despite the fact a Publix Liquor Store is adjacent to the grocery store), this is the first time I’ve seen an actual bar inside a supermarket. And, the prices for the name label beer and wine are not only great, Publix’s policy of not allowing tipping of employees — although foreign to me at any bar — keeps the prices on everything even lower. 

For example, nice pours of popular Lamarca prosecco are only $6, glasses of two different kinds of Santa Margherita pinot grigio are just $8, 16-oz. pours of Keel Farms Agrarian Strawberry-Lime Cider are only $5 and my 32-oz. growler of Florida Ave. Dead Parrot was only $9, plus $4 additional if you keep the growler. If you return it at the end of your visit (or even sometime in the future), you get the $4 back. And, there also is covered outside and even private upstairs seating so you can watch shoppers checking out everything in the store. 

This 55,000-sq.-ft. Publix between Epperson and Watergrass is only the third such prototype store in Florida, and it is so much more than just a beer and wine bar. It’s clear that Publix is attempting to emulate the success of Whole Foods and other usually more upscale “green” grocers with not only an olive bar and expanded deli and hot foods sections (although a large portion of the prepared hot foods section wasn’t available when we visited), but also really decent (albeit not hot when we got it) pizza by the slice, a craft-it-yourself burrito and “bowl” bar and much more. 

The bottom line is that the new store is very cool and the prices overall didn’t seem higher than what I pay at my now-old-hat, closer-to-home Publix stores. So, even though it’s kind of far away from where we live, Janna h and I will surely be back. 

Thanks, Alexis! 

North Tampa Bay Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy, with Tampa Bay Business Journal editor-in-chief Alexis Muellner at the Chamber’s Feb. Business Breakfast.

After 30 years of successfully serving the communities of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, there are very few Tampa Bay-area media members I truly look up to in terms of their accomplishments. 

One of those, however, is definitely Tampa Bay Business Journal (TBBJ) editor-in-chief Alexis Muellner. Now in his 25th year with American City Business Journals and 20th year in his position at the TBBJ, I have spoken with this Wesley Chapel resident on numerous occasions throughout his tenure and he is a well-respected reporter and editor whose knowledge of the business climate throughout the Tampa Bay region is second to none. 

I truly enjoyed his “fireside chat” with North Tampa Bay Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy at the Feb. 6 NTBC Business Breakfast at Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus and I was glad to be able to provide him with some additional information about Pasco County’s struggle with the state’s new Live Local Act. Great job, Alexis! 

Chamber Up For National  Award

CEO Hope Kennedy has had a hand in putting Wesley Chapel on the map with her stewardship of the former Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, now known as the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC).

Hope Kennedy

Later this month, Wesley Chapel, and its massive growth, could play a hand in putting the Chamber itself on the map.

On July 26, Allen and Board member Michael Berthelette will be in Indianapolis answering questions from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) judges in a final test to see if the NTBC is named the Small Chamber of the Year for the entire country.

The extensive application process got the NTBC to the finals, but the 45-minute Q-&-A session on July 26 will account for 2/3 of the NTBC’s score.

The following night, at the Awards Show at ACCE’s annual convention in Indianapolis, the winners will be revealed.

“When I first looked at the application I giggled,” Kennedy says, referring to how difficult it looked. “But Javan (Grant, the current Board chair) convinced me to do it. (The application) ended up being 31 pages long. It’s very comprehensive. However, the end result is that we are a Chamber of the Year finalist.”

The NTBC touted two of its programs in 2020-21 in its application — a Road Show in which Kennedy went to businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic and filmed interviews for social media, letting people know which businesses were still open, and the Chamber’s reimagined Celebration of Excellence awards program, which was held both in-person and virtual last November.

The NTBC is a finalist in Category 1, the smallest category, along with the Mason City (IA) Chamber and the Zionsville (IN) Chamber.

The ACCE is comprised of more than 1,600 Chambers of Commerce from across the U.S. It will name four winners in four different categories (according to size, budget and location of the chamber).

“This is the Academy Awards for Chambers of Commerce, Kennedy says. “For me, this is the pinnacle of my career.”

The NTBC has 570 members, many of which are from Wesley Chapel and New Tampa, although there also are member businesses located in western Pasco and north Pinellas counties. Kennedy said when she started at the Wesley Chapel Chamber 11 years ago, there were roughly 200 members.

Awards are nothing new for the NTBC, which won the 2019 Small Chamber of the Year for the state of Florida from the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals (FACP).