As you drive eastbound on S.R. 56, past the main entrance to the Tampa Premium Outlets (at Grand Cypress Dr., between BJ’s Brewhouse and Cheddar’s), you may not realize that there is another mall entrance (above photo) that currently offers a right-in-only turn just before you reach Rock & Brews (below photo). Pasco County, FDOT, Sierra Properties & Raysor Transportation Consulting are looking into adding a lane that would provide vehicles with another way to exit the mall and get on I-75 southbound. (Photos by Charmaine George
Although we went to press with this issue the weekend before Black Friday, I am among the few local residents who avoids the Tampa Premium Outlets like the plague during the holiday shopping season.
Even though I hope both local shopping malls have a successful year, I just don’t have the patience to fight the traffic entering and exiting the outlet mall during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Case in point, despite the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) being pretty much fully open at S.R. 56 and I-75 last year at this time, the traffic getting both into and out of the Outlets was brutal.
I remember wondering to myself, “Why can’t someone look into adding at least another way to exit the mall?” And the corollary, “Why can’t they improve the interior roads at the mall to better handle the traffic?”
Well, it looks as though someone is trying the do something about it, which surely won’t be able to help the holiday traffic flow this year or probably even next year, but at least it’s becoming a possibility.
Mike Raysor, the president/owner of Raysor Traffic Consulting, LLC, says his company has been retained to study the possibility of adding a right-turn-out exit from, adjacent to the right-turn-in entrance to, the mall. Raysor is studying the possible effects not only on mall traffic but at the DDI itself, since the exit from the mall would put those exiting vehicles in what is now two entrance lanes to get onto southbound I-75.
Pasco County, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Sierra Properties, which has developed not only the outlet mall itself but also the development both north and south of S.R. 56 between I-75 and Wesley Chapel Blvd., are all working with Raysor’s company to study the potential effects, not only on traffic flow but also on safety, since adding the new mall exit would have an effect not only on southbound I-75, but also on vehicles attempting to head eastbound S.R. 56 and even some trying to cross enough lanes of traffic to get on northbound I-75 once they’ve exited the Outlets.
Raysor also has retained former FDOT transportation engineer Joel Provenzano to help with the traffic studies. Provenzano, who also provides editorial research for this publication, was unable to help with this story because of his new consulting position.
Provenzano was with FDOT when the “Mall Entrance” sign shown in the photo above left was erected at the right-in-only turn near Rock & Brews, in an effort to keep at least some traffic away from the mall’s main entrance at Grand Cypress Dr.
Unfortunately, Raysor says, that additional entrance hasn’t done as much as it possibly might have had there also been a right-out-exit at the same location. “A lot of people don’t even realize that entrance is there,” Raysor says, “but more people might recognize it as an entrance if there also was a way out of the mall in the same area.”
We’ll keep you posted as to the outcome of the study. In the meantime, can someone please look into closing off the median and the left turn at BJ’s right after you enter at the light at Grand Cypress or at least cut the hedges at that median to increase visibility?
The I-75/Overpass Rd. interchange (Photo: Florida Department of Transportation)
Overpass Rd. reopened to traffic Monday morning at 9 a.m. as the former bridge over I-75 was removed to make room for a new bridge as part of the $64-million diamond interchange project, which will include a flyover ramp for westbound traffic on Overpass Rd. to enter southbound I-75.
The bridge for westbound Overpass Rd. has been completed, and is being used for both directions of traffic as construction continues. The section of Overpass Rd. between Old Pasco Rd. and Boyette Rd. had been closed since Feb. 8, 2021.
The new diamond interchange is located almost directly between the S.R. 54 and 52 exits (roughly 3.5 miles south of S.R. 52.)
Only one lane is open in each direction, although additional lanes are expected to open sometime later this year or in early 2023. As a result of the new interchange, Overpass Rd. is being widened from two lanes to four lanes between I-75 and Old Pasco Rd, and six lanes between I-75 and Boyette Road.
Only vehicular traffic is allowed as construction continues to build sidewalks for future pedestrian use.
The diamond interchange including the flyover is expected to be completed sometime in summer 2023.
The rendering above shows the planned flyover entrance to I-75 at the new Overpass Rd. interchange (Exit 282), which began construction in October and is expected to be completed by 2023. (Rendering: FDOT)
Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore says one of the most common complaints he receives from his constituents is about the traffic, especially here in Wesley Chapel. Before too long, however, he says many of those complaints will go away.
“There’s a lot going on, and a lot of (transportation) projects are kind of coming together at once and are going to make an enormous and immediate impact,” Moore says.
Three major local road projects, totalling nearly $150 million combined, are under way right now. The projects — the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at S.R. 56 and I-75, the widening of S.R. 54 to past Morris Bridge Rd., and a new I-75 interchange at Overpass Rd. — will provide a large measure of relief to our area.
The widening of S.R. 54 (pictured here is the intersection of SR 54 and Meadow Pointe Blvd., as of December 13, 2020) is one of three major road projects, along with Overpass Rd. and the DDI, currently under construction in Wesley Chapel. (Photo: FDOT)
The $33-million DDI (which we’ve updated for you quite a bit recently) and the $42.5-million widening project — which will widen S.R. 54 from a two-lane road to a four-lane road with medians, and include a sidewalk on the north side and a 10-foot wide multi-use trail on the south side — are both well under way.
Meanwhile, the $70-million Overpass Rd. interchange will be located approximately halfway between the S.R. 54 and S.R. 52 exits (which are six miles apart), and work began on the project in October, with local road and drainage work in the southwest corner of the planned interchange.
Instead of a traditional interchange, or even another DDI (which was considered), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Pasco County have settled on a flyover ramp onto southbound I-75 from westbound Overpass Rd., similar to the one in New Tampa at the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. Exit 270 off I-75. The Overpass Rd. interchange will be Pasco County’s first flyover.
The existing Overpass Rd. bridge over I-75 is being torn down and will be replaced by two bridges, one each for eastbound and westbound traffic on Overpass Rd.
“You could say incorporating that particular design is the wave of the future,” Moore says. “We’re not going have to have to go back and fix something like what’s going on with S.R. 56 and I-75. With that interchange, it’s just going to be general maintenance.”
FDOT’s John McShaffrey says the flyover configuration was selected “primarily because this alternative provides the most capacity to handle anticipated future traffic demands for the westbound Overpass Rd. to southbound I-75 traffic movement.”
The project also will include the widening of Overpass Rd. from two lanes to four lanes between the interstate and Old Pasco Rd., and from two lanes to six lanes between the interstate and Boyette Rd.
The interchange is being constructed by the Middlesex Corporation, and is expected to have a major effect on the adjacent interchanges. It was the best choice to accommodate the traffic from future development coming to the east side of the county, primarily from the Epperson Ranch and Pasadena Hills communities.
Other benefits of the I-75/Overpass Rd.) interchange, according to FDOT:
* It will substantially reduce traffic at the adjacent interchanges (SR 54 & SR 52), thus improving the traffic flow at both of these interchanges (reducing delays and improving safety).
* It will provide a detour route for traffic on I-75, quicker access for first responders servicing this area of I-75, and another access point to I-75 for evacuees during emergency evacuations.
* It is an integral part of the transportation network being developed in this growing area of the county, and is identified as a needed improvement to accommodate the Villages of Pasadena Hills development and the Connected Cities development.
* Will improve access to I-75 for businesses that will be located at the approved Overpass Business Center, and will provide a direct route for businesses that are/will be located along the entire length of Overpass Rd., as it develops eastbound towards U.S. 301.
* FDOT and the county both acknowledge that the existing system, even with reasonable improvements, is incapable of satisfactorily accommodating future traffic demands. The location of this new Exit 282 Overpass Rd. interchange is ideal in terms of placement (approximately 3 miles from both Exit 285, or SR 52, and Exit 279, or SR 54).
The estimated completion time of the Overpass Rd./I-75 interchange is summer 2023. The DDI and widening of S.R. 54 could be completed by the end of this year.
“I’m excited as a resident and as someone who has a wife and daughter that drive,” Moore says. “We see the effects the traffic has. But, also as an economic impact, too. When companies are looking to grow or relocate, they are looking for areas that have a great transportation infrastructure.”
Pasco County planner Matt Armstrong hopes to settle the debate over Wesley Chapel borders.
Following presentations last month by both the Greater Wesley Chapel (WCCC) and Central Pasco (CPCC) Chambers of Commerce, the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) could be set Wesley Chapel borders with Lutz/Land O’Lakes that ultimately should finally settle a long-simmering dispute at the BCC’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 26.
The commissioners are expected to vote on a recommendation from Pasco planners on definitive borders between the two Census Designated Places (Wesley Chapel and Land O’Lakes/Lutz together are both CDPs) during the meeting at the West Pasco Government Center Board Room in New Port Richey.
Until then, county planners and administrators are poring over a stack of documents from each side — and even getting some help from the folks at Google maps —interpreting where those borders should be.
“We are looking to establish a city boundary by legislative action,’’ said Matt Armstrong, the county’s executive planner. “None of these areas that are Census Designated Places have that. That’s some of the reason people have struggled with this.”
After separate meetings with the two groups last month, Armstrong said representatives from both areas will meet with each other in the next few weeks, with the county’s planning department serving as the moderator.
“Ultimately, we will be bringing a report to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation on what we think the boundaries will be,’’ Armstrong says. “The Board can hear public comment, and then we will be asking them to establish the borders.”
When broken down, the primary dispute seems to be over the slice of land between Wesley Chapel Blvd. and I-75 in the Cypress Creek Town Center Development of Regional Impact (DRI), which has been exacerbated recently by the steady business development in the area.
Armstrong said he was at one recent border meeting where a representative from one of the new businesses on the east side of Wesley Chapel Blvd. said they were happy to “be here in Lutz.”
But, take a look at the web page for Culver’s, which calls its restaurant on E. Bearss Ave. in Tampa “Culver’s of Tampa,” its restaurant in Largo “Culver’s of Largo,” and its restaurant in Port Richey “Culver’s of Port Richey.” At its brand new location on S.R. 56 west of the Tampa Premium Outlets mall, however (which physically is located on Sun Vista Dr. in Lutz), it is called “Culver’s of Wesley Chapel.”
And it isn’t alone. While all of the area being debated by the WCCC and CPCC has either Land O’Lakes or Lutz addresses and zip codes, many businesses in the area identify themselves as being in Wesley Chapel.
“It’s just a mess,’’ Armstrong says.
Where Are The Wesley Chapel borders?
While the current debate is about borders, it originally began, as we detailed in our last issue, as a disagreement over the renaming of the Wesley Chapel Blvd. extension where the extension now crosses southbound over S.R. 56 and continues toward County Line Rd.
The southern portion of the extension, said CPCC member Sandy Graves at the time, needed to represent Lutz-Land O’Lakes, the area through which it cuts. A petition requesting that the name of the southern portion of the extension be changed to Circle O Ranch was presented to the BCC on Jan. 19. But, Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce CEO Hope Allen protested, saying it needed to remain Wesley Chapel Blvd., as all of the businesses in the area already call it that and have for years.
Instead of making a decision, the BCC decided to explore the issue further. The Board members decided that defining the borders between Lutz-Land O’Lakes and Wesley Chapel needed to be settled first.
That set off a fact-finding mission by each side, in an effort to buttress their respective arguments. Representatives of Lutz-Land O’Lakes believe their border extends west to I-75. The Wesley Chapel side thinks its western border extends to Wesley Chapel Blvd. So, essentially, the area between Wesley Chapel Blvd. and I-75 is at the heart of the dispute.
The Wesley Chapel Chamber met with Armstrong and his staff Feb. 19, two weeks after he met with the CPCC.
“I think the meeting went fine,’’ said Allen. “I think we got our point across and delivered the message we went to deliver.”
Allen said her group presented a 70-page document backing their claims, as well as a 2005 Vision Report that the WCCC says was approved by Pasco commissioners.
The CPCC countered that its 2003 Vision Report was adopted first, and brought noted USF political science professor Susan McManus to its meeting with Armstrong to help make their case. McManus has co-written books on the history of Lutz and Land O’Lakes.
Armstrong jokes that he is becoming an expert on the histories of the two places, thanks to all of the material that has been presented to him to help settle the dispute, including volumes of McManus’ work, a trove of newspaper articles and even local historian Madonna Jervis Wise’s book on the history of Wesley Chapel (see pg. 1). The book, entitled Images of America: Wesley Chapel, says that Wesley Chapel was founded in the 1840s, and is shown on a 1879 survey map of Pasco County, before Land O’Lakes was established in 1949.
However, the dispute is not over what town existed first. And, even in carefully-researched historical records, there are no definitive boundaries laid out because neither area was ever incorporated, or essentially created as its own city with its own governmental structure.
But, the respective “hearts” of both areas — U.S. 41 in Land O’Lakes and the area around Boyette Rd. and S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel — are unmistakable, says Armstrong.
“The history points to early beginnings, and we know where the hearts of those communities are,’’ Armstrong said. “But, the boundary in between gets a little fuzzy.”
Pasco County currently only has six incorporated areas — the cities of Zephyrhills, Dade City, San Antonio, Port Richey and New Port Richey, and the incorporated town of Saint Leo.
The rest of the county is comprised of unincorporated Census Designated Places, like Wesley Chapel, Land O’Lakes/Lutz, Trinity and Hudson, to name a few. And, Armstrong says that 450,000 of the 490,000 people living in Pasco reside in those currently unincorporated areas.
Armstrong admits that so many areas without defined borders can create the kind of confusion we are seeing in Wesley Chapel and Lutz/Land O’Lakes, where postal zip codes have changed and there is a myriad of other “boundaries,” which can be confusing.
“Part of the frustration for the citizens who lives in any one of these places is, ‘What the heck, the zip code says this, the Census Designated Place says something else, my kids are going to school based on other boundaries and my voting precinct is somewhere else,’’’ Armstrong says. “It’s been like this for years, and now, it’s coming to a head.”
That’s actually a good thing, he says, because it is being done in the open and publicly. Much of the Lutz-Land O’Lakes anger stems from the belief that past decisions made by the BCC cut the area out of the process to accommodate Wesley Chapel’s growth and ongoing “branding.”
Wesley Chapel Blvd. is an example, according to Graves. It sprouted as a road name for the portion of S.R. 54 from S.R. 56 to Lexington Oaks when the Lutz-Land O’Lakes contingent thought it was going to be Worthington Gardens Blvd., a decision she said “happened overnight.”
The former “Wesley Chapel” placemaker sign was another example cited by Graves. It was put up a few hundred feet west of where Wesley Chapel Blvd. begins, clearly in Lutz’s 33559 zip code. Armstrong said the sign’s arrival “lit a match” in Pasco, and Graves led the fight to have the sign removed — which it was.
“The whole process hasn’t been completely transparent,’’ Armstrong says. “But, this time, it is.”
Both sides have been passionate about their arguments. The claim that the area, its residents and businesses would be much better served if the area was clearly defined as theirs. And, both claim history is on their side.
History, though, may give way to common sense.
“We will collect all of the history from both groups and look at some of the rational (potential) boundaries between the two things,’’ Armstrong says. “There may be a natural feature that divides the two, or a major road. But, it needs to make sense today, and that may be separate from history.”
How do you sum up, in one word, how many people in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel feel about the opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) on S.R. 56?
I think Stacey Nance, the general manager of the sparkling new outlet mall, said it best at the festive VIP Grand Opening event on October 29:
“Finally!”
After years of delays due to environmental concerns, TPO — which originally was supposed to open as a series of big box stores (similar to The Grove shopping plaza off Oakley Blvd. in Wesley Chapel) before both The Grove and the Shops at Wiregrass mall — has finally taken its opening bow.
And, despite previous concerns (and a Sierra Club lawsuit) about environmental impacts on the Cypress Creek watershed (a major source of drinking water for New Tampa) and the traffic the mall would bring, from what I’ve seen and heard so far, the reviews for the 441,000-sq.-ft. designer outlet mall are mostly raves.
And, with the deals the mall’s 100+ stores were offering throughoutthe Grand Opening weekend (Oct. 29-Nov. 1) — and the quality of the merchandise and the shops themselves — it was hard to not be impressed with TPO as a whole, regardless of any nit-picky little issues some have with it, such as:
1) TPO’s Name & Address — Despite the involvement and best efforts of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce from Day One of this project, the mall’s main address, on Grand Cypress Dr., is in Lutz, not Wesley Chapel — and certainly not in Tampa — although (as Nance has had to explain many times) Tampa is the city most people who live outside of our area will look for when they search on-line for it.
2) The Food Court — Those of us who have been looking for some great new restaurants are not going to find them in the mall’s five-eatery Food Court. On the other hand, the lines at Asian Chao, South Philly Cheesesteaks and Villa Italian kept moving.
3) Traffic & Parking — The opening weekend traffic at TPO was greatly helped by the mall’s hiring of multiple off-duty law enforcement officers and their vehicles. How long that additional help will be on the scene remains to be seen, but this reporter was impressed by the lack of delays on S.R. 56.
As for parking, it’s also been pretty incredible how hard all those valet parking and orange-vested parking “directors” already have been working and how easily visitors have been able to get in and out of the mall’s 2,200 parking spaces (plus overflow lots). The opening weekend had some temperatures in the low 90s, but you have to wonder how the parking help will hold up in the heat of our Florida summers.
VIP Breakfast
John and I were among the hundreds of media, Chamber and local governmental dignitaries on hand on Thursday morning for the mall’s amazing VIP breakfast.
With incredible food like breakfast crepes, pecan-crusted chicken & waffle “bites” and mini-Monte Christo sandwiches and adult beverages (I was among those raving about the mimosaswith not only orange, but also peach and even passion fruit juice) by Puff n’ Stuff Catering of Tampa, elected officials like State Rep. Danny Burgess, Pasco clerk & comptroller Paul O’Neil and Pasco commissioners Mike Moore, Jack Mariano and Board chair Ted Schrader, plus lots of WCCC and New Tampa and Wesley Chapel Rotary Club members helped Nance and crew celebrate TPO’s opening in style before Schrader and the top brass from Simon Premium Outlets cut the ribbon. Everyone who attended the invitation-only VIP breakfast also received a portable stand-up cooler as a parting gift.
Opening Weekend Deals
Although I certainly didn’t get to check out all of the 100+ stores that were open for the first weekend (a few more, like the Aldo outlet will open within the next week or two, bringing the total number of shops up to 110), there’s no doubt that the deals — and giveaways — were hot and heavy for the opening.
Many stores were offering not only 60-70-percent off (and more!), but also free gifts to the first wave of shoppers as the stores opened their doors following the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Of course, many people skipped the ribbon-cutting to line up in front of their favorite stores for their free gift(s).Considering that I only wear New Balance athletic shoes, I was one of the first 50 in line at the New Balance outlet, which earned me a $15 gift card, in addition to 60-percent-off the shoes I bought (which were already on clearance for half off the regular price). When it was all said and done, I went home with an incredible pair of “kicks,” plus some New Balance gym shorts and orthotic inserts for my shoes for less than $70!
And, while I didn’t get on line soon enough after that to get a free gift at the Calvin Klein outlet, I returned a $20 shirt I had purchased at the Prime Outlets of Ellenton (does anyone still remember how much further that drive is?), exchanged it for a $60 dress shirt that also was on clearance and with all of the discounts applied, I ended up getting that shirt for about $3!
Will the deals stay that impressive now that the opening weekend is over and the post-Halloween holiday season has officially begun? That remains to be seen. The whole concept of an outlet mall is that the merchandise sold there at deep discounts is so expensive to start with that only the rich could afford to shop at many of the stores without those discounts.
A case in point is TPO’s “signature” store, Saks Off 5th. Although I found it hard to believe how much merchandise in Saks has the same labels — Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, etc.— as the ones in TPO’s individual outlets, the huge Off 5th store literally has something for everyone. I didn’t feel that the deals were quite as good there as at other stores, but I have shopped at the original Saks ON 5th Ave. in NYC, so I know there’s nothing “cheap” there.
Bring It, Bethenny!
One of the highlights of the opening weekend was the appearance ofreality TV star, author and Skinny Girl owner Bethenny Frankel.
Frankel, who has appeared on “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” “The Real Housewives of New York City” and “Bethenny Ever After,” also founded Skinnygirl Cocktails, authored four self-help books and hosted the talk show, “Bethenny.”
She told me she appeared at the TPO opening not to promote herself, but because, “I’m an outlet mall shopper from way back and I’m here to give shopping tips to the women here.” Her #1 tip? “Clean out those closets, ladies! Why bring new stuff to clutter up your limited space when you still have things in your closet that no longer fit or are old or pilly?”
Considering how long we have waited for the opening of TPO, I’d have to agree that the outlet mall’s opening weekend was a smashing success. TPO may only be about half the size of the Shops at Wiregrass (which has more than 800,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space), but it’s definitely a new force to be reckoned with that will surely bring more mom-and-pop businesses to our area. Take a bow, Simon!
For more info about the new TPO and its VIP Shopping Club, please visit PremiumOutlets.com/Tampa.
