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.

Starbucks, Chick-fil-A & CubeSmart Among The New Businesses Coming To The Area

Updating The Map Of Wesley Chapel Along S.R. 54, From I-75 To W. Of Curley Rd.

  1. Developers are seeking approval for a 110,000-sq.ft. self-storage facility and a 160,000-sq.ft. hotel to be located directly behind the Walgreens at the intersection of S.R. 54 and BBD. The brand of the hotel isn’t determined.
  2. Wesley Chapel’s second Wawa location was approved in Oct. of 2016. Ground just started to be moved near the site where the 6,119-sq.ft. convenience store will be located.
  3. Land is currently being cleared for Chick-Fil-A’s proposed 4,877-sq.ft. restaurant with indoor play area & drive-through.
  4. The 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office is under construction & will be going vertical by the end of the month. It will share its location with a 4,200-sq.ft. stand-alone building that is still seeking a tenant but has suitors.
  5. Starbucks is expected to open early next year, and the 2,330-sq.ft. coffee hotspot will be flanked by at least three other retail tenants occupying another  5,700-sq.ft. One of those tenants will be a Pizza Hut. 
  6. The Racetrac convenience store, expected to be 5,411-sq.ft. with a 771 sq.ft. patio, is still going through the approval and permitting process, but is planned for the northwest corner of Vandine Rd. &  S.R. 54.
  7. CubeSmart will provide self storage in a three-story, climate-controlled 80,000-sq.-ft. facility, which will be surrounded by 14,000 sq. ft. of single-story storage.
  8. Nail & hair salons are two of the future tenants signed up for Nye Commons, which has 14,000-sq.ft. of space and is hoping to possibly add a restaurant and as many as four other tenants before opening by the end of the year.

After years of developer attention along the S.R. 56 corridor, which has included the debut of the Tampa Premium Outlets, the opening of a plethora of new restaurants and stores like Costco  and the continued growth in the southern portion of the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI), things appear to be turning north.

In and around the intersection of S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., which had begun to show its age since it was widened a few years ago, ground is being moved as a number of new projects begin to sprout up.

Included in future plans at the intersection and westward on S.R. 54 is another  Wawa, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Racetrac and a number of commercial strip centers that will potentially provide office space to everything from small restaurants to dentists and doctors.

“Everything’s moving north, and that is consistent with our growth pattern,’’ says Hope Allen, the CEO of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. “You’re starting to see that northern progression.”

The interest in SR. 54 is likely also the result of the saturation of the market along S.R. 56. In fact, Kim Lohry of Berkshire Hathaway says that there are now 27 restaurants located in the S.R. 56 corridor between Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Mansfield Dr., and “it’s a natural progression” for developers to look for other areas more ripe for new development.

Lohry is involved in a project bringing a 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office to the north side of S.R. 54, between the Walgreens and Wesley Chapel Nissan, as well as a 4,200-sq.ft. free-standing building which will share parking with the dental office. She says she has already fielded a number of inquiries from potential tenants.

Much of the area currently beginning a developmental phase lies south of the so-called “Connected City” project, including Florida’s first two lagoons by Crystal Lagoons in the new Mirada and Epperson Ranch housing developments. The Connected City is expected to add thousands of new residents, and many businesses and jobs to the area over the next 20 years.

While this stretch of 54 has been anchored by Publix and recently added a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the influx of new businesses will find plenty of customers located within a 10-mile radius.

That, along with the widening of S.R. 54 east of Curley Rd. — expected to begin this year or early 2018 — makes this area of Wesley Chapel an attractive target for potential businesses.

“It’s most certainly a prime area for development,” Allen says.

“I sure hope so,’’ says developer Brent Nye of Nye Commercial Advisors, whose retail strip center on BBD just south of the Wells Fargo bank is expected to open by the end of the year. Nye says he already has contracted with a nail and hair salon, and plans to add a restaurant as well. He adds that the 14,000-sq.-ft. plaza, where his business also will be based, could accommodate as many as eight tenants.

Nye also says other projects — like a Racetrac and Bay Breeze Car Wash on S.R. 54 and Vandine Rd., as well as the CubeSmart Self Storage nearing completion on the southwest corner of S.R. 54 and Wesley Chapel Loop — are signs that the stretch of S.R. 54 from BBD to the entrance to Meadow Pointe will soon become populated with businesses.

“I think this is the next area you will see a lot of growth in,’’ he says. “You are already seeing it.”

Study Under Way For Realignment Of S.R. 54/BBD Intersection

The S.R. 581/BBD “Bypass Loop Road” (in red) is being planned to provide an alternative access to S.R. 54 from BBD for residents of the Wiregrass Ranch DRI. The “Loop Road” will intersect with Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. (near Walmart) and access S.R. 54 just west of Saddlebrook Resort
The S.R. 581/BBD “Bypass Loop Road” (in red) is being planned to provide an alternative access to S.R. 54 from BBD for residents of the Wiregrass Ranch DRI. The “Loop Road” will intersect with Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. (near Walmart) and access S.R. 54 just west of Saddlebrook Resort

By Matt Wiley

If you travel through Wesley Chapel along Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., you’re probably familiar with the 3.5-mile stretch between S.R. 56 and S.R. 54. However, the north end of BBD at 54 could be changing, as development continues inside the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI).Continue reading