New Tampa 2017 Year in Review: Development

Rendering of the proposed Village at Hunter’s Lake

TOP STORIES OF 2017: Approvals For Hunter’s Lake & The Cultural Center & More Assisted Living

While things continue to explode in nearby Wesley Chapel — with new homes, restaurants, hotels and even a Crystal Lagoon — New Tampa also had some notable development news in 2017.

After some quiet years, a few new local businesses opened. Among them were the Discovery Village at Tampa Palms Assisted Living & Memory Care facility on Commerce Park Blvd. and a RaceTrac gas station and convenience store on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

Discovery Village joins The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve and the Memory Lane Cottages in Tampa Palms for New Tampa residents who want to keep their elderly family members close to home. Another new assisted living facility, Promise Pointe at Tampa Oaks, which is being developed by the same company that is building The Beach House in Wesley Chapel, will open in 2018 at the Fletcher Ave. exit off I-75.

A new community, Stafford Place (off Tampa Palms Blvd., behind BJ’s Wholesale Club), has been building homes and taking in residents. And, the University of South Florida Federal Credit Union opened a New Tampa branch— its first standalone branch — at the northwest corner of BBD and Imperial Oak Blvd., in the Trout Creek area in front of Winn-Dixie.

The biggest development news in 2017, however, involved The Villages at Hunter’s Lake, which will be constructed right across BBD from Hunter’s Green.

Developers of the Hunter’s Lake project were approved by the Tampa City Council in June to add a second and third access point off BBD, paving — pardon the pun — the way for Hunter’s Lake to move forward.

The project, approved 6-0 by the Council, will include 241 multi-family units, the long-awaited New Tampa Cultural Center and a strip shopping center.

Plans for the construction of those access points have already been submitted, and the project, still awaiting some permitting, could break ground next year. The stretch along southbound BBD already is being prepped for construction work (see our 2017 Roads Recap on page 10).

The multi-use project will be built on the parcel’s 14 acres of developable land (the entire parcel is 80 acres) and will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. Cultural Center, a four-story, 241-unit multi-family project called The Haven at Hunter’s Lake and even a green grocer, such as gourmet supermarket Fresh Market or Sprouts.

Hunter’s Lake also will include a retail shopping strip center, a restaurant (with a drive-through window) and a community park with a dog park.

The project has been described by developers and local leaders as a hub of sorts for New Tampa, comparable to Hyde Park in South Tampa.

North of the county line, development continued practically unabated, and we’re pretty sure New Tampa residents have seen or heard about most of these (thanks to us):

*Florida Hospital Center Ice opened as the largest skating facility south of New York state. The Taste of New Tampa’s return was held at FHCI.

* The ballyhooed Crystal Lagoon in Wesley Chapel now has water. It was topped off last week, and the water looks like everything it was advertised to be. Epperson, the community where it is located, finally has residents. Expect it to become one of the area’s trendiest places to live.

* A new sports complex, expected to be a mecca for state and national tournaments for youth basketball and volleyball teams, was approved for the Wiregrass Ranch area. If you have a youth team of any sort in New Tampa, expect the facility to be a regular stop.

* Costco opened on the south side of S.R. 56. ‘Nuff said.

* The Sierra family property on the north side of S.R. 56 in the Cypress Creek Town Center is in full development mode, as at least 10 businesses began to take shape in 2017, from restaurants like Chuy’s Tex-Mex and Bahama Breeze Island Grille to businesses like hair and nail salons, and the area’s first Five Below discount store.

Also included are plans for a green grocer – Earth Fare has been mentioned – on the north side of S.R. 56., and an Aldi grocery store right across the street on the south side of S.R. 56.

Count on 2018 being just as busy.

New Tampa 2017 Year in Review: Roads

TOP STORIES OF 2017: Bruce B. Downs, Kinnan-Mansfield Fired Up Debates

Things heated up on local roads in 2017, primarily the tempers of drivers who are finding the stretch of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. that slices through New Tampa more maddening than ever.

While Segment A of the widening of the road is all but wrapped up, Segment D — from Pebble Creek Blvd. to County Line Rd. — continues to plague New Tampa travelers. Next year, our year-in-review might just be about the great success of the project, as it is expected to conclude in late 2018. That may be, however, of little solace to those getting stuck in traffic now in front of Wharton High, a hot spot of the current BBD construction.

We don’t want to give you any spoilers, but for our Best Of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel” issue coming out next month, we a
sked for your opinion on the worst intersection in New Tampa, and 11 of the BBD intersections made our readers’  list. Yes, 11.

However, none have provided as much angst as the intersection of BBD and Cross Creek Blvd., which in 2017 rose to new heights for snarling traffic. A recent study by the city led to new light patterns at the troublesome intersection in early December, but those results remain inconclusive.

BBD had some company, though, when it came to controversial road debates in 2017.

Kinnan-Mansfield

This photo taken by a drone shows the 60-foot gap between Kinnan St. (on the bottom) and Mansfield Blvd. Hillsborough and Pasco counties are stalemated on the issue but continue to discuss connecting the two roads.

The potential connection of Hillsborough County’s Kinnan St. to Pasco County’s Mansfield Blvd. also inched closer to a fever pitch after a series of discussions between residents and Hillsborough and Pasco County representatives.

Pasco County commissioned a study of the connection (along with two other possible connections) in April, a public meeting was held in May at Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch to solicit responses, and the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners pledged $250,000 in September to help make the connection happen.

Will it? Not witho

ut a big fight. And, that battle will begin in earnest this year.

Morris Bridge Rd.

Flooding on Morris Bridge Rd. had some residents questioning that road’s future, which might even one day involve a widening north of Cross Creek Blvd.

I-75 At S.R. 56

Of special interest to many commuters who prefer to avoid driving south on BBD to get to the interstate, the Divergin

g Diamond Interchange (DDI) for I-75 at S.R. 56 is closer after receiving some good news in 2017.

 

A Florida Department of Transportation project that is expected to ease the flow of traffic at the S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection near Tampa Premium Outlets, was originally scheduled for a 2024 start in construction. Now, however, it looks like shovels will hit the dirt in 2018.

Be patient, people. It’s all going to get better.

*crosses fingers*

New Tampa 2017 Year in Review: Top stories

Hurricane Irma, Fires, Neo-Nazis & The Loss Of Too Many People

Crazy weather, fires blazing their way through forests and over roads, neo Nazi controversy and contentious budget battles.

Welcome to New Tampa!

While those stories all sound like incidents happening around the country you might catch while watching CNN, they were, in fact, local news stories in New Tampa in 2017.

(Spoiler alert: Most of the good news is in our cover story.)

Hurricane Irma might have been the biggest story of the year, especially when you consider the number of people who fled or hunkered down in shelters in anticipation of the Category 5 storm that approached Florida in mid-September. Some storm models had the hurricane slicing right through Tampa Palms.

Windows were boarded as plywood become a hot, then scarce, commodity. Water flew off the shelves at every area store, days before the storm actually blasted through the area Sept. 20-21.

As it turned out, Irma was more bark than bite when she finally showed up in New Tampa. We’re thankful the biggest story of the year wasn’t bigger.

Fires!

On the other end of the weather scale, dry conditions and a lack of rain in May led to three brush fires that burned more than 200 acres in Flatwoods Park, and led to the temporary closure of I-75 due to smoky conditions that spread as far as Lakeland. Thankfully the fire was contained before any damage could be done to nearby homes and businesses.

Another fire, this one intentionally set in February by an arsonist at the Daarus Salaam Mosque on Morris Bridge Rd., failed to do its intended damage, thanks to alarm sprinklers, but still left members without a place to worship for a few weeks. Cypress Pointe Community Church opened its doors to its neighbors until the mosque was suitable for worship.

At our press time, no one had been arrested for setting the fire.

New Tampa Neo-Nazis?

Yes, you read that right.

In what had to be the craziest story of the year, self-proclaimed neo Nazi Devon Arthurs shot both of his roommates to death because, he claimed, they had disrespected his recent conversion to Islam.

He then held three hostages at the Green Planet Smoke Shop on Amberly Dr. before surrendering to police, who he led back to the Hamptons in Tampa Palms apartment where his dead roommates were.

A third roommate, Brandon Russell, was there when police arrived. In his bedroom were Nazi and white supremacist propaganda and a framed photo of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for killing 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Russell admitted to being a member of Atomwaffen, an active neo-Nazi hate group, and had enough explosives to make a bomb stored in the apartment’s garage. He was arrested on federal explosives charges.

Taken Too Soon…

Hailey Acierno

New Tampa also experienced its share of sadness.

In April, the body of local teen Hailey Acierno was found in Flatwoods Park, two miles from her Arbor Greene home, after a 10-day search that rallied help from all over the New Tampa area.

Hailey may be gone, but her spirit continues to live on. Her parents, Chris and Lisa, have created Hailey’s Voice of Hope to help other families deal with mental illness, as they say their daughter did.

In September, former Wharton football standout Joel Miller passed away unexpectedly, shocking many in the Wildcats community.

A running back, Miller ran for more than 2,500 yards his last two seasons at Wharton, and as a senior won Hillsborough County’s Golden Helmet Award.

Doug Wall (right)

And in November, Doug Wall, co-founder of the New Tampa Players (NTP) community theater group, passed away after battling pancreatic cancer.

The Live Oak resident championed a cultural center in New Tampa for two decades, in the hopes it could provide a home for the NTP and a center for local artists, but never got to quite see it come to fruition.

New Tampa 2017 Year in Review: MAN OF ACTION

New Tampa Resident Luis Viera Has Stayed Busy Since Being Elected To The Tampa City Council

Thanks to Town Hall meetings organized by New Tampa resident and Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, City of Tampa officials are paying more attention to the people of New Tampa.

In December of 2016, New Tampa resident Luis Viera won a special run-off election for the Tampa City Council District 7 seat by only 65 votes.

He spent 2017 proving he was the right man for the job.

“I didn’t vote for him,” said Tampa Palms lawyer Tracy Falkowitz, a lifelong Republican who voted instead for Viera’s opponent (and fellow Hunter’s Green resident) Jim Davison). “But I’ve already told Luis I’ll be first in line to campaign for him next time.”

Her reasons are simple, and explain how Viera helped shape a productive year for New Tampa (while also fighting for changes in other parts of District 7, like Forest Hills, Terrace Park and the University of South Florida area).

In 2017, he mobilized hundreds of New Tampa residents in an effort to ensure the city budgeted money for Fiscal 2018 for the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC). He also spearheaded the effort to build a sensory-friendly park in Tampa Palms — in part because he has a brother who is autistic — and was a strong proponent for a new fire station (Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 23) that will be built on County Line Rd.

Viera founded the New Tampa Council, and filled its Board with leaders from as many different local communities as he could. He also started the North Tampa Veterans Council and has attended countless Home Owners Association (HOA) meetings.

Viera held town halls. Instead of telling New Tampa residents they needed to go downtown to argue and fight for what they thought they deserved — as so many city and county officials have told them before — he brought government officials from South Tampa here.

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera hosted a town hall meeting at the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms in June that attracted roughly 75 local residents who came to discuss a number of issues., especially those related to the traffic in our area.

It was at one of Viera’s first town halls, in June at the NTRC, that Falkowitz first met the guy she didn’t vote for. She was there to tell Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Chief of Staff Dennis Rogero that it was ludicrous that the city wouldn’t expand the rec center, which had a waiting list of thousands hoping to get into the NTRC’s popular gymnastics and dance programs.

Falkowitz was angry and vocal. Afterwards, Viera spoke with her and they ended up forging a partnership that extended to the New Tampa Council and included the efforts of Tampa Palms’ Maggie Wilson and Warren Dixon, Cory Lake Isles’ Bob Parker, West Meadows’ Brad Van Rooyen,  K-Bar Ranch’s Craig Margelowsky and David Burman of Cory Lake Isles, as well as others.

During the decisive and harrowing all-night City Council budget meeting in September, New Tampa had nearly 50 residents in attendance, many speaking in support of the NTRC expansion after years of failed attempts.

The budget passed — and the NTRC expansion, sensory park and Fire Station No. 23 will all begin to take shape in 2018.

Everyone involved says that without Viera, it wouldn’t have happened.

“I think that’s accurate,’’ says Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. “Luis, through a variety of means, has made sure New Tampa’s voices are being heard, either with him advocating or facilitating those conversations between our staff and the people that live here. In both cases, it was a very, very effective means of communicating.”

Ultimately, that was Viera’s primary goal — to bring New Tampa together as one community, instead of a collection of fragmented neighborhoods. A Tampa Palms resident from 2006-12 and a Hunter’s Green resident since then, Viera says he felt New Tampa lacked an effectiveness cohesiveness.

A large contingent of New Tampa residents showed up in red shirts at both budget workshops to speak to the Tampa City Council about the importance of the New Tampa Recreation Center.

Hoping to stitch those communities together to help advocate for the area with one voice, Viera tried to be omnipresent.

“I tried showing up to as many New Tampa events as I could,’’ said Viera. “Ribbon cuttings, openings…I wanted people feeling like their elected official is accountable, and accessible.”

His efforts, which he balanced with being a father to 10-year-old son Luis and working as a trial lawyer, have been lauded.

“He invigorated a whole lot of residents,” says Wilson, a community consultant for Tampa Palms. “I’ve lived here since 1989, and never has anyone in government service been as boots-on-the-ground and as active and caring across a wide variety of issues as Luis.”

Viera also has taken up the fight to connect Kinnan St. in K-Bar Ranch to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe, which the city and counties have so far failed to do. He has met with Pasco County officials, and discussed the matter with Hillsborough County commissioners.

Viera is quick to decline all the credit for his 2017 accomplishments, however, instead deferring to the community he is helping to spark. By connecting them to the right people, he knows he can continue to make a difference and produce results for New Tampa.

“I think he’s had a superb year,’’ Buckhorn says. “Since the day he was elected, he hit the ground running and has not stopped…he was a forceful advocate for New Tampa, and the results speak for themselves. He made sure in our budget process that the expansion of the New Tampa Rec Center was in the mix, the sensory park was very near and dear to his heart, and until the very end, he was up there fighting make sure New Tampa voices were heard.”