This construction entrance on Elam Rd. for a new townhome community in Epperson North is now expected to become a full entrance for townhome residents once the development has been completed, which is a compromise for those living on Abby Brooks Cir. (homes in the distance) in Epperson Ranch II.
Although we hadn’t yet received, at our press time, confirmation that the deal has been finalized, it appears that Metro Development Group and Pasco County have come to an agreement that hopefully will help protect the safety of the residents of Abby Brooks Cir. (ABC), Lily Arbor Way and Swift Wind Dr. in the Epperson Ranch II Community Development District (CDD).
As we reported back in May, a new development of 186 townhomes in the Epperson North CDD is slated to open adjacent to those single-family homes in the Epperson Ranch II CDD — on property that was originally intended to be a school, with an entrance on Elam Rd.
When Pasco County rezoned the property for the townhomes, the entrance on Elam Rd., which currently is being used as a construction entrance (see photo), was eliminated, which meant the only entrance and exit to and from the new townhomnes would be from Epperson Blvd. through ABC, adding an estimated 400 daily trips through the quiet neighborhood by people who wouldn’t live in the neighborhood nor in Epperson II at all.
A large group of concerned Epperson II residents attended the May 6 Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting to complain, and the commissioners, to their credit, agreed that not having an Elam Rd. entrance for the townhomes was a mistake. They also said, however, that they didn’t think anything could be done about it, but had the group meet with the county’s Planning Dept. director David Engel and Development Services Dept. director David Allen while the May 6 BCC meeting was still in session. Engel and Allen said they would talk to Metro to see if the developer would agree to at least allow the entrance on Elam Rd. to be built as a full second entrance/exit, as an alternative to ABC.
On July 8, Metro VP of marketing & communications Lisa Gibbings sent me an email with the following update:
• Construction of the Elam Rd. entrance will begin when the county completes final review and approval of the plan modification.
• The entrance is expected to be completed at the same time as the completion of the overall townhome project, or by the end of 2025.
• While it is currently an active construction zone, access is not permitted for use by the public until the entrance and overall townhome project have been completed.
• To the best of our knowledge, there is no agreement in place nor one being discussed between Epperson Ranch II CDD and Epperson North CDD regarding the entrance. On May 13, 2025, the developer and Pasco County staff met with and shared the proposed (new) entrance plan to representatives of the Epperson Ranch II CDD and residents of the [Epperson II] neighborhood that attended. The proposed plan was well received, and the developer is currently working with the county for final construction plan review and approval.
• It is our understanding that during the Epperson Ranch II CDD meeting on July 3, 2025, the Chair of the Board of Supervisors indicated the entrance road matter is essentially resolved.
• “Metro is excited to partner with Pasco County to bring this entrance to the new townhome community within Epperson. We hope this adds another layer of convenience and safety for residents while reducing congestion within the [ABC] community.”
The Epperson II residents would not comment until the agreement was finalized.
Anyone driving on Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. recently has likely noticed the huge amount of new construction occurring right next to the Wiregrass Ranch community in Wesley Chapel’s northernmost roundabout. This long, 50-acre parcel, that stretches north to south along the west side of Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. (from the first roundabout down to the third roundabout) will serve two future Wiregrass Ranch developments.
The southernmost seven acres (bottom of map, right) is currently slated for future professional medical offices — a 46,000-sq.-ft., two-story building, followed by a 72,000-sq.- ft., three-story building at a later date. Plans were submitted to the county in February and construction may begin later this year.
The northernmost twelve acres (at the top of the map) will be for Persimmon Park Phase 3, which will consist of 37 two-story, single family homes and 75 two-story townhomes (or 112 total units). Construction of the land and infrastructure already has been under way for a few months.
This will leave roughly 31 acres of the 50-acre parcel for drainage ponds and undisturbed conservation wetlands.
The first two phases of Persimmon Park have had a few home builders, but Phase 3 will be exclusively David Weekley Homes, which also is currently finishing the part of Phase 2 closest to Phase 3 by the roundabout, along Orange Berry Dr. (again see the map).
The 37 single-family homes will be similar to that part of Phase 2, with the garages in the front of the house, or what the builder calls its “Garden Series.” The lots will be 40’ x 105’ and the salespeople have told us that they expect that the new homes will be at a slightly lower price point when compared with Phase 2, by not offering as many upgrades. Current prices for the Garden Series range from $595,000-$695,000, so Phase 3 buyers should expect slightly lower prices than that.
However, the townhomes (photo below), which will be located across from the single-family units, will have their garages at the rear of the house, which will open onto an alleyway, similar to how more than half the homes in Phases 1 and 2 of Persimmon Park are laid out, and part of what gives the community its unique look and feel.
In Persimmon Park, most of these existing “Cottage” series homes’ front doors face a street with parallel parking (which makes sense), and for only one row (14 units) of the new proposed townhomes, the front doors also will face a similar road.
For all of the other proposed townhomes (61 units), the front doors will face common grass areas or the perimeter of the community, which is something of an odd design choice, because those residents may likely never enter their homes through their front doors, which will be located where one might expect a rear patio to be, only offering a tiny (almost unusable) front porch instead.
One benefit of this layout, however, is that it allows for an oversized two-car garage, on a townhome lot that might otherwise only be able to accommodate a single-car garage, as these townhomes don’t need room next to the garage for an entry.
It’s also a good thing that all of these townhomes will have two-car garages, because none of them will have usable driveways! The driveways will only be a couple of feet from the garage doors to the edge of the rear alleyway, which means future owners will either have to park in their garages, or in one of the 32 parallel parking spaces being shared by all 112 units.
While it’s not 100% confirmed yet, we were told by David Weekley Homes’ sales staff that one of (or perhaps even the) only townhome floor plan that will be offered will be the 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom, 1,751-sq.-ft. “Seawater” floor plan.
This plan features something unique, where the first floor half-bath is partially (literally two steps) up the stairs, off to the side of the stairwell directional landing (yes you heard that correctly) — not under the stairs like most are used to seeing in newer townhomes. The bathroom actually protrudes into the oversized garage to achieve this set-up, while the space under the stairs is reserved for storage. Pricing for these townhomes has not yet been determined.
There was some unexpected good news, however, for the future residents of this upcoming new phase. According to a permit submitted last month, Persimmon Park Phase 3 will now be getting its own swimming pool, so residents of the new phase won’t have to share the existing pool serving the first two phases of Persimmon Park.
For more info about David Weekley Homes in Persimmon Park at Wiregrass Ranch, visit DavidWeekleyHomes.com.
The Townes at Cross Creek townhomes by Lennar Homes (on Cross Creek Blvd., across from the main entrance to Heritage Isles) offer a more affordable alternative then most single-family homes in the New Tampa area. (Photo by Joel Provenzano)
A little over a year ago, in our Sept. 23 New Tampa issue, we told you about an upcoming townhome community that Lennar was getting ready to build, called the Townes at Cross Creek.
The unique thing about this development is the fact that it is new residential construction, in the heart of what was otherwise an entirely built out and established Cross Creek Blvd. corridor, something that hadn’t been seen in years.
For the past couple of years, townhomes have been extremely popular with buyers — especially with rising real estate prices —as a mostly less-expensive option to traditional single family-homes, while still offering the living space, garages and floorplan options buyers desire, just with less land.
And, that’s been great for Lennar, as the construction giant has been actively building a large portion of the new townhome market around the Tampa Bay area, typically at the lowest price point compared with their competitors, with DR Horton being Lennar’s closest rival.
Keeping Pace
According to sales rep Carlos Torres and construction manager Fernando Ospina, the Townes have been going absolutely gangbusters since they began being built in June of this year. And, that’s without even having an onsite sales office open yet!
The Townes at Cross Creek are divided into two phases. Although there is no “Phase A” or “Phase C” (and we have no idea why), “Phase B” consists of 60 units (located directly across the street from the entrance to the Heritage Isles community); and “Phase D,” consists of 35 units further to the east, being built almost simultaneously together, but oddly about a half mile from each other on two completely separate parcels of land.
As of Nov 25, 27 of the 60 units in Phase B were already, according to Lennar’s website, and the Lennar team told us a few more were working towards closing, including the “model,” where the garage space was actively being built into the on-site sales office for the development (but it was not yet open as of our press time).
We were told that the buyer for the model was itching to close because, when the model sells while still being used as a model, the builder will do a lease-back to the buyer, effectively paying the buyer rent until Lennar is done using it and will then convert the sales office back into a two-car garage.
When Ospina, was asked why the on-site sales office wasn’t finished yet, he explained that, “It took longer than expected to get the needed permit, but it was received Nov. 16,” where they promptly started the build-out, and are now close to adding furniture. He chuckled and said the delay was due to, “The City of Tampa, you know, being the City of Tampa,” eluding to the always- arduous permitting process.
Other than that, he said construction had been going really well, with the number of days for each townhome building completion (under his purview) being only about 129 days, a full month faster than the average for his company.
“Even though we’ve been doing great, we could ideally use another construction manager to help keep pace,” Ospina said as he flipped through the multi-page checklist he had in his hands, detailing inspection item after inspection item, everything that needed to be perfect before a unit could be finished.
Details & Pricing
The day we showed up to look at the community, three other groups of people also pulled up (one of whom had an appointment), but Torres was able to effectively split up his time, making sure everyone’s questions were answered.
Torres said that they’ve been so busy that they wondered if they would really even need to open the on-site sales office at all. He’s been driving out and meeting people with appointments on-site, and currently any customers who want to sit down and discuss numbers or go over paperwork have met him at Lennar’s Two Rivers office in Zephyrhills, about 10 minutes away, at: 35027 Brackett Bend Rd.
Ospina said that most of the buildings will be done over the next five months, with occupancy for Phase D being ready in March, April, and May. The very last building on the project schedule is actually a 6-unit building across from the future on-site sales office in Phase B, to be ready for occupancy before the fall of next year.
As construction progresses, units are only being released for sale in very small handfuls. Lennar’s online transparency makes seeing the inventory quick and straightforward. The website for the community actually shows which units have sold, which are currently for sale (with exact current prices) and which ones are upcoming on an interactive map, along with the floorplans.
All three floorplans feature 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms with usable covered patios that can easily be screened. All units also have large kitchen islands (above), as well as a second-story loft, which even the in the small plan was still a usable size and layout. Here are the three units at the Townes:
Allegiance – 1,597 sq. ft., with a 1-car garage; being offered at $319,990
Constitution – 1,760 sq. ft., 1-car garage; being offered at $339,900
Declaration- 1,807 sq. ft., 2 car garage; being offered at $364,900 (this is the model and the end units on each building)
These were the advertised online prices at the time of writing the article and are subject to change), but Torres said that additional discounts may be offered at various times, and the prices for the Declaration plan may go all the way up to around $410,000, depending upon the lot.
The prices seem very competitive to whats being offered in other Lennar communities, especially considering these are being built in the desirable and geographically well-positioned New Tampa. Prices are even similar to what was being sold by Lennar up in Connerton, a community on the north end of Land O’ Lakes, but these New Tampa units do come with some drawbacks.
The $384 monthly homeowner association (HOA) fee is definitely on the high side, especially considering that this community has no amenities. Torres also says that no utilities are included in the HOA fee, but that it does cover outside maintenance and insurance. The units at the Townes also have tiny backyards — noticeably smaller than other recent townhome communities we’ve toured.
Torres asked that anyone interested in seeing the community should make an appointment, and check to see if the on-site sales office has been opened yet. The phone number is (888) 211-6153. Carlo Torres also can be reached by email at carlo.torres@lennar.com.
A rezoning ordinance for a pair of proposed townhome projects towards the eastern end of Cross Creek Blvd., which would bring about 100 new residences to the area, sailed though first readings (with a few concessions) during a late night Tampa City Council hearing on Jan. 21, by a 5-1 vote.
A second reading, followed by what seems to be a likely approval, is scheduled for Tuesday, February 19, at 9:30 a.m.
The two communities are in the District 7 represented by Luis Viera, the only Council member to vote against both projects. District 2 Council member Charlie Miranda did not attend the meeting because he has Covid-19.
SDD Trust, Inc., is seeking to have the two properties rezoned from PD-A (planned development-alternative) to PD (planned development).
One parcel is located at 10801 Cross Creek Blvd, east of the New Tampa Dance Theatre and directly across the street from the entrance to the Heritage Isles community, and will have nine buildings with 60 attached single-family residences.
A little further east, a second parcel will have six buildings and 35 single-family residences. The city’s Development Review and Compliance staff found the rezoning requests inconsistent with City of Tampa Land Development regulations, but SDD Trust sought waivers to remedy those inconsistencies, mostly related to building separation requirements, the removal of three grand live oak trees and retaining less than 50 percent of the existing trees on the property.
The waivers were granted on the first reading by the City Council.
The projects also were determined by city planners to not meet some Mixed Use Corridor policies. Mixed Use Corridors are areas that, among other things, are expected to improve the pedestrian experience, but because the front of single-family residences will face away from Cross Creek Blvd., those requirements weren’t being met. However, there is no other way to reconfigure the homes, so a six-foot-high simulated wrought iron fence (actually made of aluminum) with landscaping will need to be added to the design before the second reading.
Viera suggested the fence for safety reasons and the general aesthetic look, even though he voted against the project.
After some debate about the cost of adding a fence and how it would impact the amount of landscaping, the first reading was moved along with a vote at 1:25 a.m.
The Trails At Hunter’s Lake
Speaking of more New Tampa residences, The Trails at Hunter’s Lake, which promises “Naturally elevated living,” is open and already filling up.
The apartments, which offer 15 floor plans, are behind the new Village at Hunter’s Lake shopping center. The Trails, according to its website, has a private lake and lush walking trails, a billiards lounge and pub, and its location — in the heart of New Tampa near plenty of shopping and eating destinations as well as being just a mile away from I-75 — makes it an attractive place to live.
It also is just feet away from the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, which is expected to be completed by Jan. 2022, and a large dog park.
The Trails has 1BR/1BA floor plans ranging 659 square feet to $798 sq. ft. (with prices ranging from $1,365 to $1,792), 2BR/2BA floor plans with 1,100 sq. ft. and prices from $1,776-$1978, two 3BR/2BA floor plans (1,291 and 1,393 sq. ft.), for $1,951 to $3,958, and a studio floor plan of 506 sq. ft. (no price listed).
The sign is up for VidaCann, New Tampa’s first medical cannabis dispensary, which we are told will be open by the end of this month. New Tampa’s VidaCann (17631 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in the former The Mattress1 store next to MIT Computers), will be the 19th VidaCann dispensary in Florida. For more information, visit VidaCann.com.
