Aggressive Approach Yields Tourism Results

Pasco County has put its tourism department on steroids.

The county’s formerly sleepy, nature-centric manner of attracting visitors is giving way to a high-powered, aggressive approach that, if everything goes according to plan, will soon yield a new brand that is expected to focus on the county’s diverse offerings.

Executive director Adam Thomas of the Pasco County Visitor Bureau has commissioned Tallahassee-based public relations firm Zimmerman Agency, LLC, to help coordinate a brand relaunch at a cost of $481,000. In other words, the motto “Open spaces. Vibrant Places.” could be giving way to something that reaches a broader, more defined audience.

“We are building a platform that is going to springboard us into the future and will make us relevant in the Florida tourism market,” Thomas says.

Working with local leaders, the Zimmerman Agency is expected to unveil a draft plan by Aug. 31, and the new brand for Pasco tourism could launch in early October.

Thomas says his goal is to help develop a “life-cycle” of tourism, where visitors fall in love with the area they are visiting, and decide to relocate their families or businesses here, and feed the ongoing growth of Pasco County.

While the county already boasts a variety of festivals and outdoor activities, as well as a bustling western coastline attractive to those who like water sports like fishing, inland suburban areas like Wesley Chapel have evolved quickly to offer even more, like two thriving shopping malls.

Natalie Taylor of “Tampa Bay’s Morning Blend” talks with Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, Gordie Zimmerman and Adam Thomas about Pasco County tourism.

If tourism in Pasco County felt somewhat staid in the past, it could have been for a lack of product that is now becoming more ample.

Wesley Chapel already is proving there is fruit on the sports tree, thanks to the overwhelming and immediate success of Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI).

Helped by a two-percent increase in the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) last year to help pay for a new sports complex (see below) in Wiregrass Ranch, FHCI deserves to receive at least some of the credit for the recent boost in tourism dollars filling county coffers.

The TDT has raised more than $200,000 every month through June this year, with a high of $355,279 in April. Last year, the most it raised in any month was $157,942.

Managing partner Gordie Zimmermann (no relation to the agency) says FHCI is booked almost every weekend with hockey tournaments and other events, a majority of them requiring at least a two-night stay.

There is a rush to build more hotels (the Hyatt Place just opened and three more are on the way along S.R. 56), so visitors have a place to stay, and FHCI is more than able to fill them. “We didn’t have as many places to stay in Pasco County in the past,” says District 2 Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore. “Now, the visitors that may have come to Pasco for a day trip or to visit family can stay. We now have (hotels).”

Moore also said that in the past, the county has lost out on events, due to a lack of facilities, like FHCI, hotels and even enough shopping options and restaurants.

“Now, we can handle all of those visitors,” says Moore, who lives in Wesley Chapel.

Our area should be prepared to handle even more in 2019 and, as a result, more hotels and restaurants are on the way.

“I don’t know if they have ever seen anything like this in the history of the county, and we’re really just ramping up,” Zimmermann says. “We have a lot of different events coming in 2019 that we didn’t even have in 2018. It’s something every week.”

Even the “American Idol” auditions held last week (and one year ago) produced overnight stays. However, it has been the various ice sports, from youth and adult hockey to figure skating events, driving Wesley Chapel’s increased impact on county-wide tourism.

FHCI recently hosted a roller hockey tournament featuring 200 teams over the course of 10 days. Any number of events the facility has already hosted are the largest Pasco County has ever seen, Zimmermann says.

“I’m not surprised by the increase in tourism right now,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce. “We can definitely  tip our hat to Gordie for the majority of that.”

Next year, the new RADDSports-developed Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex will enter the tourism market and, like FHCI, is likely to make a huge impact of its own.

Thomas also hopes to shine a spotlight on some of Pasco County’s other treasures, including those that speak to the county’s reputation for open spaces, even if those seem to shrinking.

He said “influencers” in the travel industry will be enlisted to spread the word, even travel bloggers, many of whom have large audiences.

On a recent travel post, a blogger wrote of a trip she took, sponsored by VisitPasco, to the county. She wrote (and posted videos) about staying at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Suncoast Pkwy., where to rent a car or a bike, cycling through Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, enjoying a balloon ride in Land O’Lakes, ziplining at TreeHoppers Aerial Adventure Park in Dade City and enjoying great food at Capital Tacos and Noble Crust in Wesley Chapel.

“Those are the people that can persuade someone’s travel plans,” Thomas says. “It’s all about finding different ways and different strategies.”

Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering Gets A New Chef!

Photo: Gary Nager

So, how can one of my favorite local restaurants get even better when the husband-and-wife chefs who opened it — and still own it — hire a new chef?

That’s what has happened recently to my friends Jessica and Carl Meyers of Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering on S.R. 54 in Lutz, less than two miles west of the Tampa Premium Outlets. Jessica and Carl have brought in an authentic Italian chef, born and raised in Napoli (not Naples, FL), who has honed his skills in not only his native country, but also in Germany, Australia, England, Tampa and, most recently, his own place, which was called Manzoni’s, even though neither the chef’s first nor last name is Manzoni.

“Manzoni is-a the street-a I grew up on in-a Napoli,” says Chef Simeone (pronounced “Sih-me-oh-nay”) Chiacchio, who opened Manzoni’s in Tarpon Springs a few years ago, after working at some of the better Italian restaurants in South Tampa. “Manzoni’s was-a the first-a time I ever owned a restaurant, and I found out that I’d-a rather cook for-a someone else and not-a have-a to be the boss.”

That worked out perfectly for Jessica and Carl, who brought in Chef Sam (“or Simon,” says Simeone. “Sam is just-a little easier for-a some people.”) a little over a month ago and have enjoyed not only his “autentico” Neapolitan cuisine, but also his accent, his sense of humor and his ability to multi-task.

“I told him you’re like an octopus,” says Jessica. “Carl and I really admire his skills. He can cook anything and he’s already adding amazing new specials and slowly making changes to our existing menu. We’ll be rolling out our new menu soon.”

Carl, who has been to Italy many times, says he can tell Chef Simeone is authentic because, “he doesn’t let anything go to waste. He cuts up the leftover penne and spaghetti for his pasta fagioli (one of his new specials) and he saves all of the scraps of cut produce, like onions, garlic and more and makes stock to keep his chicken dishes moist.”

Carl also mentioned something I forgot to write down about the beans used in Chef Sam’s pasta fagioli, but all I can tell you is that it is the best I’ve had in the Tampa Bay area. A bowl of it is so big and hearty, it’s a meal unto itself, but don’t get too full to try Sam’s outstanding faggotini pasta, which may not have an appetizing name, but it’s a flavor I’ve never tasted in Italian food before. Faggotini is a pasta “purse,” stuffed with pecorino Romano cheese and pear. Each bite of these filling purses has just a hint of sweetness from the pear, a perfect complement to the salty cheese. But, these faggotini are lightly covered with just the right amount of a creamy, but still light, pink tomato sauce that expertly finishes off this unique pasta dish.

“Just-a don’t-a call it a  ‘vodka sauce,’” Sam says. “There’s-a no vodka in it.”

New Entrée Specials, Too!

As soon as I saw the new specials board (both the pasta fagioli and faggotini are on it), I got really excited about what Sam’s bringing to the table (pun intended) at Little Italy’s, especially once Jessica and Carl also showed me Sam’s super-extensive menu from Manzoni’s.

Of the new entrées already sampled by yours truly, my surprise favorite was the chicken Vesuvio, which Sam can make for you with the chicken lightly breaded or unbreaded. The chicken surrounds ample, tender slices of eggplant and topped with fresh mozzarella and a light (but not pink), zesty tomato sauce.

My second favorite dish from the specials board was the Caprese chicken over pasta (I’m obviously a tomato/tomato sauce guy). Thick, tender (thanks to that homemade stock?) chicken breasts are topped with also-thick slices of delicious, fresh tomatoes, dense (but perfectly melted) slabs of fresh mozzarella in a thicker tomato sauce more reminiscent of Little Italy’s original sauce, topped with fresh basil. It was served over a helping of spaghetti that provided side dishes for two more meals for me after all that I left over during my visit.

The third new entrée I sampled was the chicken panna, which is served in a thinner-than-Alfredo creamy sauce with pancetta, peas and fresh mushrooms. Jessica said it was her favorite of the new specials and she almost didn’t let me steal even a bite from her (just kidding, Jess).

And of course, yes, you can still order anything from the restaurant’s existing menu, although you might want to ask your server to explain any tweaks Sam may have made to Little Italy’s locally famous lasagne, veal parmigiana (my personal favorite; more on that below), chicken piccata, calzones and huge, rectangular pizzas.

You might just recognize that server, by the way, as Jessica says that she is now going to sometimes work the floor as a server, especially on the weekends, because she really does want Little Italy’s thousands of loyal fans to have full explanations of every new dish and any tweaks Sam may have made to their favorite dishes when they visit.

“All I can say is that the guy is doing amazing things in that kitchen,” Jessica says, “so I want to explain to our customers what goes into making these dishes.”

Carl adds, “This restaurant and kitchen aren’t large enough to do true fine Italian dining. But, what we’re serving now is a step up from what we’ve been doing, without being a step up in price.”

Sam told me not to order the veal parmigiana until the next time I came in because Little Italy’s just started using a new meat purveyor, “and I-a want-a you to-a taste-a the good-a vitello (veal).” He says there will be osso buco (veal shanks on the bone) on the specials board soon and maybe even a steak special.

“Oh, and-a Gary, I know you’re-a not-a the only-a one who likes-a fresh veggies,” Sam says. “We’ll-a give you a choice-a of pasta or veggies with-a your (non-pasta) entrée, too.”

And of course, Sam can create just about anything you want for your next party. Catering has long been a big part of Little Italy’s success the past three years, and I don’t see that side of the business slowing down anytime soon. I guarantee you that a big tray of Little Italy’s lasagne would be the perfect addition to any 4th of July celebration.

And, of course, Little Italy’s still has a “Little Goombas” menu and recently added beer and wine. So, enjoy a delicious glass (or bottle) of delicious chianti, pino grigio or Grandma’s homemade sangria, or a Peroni or domestic beer and get to know the new Little Italy’s. It’ll be “molto delizioso.”

Little Italy’s (24436 S.R. 54, Lutz) is open for dinner only Tues.-Fri. and for lunch & dinner on Sat. & Sun. For info, call (813) 909-2122, or visit LittleItalyFamilyRestaurant.com.   

Traffic From New Developments Revives The Idea Of Widening Old Pasco Road

Old Pasco Rd. (above) might be getting a fresh look in the near future, as a new middle and high school, new home and apartment developments and a business park threaten to add significant cars to the two-land road. A study (map to the right) will soon take a look at safety improvements for Old Pasco Rd. (Photo: Giuliano Ferrara)

The two Pasco County commisioners who represent the largest portions of Wesley Chapel — Ron Oakley in District 1 and Mike Moore in District 2 — have had their fair share of complaints from residents about area roads, and the traffic on them.

So, as Moore, Oakley and their fellow commissioners took up the debate about a proposal clearing the way for a new business park on Old Pasco Rd., they both were in favor of taking a closer look at whether or not the two-lane road should be widened first.

That is not going to happen, however, as the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) voted to approve a re-zoning request that clears the way to allow 2,250,000 sq. ft. of office and light industrial entitlements on roughly 91 acres of land on the east side of Old Pasco Rd. about 290 feet south of Overpass Rd., near the new Cypress Creek Middle High School.

The BOC is hoping it attracts future businesses and brings more jobs to the county.

Moore was in favor of the re-zoning request, but considering there is a widening project already in the works for Overpass Rd., near where the new business park will be located, he said he was only suggesting, no pun intended, that the BCC look further down the road.

“I just asked why not do the whole (widening) thing at once instead of piecemeal,” said Moore. “It would be nice if it was widened all the way down to S.R. 54. You always want to be prepared for the future. Putting the infrastructure in place first is important to me.”

Oakley agreed. The Overpass Business Park, which was formerly known as the Vibrant SUN Business Park, is in his district and was approved by the Board of County Commissioners vote on May 22.

Moore’s concerns about Old Pasco Rd.’s ability to handle the additional traffic, especially from trucks, that a business park might add was assuaged by the assumption that many of the trucks and additional traffic will use the future Overpass Rd. interchange to get on and off I-75.

However, he still has concerns about the road, which will see increased traffic from the addition of middle school students to the Cypress Creek Middle/High School campus, a potential Performing Arts Center on that campus, 400 new homes in Quail Hollow, and the 264-unit Arbours at Saddle Oaks residential development at the intersection of Old Pasco Rd. and Country Club Rd.

Moore said plans to widen Old Pasco Rd. were at one time in the county’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) but were removed during the 2008 economic downturn. He said he was going to try to get the project put back into the LRTP.

He said the county is looking into applying for state infrastructure grants to pay for any potential widening project.

Pasco commissioners recently approved $89,788 for HDR Engineering, Inc. to conduct a road safety audit (RSA) and study for Old Pasco Rd. from S.R. 54 to north of Overpass Rd., a 3.32-mile stretch.

While the RSA is unrelated to the BCC’s approval of the business park, Moore said it could determine that such a need to widen Old Pasco Rd. exists.

However, the study, expected to take four months, is focued more on road safety issues and safety improvements than widening.

That study will take a look at the Old Pasco Rd. intersections with S.R. 54, Post Oak Blvd., Foamflower Blvd., Dayflower Blvd., Country Club Rd., Bonnie Blue Dr., Deedra Dr., Sonny Dr., Lindenhurst Dr., and Overpass Rd.

New Union Park Charter Academy Set To Open In August At  Full Enrollment!

Union Park Charter Academy is Wesley Chapel’s first charter school and is expected to open fully enrolled, with 615 students in grades K through 6. (Photo: Giuliano Ferrara)

Wesley Chapel’s first charter school will open this fall. Demand for the school is clearly high, as enrollment already is full and there’s a waiting list at every grade level.

Union Park Charter Academy — called “UPCA” and pronounced “UP-kuh” — has 615 students scheduled to start school in kindergarten through 6th grade when it opens for the first time on August 13.

One thing you won’t find is classrooms of kids filling notebooks that transcribe lectures. In fact, the rooms at the school aren’t even called “classrooms.”

“The design of the building allows us to really meet the personal needs of individual students,” says the school’s founding principal, Tracy Ware. “The design of the building is in communities. What’s exciting is that there are so many options.”

Instead of traditional classrooms, each grade level meets in a common area with all of the teachers for that grade level. Students then move into one of the spaces available to them. That might be a learning lab for larger groups of students and a teacher. Or, it could be an area with flexible seating where students sit on creative furniture, such as “wobble boards” (no worries about kids leaning back and toppling over a four-legged chair), or stand at a high-top table.

There also are areas for small group projects, where students can go inside a glassed-in room and work without distraction, but still in complete view of the teacher.

The school is responsible for teaching to state standards and testing using statewide standardized tests.

“What sets us apart is not what we teach — it’s how,” explains Ware. “We have opportunities to use more technology and divide children up based on learning style, with four teachers teaching the same curriculum at the same time, but bringing it to children in different ways.”

UPCA is the newest school by Charter Schools USA, which currently manages 84 schools in seven states, serving more than 70,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

Charter schools are public schools that operate under a contract — called a charter — with the local school district. Each charter school is independently governed by its own board of directors, and employees do not work for the local school district. However, Pasco County Schools is responsible for some oversight, ensuring that the school is in compliance with its charter and local, state and federal regulations.

Charter schools are required to be non-profit organizations.

As a charter school, it is a tuition-free option for parents looking for an alternative to the public school to which their child is assigned. This fall, Pasco County is expected to have 5,513 students enrolled in a total of 12 charter schools, with UPCA the only one located within Wesley Chapel, although a second charter school, Pinecrest Academy, is expected to open in 2019 at a site to be determined.

Ware was previously an education cluster manager responsible for leading and coaching principals and senior leadership teams using international standards she practiced while serving as a principal in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). In Abu Dhabi, she opened a grades K-5 school, where she promoted clear collaborative relationships between staff members with various backgrounds from all over the world.

“Ms. Ware is the perfect fit for our new innovative school opening in Wesley Chapel,” said Charter Schools USA’s Michelle Thompson, the company’s regional director of education for Florida’s west coast. “We knew we needed someone who will approach educational solutions from an entirely new mindset as we open a brand-new school with such an open and collaborative environment.”

A Focus On Technology

In addition to the innovative building, another unique aspect of UPCA is its focus on technology.

“Technology gives us more opportunities to reach students,” says Ware, explaining that smart technology will be used throughout every learning community, including an iPad issued to every student in grade 3 and higher.

“Teachers can flip the classroom,” because of this technology, explains Ware. Instead of traditional homework — where Wade says that incorrect practices can actually hurt a student’s ability to learn something correctly — a teacher can use video or other means to introduce a lesson at home that will be experienced the next day at school.

In addition, Ware says she’s excited about the level of involvement she’s already seen from the parents of the students who plan to attend. Many students can walk or bike to school, she says, and more than 90 parents signed in to the school’s first Parent Teacher Co-Op meeting (similar to a PTA).

The school’s students have already voted to choose its mascot, which is the Comets.

“The things that really set this school apart are its design, our use of technology, parental support and community investment,” says Ware. “Students have an opportunity to be innovative and creative, and that’s what we’ll provide at Union Park.”

Ware says that although there is a waiting list, interested parents should not be discouraged from applying, because some students who are enrolled now may not attend due to relocations or other factors.

“Even if they’re on the waiting list,” Ware explains, “there’s a good chance they could be enrolled this fall.”

Union Park Charter Academy is under construction at 32775 Oldwoods Ave. in Wesley Chapel. For more information, stop by its temporary office at 3830 Turman Loop, #101, between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, call (813) 358-7306 or visit UnionParkAcademy.org.

Three New Hotels Add Heat To Wesley Chapel’s Business Climate

The six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy. will open this summer. 

For years, Pasco County has grappled with attracting tourists and giving them a place to stay.

Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) and a planned RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, as well as the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO), the Shops at Wiregrass mall, the massive “connected city” project and dozens of local restaurants will help take care of attracting visitors.

In a few months, a long-standing problem of finding beds for all of those visitors’ heads will be solved as well.

During the months of June and July, Wesley Chapel expects to see three new hotels open along the burgeoning S.R. 56 corridor, joining the Holiday Inn & Suites that opened last year next to FHCI (and the Hampton Inn & Suites, which has been open for many years).

“The two industries (tourism and hospitality) go hand in hand,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay (formerly Greater Wesley Chapel) Chamber of Commerce. “It’s almost like you can’t have one without the other.”

Barring any weather delays, a six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy., across S.R. 56 from FHCI, is scheduled to open in June, a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is expected to open in June or July a few miles to the east (in the Wiregrass Ranch development), and the six-story, 132-room Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center will open in July at the Cypress Creek Town Center across from TPO.

The newest hotels have all been planned since late 2015.

The Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center

Impact Properties is building the Hyatt Place, and recently hosted a “topping off” event to show off its progress. Impact just began building the $24-million hotel last summer. The Hyatt Place will share the north side of S.R. 56 with a host of new restaurants and retailers (see story on page 6).

The conference center addition fills another area need, says District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. “This is going to be a great development all around,” Moore said during the Hyatt Place event. “When you talk about a convention center, that has been something that has been a big need in Pasco County, especially on the east side. You won’t have a problem keeping it full.”

Impact president Dilip Kanji said he has had his eyes on the Cypress Creek location for years, patiently waiting for the right moment.

“I’ve been looking at Wesley Chapel since 2012,” Kanji says, citing the Cypress Creek Town Center’s permitting woes dating back to 2007. “If you remember, (our interest) goes back to the days when the mall was going to go there, the problems with the wetlands and the Army Corps of Engineers, all that stuff, so we just kept looking. But, Wesley Chapel has arrived, Pasco County has arrived, everyone wants to be here. We had an idea for what we wanted to do; we were just waiting for the right time.”

Kanji said his company also eyed the Shops at Wiregrass mall and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel areas in Wiregrass, as well as the area near FHCI (where the Holiday Inn Express is today).

“There’s been the potential (for a hotel) in the area, but the place we always wanted to be was on that (the west) side of the interstate,” he said.

A Little History…

Impact Properties was founded in 1981, two years after Kanji, a biochemist at the time, visited San Francisco and stayed at a family-run hotel that he fell in love with. He decided, without the benefit of any business schooling or real estate courses, to enter the business.

Impact Properties president Dilip Kanji

“I never stepped in a lab again, and never looked back,” said Kanji, who works closely with brother and VP Nash Kanji, whom he describes as a construction “whiz.” They started with a small motel in Gainesville that Kanji says his attorney at the time joked was known as a “no-tell motel.” Since then, Impact Properties has grown into an award-winning development company, owning and managing more than 25 hotels, and was awarded the key to the City of Tampa by then-Mayor Dick Greco for developing the Hilton Garden Inn in Ybor City, the first hotel to be built in the historic district in more than 100 years.

Impact Properties currently owns a hotel in Gainesville, two in Jacksonville and two in Tampa, including The Westin on Westshore Blvd.

The company also is developing a hotel in Treasure Island, FL, in addition to the Wesley Chapel location, which Kanji says is one of the most coveted areas around.

Speaking Of Hot…

Kanji says people have asked him if he’s building his next hotel in downtown Tampa or St. Petersburg, and when he tells them no, they ask why, because those are the hot areas.

“I don’t even go where it’s already hot,” Kanji says. “We identify an emerging area, growth areas that are going to be hot. And, we get there first.”

He says that was his plan when he built a hotel in Brandon years ago, the first he says to do so on the old I-75 bypass. “The interchange wasn’t even working,” he says. “We identified where Brandon was going — it was the bedroom community of Tampa — and we identified that area as hot. We got there first. There were growing pains. We did not hit our numbers the first year or two. But, we said we will control the market.”

In the case of Wesley Chapel, however, Impact Properties will be entering a market that is already considered hot, and growing crowded quickly — landowner Bob Sierra said at the “topping” event that if the Hyatt Place is successful, Kanji has an option to build a second in the Cypress Creek Town center.

In addition to the three hotels set to open this summer, the RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex – which could open in spring of 2019 — will have a 120-room Marriott-branded Residence Inn on site, and the Brightwork Crossing development north of S.R. 54/56 and west of C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. has stated plans in 2016 to build an unnamed hotel with up to 150 rooms on that site.

Also, plans were filed with the county in August for a proposed, also-unnamed  160,000-sq.-ft. hotel to be located behind the Walgreens at the S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. intersection.

A report in 2016 by consultants analyzing the potential for a sports complex in Wesley Chapel pointed out the lack of hotel rooms in the area. And, while it still made a sizable economic impact (estimated at $3-million a year), it has been believed that one of the main beneficiaries of the DICK’s National Lacrosse Championships held at Wesley Chapel District Park the last several years were nearby Hillsborough County hotels, such as those in New Tampa, which took in 60-75 percent of the tournament’s teams and visitors.

While saturation may become an issue, the new hotels are anticipated to help the county’s tourism efforts and fill tax coffers. The county approved doubling its tourist tax, or bed tax, from 2 to 4 percent last year.

“What you’re seeing in Pasco County is quality,” Moore said. “There is a lot of time and effort put into these projects. We’ll be getting rooms filled, heads in beds…and we appreciate the help. It helps us grow, and helps us bring in additional profits to the county.”