Tag: Wesley Chapel

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.

“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.”

hotels Wesley Chapel

Heavy Hitters Talk Up Wesley Chapel’s Future At Economic Summit

(L.-r.) Metro Development Group VP Kartik Goyani, Metler Toledo general manager Viggo Nielsen, Wiregrass Ranch’s J.D. Porter and Larry Morgan of ComPark 75. (Photos by Steven John Photography)

The idea behind the 2017 East Pasco Economic Development Summit — the brainchild of Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) CEO Hope Allen and District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore — was to get some of the county’s heaviest business hitters into one room to update local business leaders on what the future has in store for Wesley Chapel.

The outlook presented was more than just rosy, to say the least.

“I thought it was a big success,’’ said Allen, who was backed up by positive survey results indicating that the audience of roughly 75 would like to see more summits of this nature.

And, Allen said that is the plan — she is trying to organize something for next year on local innovation — after two panels of local business experts, sandwiched around a keynote address from Dr. Jerry Parrish, the chief economist and director of research for the Florida Chamber Foundation, provided three hours of local business news for those in attendance.

The event, held at Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, was moderated by Moore, who represents much of Wesley Chapel on the Board of County Commissioners (BCC).

The first panel had some of the biggest names in Wesley Chapel development today – J.D. Porter of Wiregrass Ranch, ComPark 75 owner Larry Morgan and Metro Development Group vice president Kartik Goyani. Also on the first panel, although not located in Wesley Chapel, was Viggo Nielsen of Metler Toledo, which manufactures scales and analytical instruments and is relocating from Hillsborough County to a 250,000-sq.-ft. facility to be built near the Suncoast Parkway in Central Pasco (and bringing 500 jobs with it).

Not surprisingly, each business leader agreed that business in Wesley Chapel these days is pretty good, thanks to a combination of land still being available for expansion, a local county commission that is very business-friendly and incentive programs that have attracted companies like Raymond James Financial to the area.

Morgan, whose ComPark 75 is located off Wesley Chapel Blvd. (aka S.R. 54), just south of the S.R. 54 exit off I-75, said that was not always the case. He said much of Wesley Chapel’s development has hinged on patience.

‘When I bought my land in 2007, Pasco was becoming a boom town and then, of course, the recession hit,” Morgan said. “I just had faith and confidence that when the day turned, Pasco County was going to be the spot. I’m not always real good at foresight, but in this case think I got it right.”

Porter echoed Morgan’s sentiments. His family has owned the 5,100-acre Wiregrass Ranch for 75 years, weathering the Great Depression, as well as the local (and national) economic rollercoaster since then.

But now, things couldn’t be more ripe for success. “It’s all about being patient and doing things at the right time,’’ Porter said. “Anybody out there can crush it right now.”

Porter cited infrastructure that is already in place, a higher median household income and lower median age as attractive benchmarks for major businesses interested in setting up in Wesley Chapel. He said the addition of more homes and schools, as well as the continuing business-friendly voting of the county commission and the streamlining of the permitting process, portend a bright future for the area.

“Everyone recognizes Wesley Chapel as a whole right now,’’ Porter said. “Our (old)slogan was, “We’re Open for Business,” but nobody saw Pasco County as being open for business. They saw a bunch of headaches that actually changing (those headaches) has set the stage for moving forward.”

Morgan and Goyani agreed that Wesley Chapel is part of a hot region at the moment when it comes to business and development.

Goyani said that when Metro Development approached Pasco officials four years ago about building its “connected city” project — which is being built from the internet up with giga-fast internet service, the first two Crystal Lagoons in North America (see story on pg. 6) and a high-tech infrastructure that will one day showcase autonomous vehicles — it received a positive response from the county immediately.

“We got a yes quickly,’’ Goyani said. “I don’t think we would have gotten that response from any of our other counties. It really made the choice easy for us. Time will prove it was the right decision.”

Porter agreed.

“Pasco County now has a seat at the ‘big boys’ table,’’ he said. “They have more land and more resources and better infrastructure than what you will find in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota or Manatee (counties). That’s my opinion.”

(L.-r.) PHSC-Porter Campus Provost Kevin O’Farrell, PHSC provost Stanley Gianett, Pasco County administrator Dan Biles, Pasco EDC president Bill Cronin, Florida Trend publisher Andy Corty, Wesley Chapel Chamber CEO Hope Allen and District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore.

About the only things the panel did complain about were the state legislature’s battle with Governor Rick Scott over reducing incentives — Porter called it “pretty sad, pretty disgusting” — and the recent decision by the Pasco BCC to raise impact fees to help build more schools, a decision that has been lauded by the Pasco School District and Moore’s fellow commissioners on the BCC.

As for the future, the panel predicted more good things. Porter, continuing his diligent pursuit of “just the right fit” for Wiregrass Ranch, hinted at another big deal just around the corner. He said in the past month, he has talked to two companies with even more name recognition than Raymond James Financial about coming to Wesley Chapel.

Porter didn’t provide any details, other than to say Wiregrass Ranch is in the running for both, but he predicts he will at least land one of the two.

“I think everybody is going to be very excited with what’s coming in the next 12-18 months,’’ Porter said.

After Parrish gave his keynote address about the positive jobs outlook in Florida, a second panel featuring Florida Trend publisher Andy Corty, Pasco County administrator Dan Biles, Pasco Economic Development Council president Bill Cronin and PHSC provost Dr. Stanley Gianett continued the conversation, looking at the government’s role in luring businesses to the county, and the positive effect regionalism could have down the road.

hope allen J.D. Porter Mike Moore Wesley Chapel wesley chapel chamber of commerce Wiregrass Ranch

While It Rained Cats & Dogs, Pets Had Homes In Wesley Chapel Schools

John, Elaine & Pepper Goacher of New Port Richey were hosted by Wiregrass Ranch High before, during and after Irma rolled through Florida on Sept. 10-11.

When it came time to open more schools as shelters as Hurricane Irma made her northerly turn through the Florida Keys and Naples with a bead on Wesley Chapel, Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning didn’t hesitate to open seven more schools as shelters on Sept. 9, at 3 p.m., 30 or so hours before the storm rolled through our area as a high Category 1 or low Category 2 hurricane.

And pets, surprisingly, we’re allowed at all of them.

That wasn’t an easy call for Browning to make — of the 14 shelters originally opened in Pasco, pets were allowed at just two.

But, Browning knew that many residents would rather suffer “Irmageddon” with their animals in tow than without them, and he knew it wasn’t time to worry about the mess the animals would leave behind.

“We made them all pet shelters because, the fact of the matter is, and I don’t want to be morbid about it is, but it’s a lot easier cleaning up dog poop than it is carrying out body bags,’’ Browning said.

Browning had just left the kennel area at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), which he acknowledged wasn’t pretty. He called it a madhouse.

Others agreed.

“Have you been in the pet room?,’’ volunteer Kate Fletcher, a seventh grade civics teacher at John Long Middle School, asked. “It’s a zoo, literally. It’s a menagerie.”

Not only were there cats and dogs, she said, but there were birds, a snake, a ferret and rabbits and hamsters. “Pretty much any animal you can think of as a pet,’’ her daughter Maddy, 15, who also was volunteering, chimed in.

In the open breezeways at WRH, near the gymnasium where the pets were housed, people milled about with their dogs, taking slow walks around the campus while chatting on the phone, as news that the storm was on its way created a stir.

The bond between pets and their owners — or parents, as some pet owners would refer to themselves — is a strong one.

“It’s a fascinating dynamic,’’ Browning said. “We had people calling the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) today, and even shelters, and saying if I can’t bring my pets in, I’m not coming.”

For some, even the shelters were tough to handle. One woman, according to Fletcher, was in hysterics about having to crate her dog in the gym from 9 p.m.-7 a.m.

She cried as she pleaded with anyone that would listen to her, begging for the dog to be left with her. She even threatened to just leave with the dog, so they would not have to be separated.

Fletcher said she stepped in and told the woman that “36 hours of having your dog freaked out, is that worse than one or potentially both of you not getting through this?”

John and Elaine Goacher of New Port Richey sat on a maroon iron bench watching the other dogs while feeding treats to Pepper, their 12-year-old Dalmation/Labrador mix.

They couldn’t sleep the night before, so they left the morning of the 10th for safety. They contemplated heading north towards family, but decided on Wesley Chapel.

“It had to be somewhere we could take Pepper, that was for sure,’’ said John, who noted that he passed up a number of other shelters as they drove east across the county.

It was the Goachers’ first hurricane, but they suspect it wasn’t Pepper’s. They adopted her from a rescue in Alabama, who said she was one of many puppies taken in after Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Maybe that explained Pepper’s unusually calm demeanor.

Pets in shelters Wesley Chapel

Audi Wesley Chapel Eyes November Opening

From l. to r.: Audi of America’s Kirk Preiser, Dimmitt Auto Group CEO Scott Larguier, Quinn Porter of Wiregrass Ranch, WCCC CEO Hope Allen and Audi Wesley Chapel general manager Alan Majewski.

When it came time to move to Florida, Kirk Preiser did his homework before settling on Wesley Chapel. The Southern Region area director for Audi, responsible for the dealerships from Naples to Jacksonville, Preiser felt Wesley Chapel was the perfect spot in the middle of his market and an area that was quickly growing and would eventually have a lot to offer his family.

He admits that he had to convince his wife, however.

Then, he set his sights on convincing Audi it should join him in Wesley Chapel by opening a dealership there.

It may have taken a little longer to convince Audi than his wife, but eventually, Preiser was successful — in mid-November, Dimmitt Automotive Group’s Audi Wesley Chapel will become a reality when it opens the doors at its S.R. 56 location just east of Mansfield Blvd.

“I’ve been pitching Wesley Chapel to the president of the company for years,’’ Preiser told a gathering of local business leaders at the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development briefing last month at Pebble Creek Golf Club.

“If you’re happy,” he joked, “you can thank me.”

Preiser said the opening of the Mercedes dealership on S.R. 56 a few years ago helped make his case, proof that the area was able to support a luxury auto dealer. Lexus also has jumped into the Wesley Chapel market, and will open off S.R. 54 in December.

Audi chose Dimmitt Automotive Group to sell its high-end automobiles.

Dimmitt, a fourth generation company, was founded in 1924 in Clearwater by the late Larry Dimmitt, Sr., selling Fords and Buicks. Because Dimmitt had traded cars for land, becoming the second-largest landowner in Pinellas County next to the county itself, the company was able to weather the Great Depression better than most.

In 1930, Dimmitt became a Cadillac and Chevy dealer, and eventually grew into selling Land Rovers, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Toyotas, McLarens and now, Audis. Soon, the company will add a Jaguar franchise to the family, said Dimmitt CEO Scott Larguier.

Dimmitt currently has locations in Clearwater, Pinellas Park and Sarasota.

“Most impressive, after 23 years, is that we are still a very community-minded organization,’’ Larguier said, adding that a number of Dimmitt family members serve on local boards and foundations, and host a Community Values Day at the company where employees are paid to do community service.

By landing Audi, Dimmitt will be selling one of the hottest car makers on the planet, Preiser said. It took until 2010 for Audi to sell its 100,000th car in the U.S., but only five years after that, it sold No. 200,000, while adding seven models.

“We have had a tremendous run,’’ Preiser said. “Since 2010, we’ve been taking off like a rocket.”

The new Audi Wesley Chapel dealership promises high-tech services and state-of-the-art architecture, with a luxury lounge filled with leather club chairs.

“We are building the dealership of the future,’’ Preiser said.

It will be just shy of 40,000 sq. ft., and the lot won’t host a sea of cars like other new car showrooms; instead, it will have 125-150 new Audis on hand at all times. The dealership will have 50-60 employees, and promote a progressive and relaxed environment.

It also is offering an “Inner Circle” club, with special bonuses and perks, to the first 100 patrons who buy an Audi.

And, of course, Audi Wesley Chapel will sell high-quality, technologically-advanced cars, which have dominated the Consumer Reports charts for best car in recent years.

Preiser spoke not only of Audi’s current popular models, but also looked down the road to a time when autonomous and electric cars will be the norm, and Wesley Chapel will be one of the best spots to buy what could be the best in those categories.

In May, Audi became the first company to get a license to test Level 3 autonomous cars, demoing the Audi A7 in New York (and also licenses to test cars in Nevada and California). According to Preiser, the A7 already is performing Level 3 autonomous driving tasks, meaning it can drive unassisted at highway speeds when conditions are optimal.

Audi hopes to have its first Level 3 autonomous vehicle to market in the U.S. next year, and hopes to have Level 4 automobiles — which can do pretty much everything, even without prompts from the driver — by 2020.

It also is hoping to make a splash in the electric car market.

“We weren’t the first in the game with electric, but we won’t launch until we’re ready with an electric vehicle that is, in every way, an Audi,’’ Preiser said.

The German automaker is hoping to get the Audi e-tron Sportback to market by 2019, and it has also been revealed that Audi is exploring the possibility of thin, lightweight solar panels on the roof to help save energy and increase the range of its electric cars.

“We’re betting the farm on electric,’’ Preiser said.

For more info, visit AudiUSA.com or Dimmitt.com.

Audi Economic development briefing Wesley Chapel