Chamber Luncheon Reveals Wiregrass Ranch Plans & Calls Out Pasco For Non-Compliance Of Its Agreement Regarding The Sports Campus

“Pasco County is in default of our agreement regarding the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus,” said Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter at the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC)’s new office in the Signature Workspace at the Shops at Wiregrass on Mar. 12. ““They are out of time; they are well past the deadline we gave them to get into compliance.”

Although Porter and his development manager Scott Sheridan talked about all aspects of what is already in place and what is still to come to the Porter family’s 5,100-acre cattle ranch (which stretches from S.R. 54 to south of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel) at the Chamber luncheon, the blockbuster news coming out of that meeting, attended by about 70 people, was Porter’s promise to “take back the (160-acre Sports Campus) property and sue the county for its non-compliance of the terms of our agreement,” referring to the “Flycatcher” agreement between Wiregrass Ranch and Pasco County, which was created when the land was donated to the county to build the Sports Campus. “The county was never supposed to manage that property,” despite the fact that Pasco voted to self-manage the Sports Campus beginning on June 1, 2023, after also voting unanimously to find RADDSports — the previous management company of the Sports Campus — in default of its agreement in Oct. 2022. The Board of County Commissioners (BOC) also voted unanimously to spend $6 million of taxpayer funds to buy out RADDSports from that agreement as of June 1 – without ever proving that RADD was in default of its managerial contract.

One of the problems, according to Porter, was that Pasco was already supposed to provide five additional outdoor fields, a trail system, concession stands and additional parking on the property (in addition to the two outdoor soccer fields and 98,000-sq.-ft. arena originally constructed when Phase 1 of the Sports Campus opened in 2020). Not only were those additional fields never built, the county never even put them out to bid until late 2023, when Pasco said it would cost $15.2 million to build them. “But,” Porter asked, “how much less would it have cost if the fields had gone to bid five years earlier, before Covid, as the county had promised?” 

Sheridan also noted that, “We want to make sure that this continues to be an asset to the community…a tourist-development-focused asset — that is its first and primary mission. That is what our agreement with the county says it should be, and not necessarily a county park. The purpose is for it to be a tourist development asset to get people dining in our restaurants, shopping at our retail (stores) and staying in our hotel rooms…adding tax base to our local economy.”

“Scott has a much more upbeat outlook on that asset than I do,” Porter said. “They should already have that (Phase 2) done and they are failing in their agreement with us. The county is four or five years behind on delivering the fields and it’s required that they use an outside operator to manage that asset. We have put them on notice that they have crossed the line on this one and they’ve crossed it badly. Government has no business trying to bring in and run stuff like that. Hopefully, they get it back to where it needs to be because if not, we’re going to solve this ourselves and how doesn’t matter to me.  They made a promise and we’re not going to play games, which is what they’ve been doing. So, we can do it nicely or, if they want, we can go to war.”

When asked about the lack of enough parking at the Sports Campus by Becky Hayes, the general manager of the Residence Inn hotel adjacent to the Sports Campus, Porter said, “I’m not a math genius, but I know that they could have built a helluva lot of parking spots for the money they used to buy out a group (RADD) that they signed an agreement with. They spent more than $5 million on that, instead of using the money to fix a problem.” 

Following the Mar. 12 luncheon, District 2 (which includes the Sports Campus and much of Wesley Chapel) Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman spoke with the Neighborhood News and said that Porter was “absolutely correct in his assessment of the situation with the Sports Campus and he has every right to take back the property because Pasco is not in compliance with that Flycatcher agreement.”

Commissioner Weightman also told the Neighborhood News that he would provide numbers to compare how the county’s Parks & Recreation Dept. has done managing the facility since taking over from RADD, but Porter said that the BOC should never have voted to take over the management of the Sports Campus — regardless of its reasons — and is only now getting ready to send out a Request for Quotes/Proposals from new operators to take over its management.

“So, write the county commissioners because it’s not necessarily them, it’s the staff in that (County Commission) office that keeps making excuses every damn day,” Porter said. “Let’s make it uncomfortable for them until they do something.”

“Downtown Wesley Chapel — Legacy Wiregrass Ranch”

Porter and Sheridan also gave updates on the previously announced (and getting ready to go vertical) 300-bed Orlando Health hospital, the 50-bed PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital (north of the Amberlin Apartments), the other planned medical buildings across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from the BayCare hospital, the 100,00-sq.-ft. Florida Cancer Specialists medical building (on the south side of S.R. 56, next to North Tampa Behavioral Health) and the highly anticipated “downtown Wesley Chapel that we call Legacy Wiregrass Ranch,” Porter said. “This group is the first to see the update on this, although we’ve been working on it for years.”

He added, “It’s not a  Town Center. I am so tired of it being referred to as a Town Center. There are 28 Town Centers (in Wesley Chapel), and I don’t know what those are but this is an actual downtown. Everybody uses that key word (Town Center) and it’s absolutely incredible because it’s usually a Publix and maybe a Rita’s Italian Ice or something like that and it does nothing. That’s what we call ‘commercial.’ But, this is something that’s legit and it has taken a long time, but this is going to happen. Day One, we will have 150,000 sq. ft. (of office), 100,000 sq. ft. of retail and that’s by design. And we’re investing in it ourselves — we’re building 100,000 sq. ft. across the street. Nobody begins with 350,000 sq. ft. in the county and we have that before it even starts building. We don’t want to pull the trigger too early because if you do, we set somebody up for failure.” 

Sheridan also noted, “Ours will be a true downtown urban development, with a 1,500-space elevated parking structure and five-story rental apartments with truly local businesses, including a food hall, on the bottom floor., plus a large green space area for outdoor entertaining. So, this is definitely urban in nature — four- or five-story apartments, a four- or five-story hotel, all just north of Orlando Health. This will be Phase One, about 25 acres, of a true downtown Wesley Chapel – Legacy Wiregrass Ranch.” 

Porter added, “There has to be residential. These are mid-rise apartment buildings, about 900 units. I don’t understand why the county is against rental units. Lifestyles have changed, so we need rental units, which may be five or six years out, not only here but throughout the ranch. But, if I can get them to do five or six stories here, I can get them to do seven or eight stories someplace else (in Wiregrass Ranch).”

Sheridan added that although the downtown area is likely at least two years away from beginning construction, “We are beginning to seek proposals now and there is some infrastructure already happening. But, by the time Orlando Health opens in late 2025, early 2026, the first phase of this will be on the heels of that.”

Porter also noted that although all of Wiregrass Ranch has a development plan, there will still be plenty of green space throughout the community. 

“Nobody cares more about this land and the wildlife on it than I do. That’s why we’ve taken such a careful approach to this development. People call me a control freak, and maybe I am, but we’ve turned down a lot of different things and we’re building a lot of this ourselves because I want this to be successful.”

“We’ve probably turned down ten gas stations in Wiregrass Ranch,” Sheridan added. “We finally allowed one to open (the 7-11 on Mansfield Blvd.) about a year ago and just agreed to a second one. “We have lost deals  — to great users — because we don’t want to give up control to somebody else.”

Porter noted, “One of my concerns is that everybody loves Wawa, but what happens if Wawa leaves? In our case, whoever takes that over would have to go through me again to make it a Kangaroo or something else.”

And finally, Sheridan says that Wiregrass Ranch currently provides, “about $1.4 billion in tax base to Pasco County. At build-out, conservatively, we’ll probably be about $6.5 billion in tax base. That generates huge revenue for the county.”

Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. To Officially Open & Other Community Updates 


People have been driving past the barricades on Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. just behind the Walmart on S.R. 54, for months, but the word is that the roadway should officially open to traffic within the next couple of weeks. 

Considering how long people have been driving through the barricades “blocking” the nearly two-mile-long stretch of Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. from north of Chancey Rd. to just south of the Walmart fronting S.R. 54, it would be nice if the road finally could be declared “officially” open. 

Well, a source close to the project who asked not to be identified has told the Neighborhood News that although no exact date can yet be revealed, Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. should be officially open to traffic within the next couple of weeks, with conveyance to Pasco County expected to follow shortly thereafter.” Our source has confirmed that the landscaping along Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. is what has been holding up the opening. 

I personally saw people moving the barricades both near Walmart and north of Chancey as long as three months ago, so being able to legally drive the important connector roadway will certainly be welcome by those who live in the Wiregrass Ranch community. 

The same source also provided a number of other updates, including: 

• The Wiregrass Ranch developers hope to start construction on the 4th (the eastern) leg of the roadway extending from the new (northern) Eagleston Blvd. signal (opposite the new Jacobs Mitsubishi of Wesley Chapel dealership) within about a year from now. Our source says that the construction of this portion of Eagleston is being held up by the drainage permit. 

• The developers also have begun work on the east-west extension of Chancey Rd., which should be done by the end of this year. 

The construction of the Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant has gone vertical. 

• Now that the construction of the Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant has gone vertical (photo above), the hope is that the long-awaited restaurant and wine tasting bar should be open by sometime this fall. 

The clearing of the ground for the Orlando Health Wesley Chapel hospital has begun.

• For those who haven’t been able to figure out yet exactly where Wesley Chapel’s third major hospital will be located, you now can’t miss the red silt fence (photo right) just east of Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. on S.R. 56 or the sign denoting that Orlando Health Wesley Chapel is currently under construction. 

Although the 300- bed hospital has not yet gone vertical, the ground has begun being cleared and we have been told that Wesley Chapel’s largest hospital (with more beds than AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and BayCare Wesley Chapel combined) should be completed by late 2024. 

Of course, we’ll keep you posted! 

Wiregrass Ranch Students Grab Awards At Statewide HOSA Event!

Congratulations to the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) students who won awards at the Health Occupations Students of America (aka HOSA-Future Health Professionals) State Leadership Conference held in Orlando Apr. 13-16.

These students have the opportunity to represent Florida at the HOSA International Leadership Conference in Dallas in late June.

WRH dominated the CPR & First Aid skills competitions, with Mahek Mody and Aizah Rahman taking first place, and Ava Sullivan and Angelika Domenech finishing second.

“They did a lot of practicing,” says HOSA sponsor Allison Wiley. “They were working every day to perfect their craft.”

In addition, Khushi Chitalia took second place in Veterinary Services and Jasmine Ahmed finished in second for Clinical Nursing. In Epidemiology, Tanmay Patil grabbed fourth place.

In the Public Service Announcement category, Calina Levy, Nuha Naveen and Chris O’Donell finished in second place.

Wiley says all of the students showed a lot of initiative when they chose to participate in this competition.

“They are very dedicated,” she says. “Most of them are taking AP classes and have a mindset of achieving their goals, and this is something that builds their self-esteem and looks good in their portfolios.”

In at least one case, a team that didn’t finish in the State top five is using the competition as a platform for something more. Junior Aleah Diaz says she and her teammates — Anda Tram-Lan, Tristan Pasquale, Maria Dsouza (photo, above) — took on a project they became passionate about.

It focused on public awareness surrounding endometriosis, a serious gynecologic disorder they learned affects one in 10 women and is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. The group’s goal is to raise awareness of the problem so that more women get a proper diagnosis earlier. 

The four of them already have attended a medical conference, shown a documentary at their school and are sharing information via their Instagram account @endoawareness. 

Diaz says that although the four of them are done with the competition for this year, she will continue the effort to share what they’ve learned.

“I want to keep advocating on this topic,” she says. “I was interested in the medical field but not sure what I wanted to do specifically. But now, I think I’ll do medical research or maybe go the OB/GYN route.”

A team from John Long Middle School took home second place in the Middle School “HOSA Bowl” category, but the students’ names were not released.

JD Porter Provides Updates On Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. & More

The map above, by King Engineering Associates, Inc., and provided by JD Porter, has been updated by the Neighborhood News. It isn’t 100% up to date, but it does show most of what is under development and already has been built in Wiregrass Ranch.

As your local community newspaper, one of the questions I get asked most often is “When will Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. (WRB) open from north of Chancey Rd. to S.R. 54 near Walmart (see map)?” 

During a recent interview, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter provided an answer to this question, as well as to many of the other questions people ask me most often — although not all of the answers are what I would call definitive (at least not yet).

For example, anyone who lives in the Estancia or Esplanade subdivisions in Wiregrass Ranch surely knows that WRB has been fully paved for months, but barricades situated north of Chancey Rd. and by Walmart’s Garden Center just south of 54 have prevented people from legally using it. But, Porter said, that problem should end soon.

“We’re finishing the landscaping and irrigation now,” Porter said. “I can’t guarantee an exact schedule, but it should be fully open by sometime in June.”

As for the Publix supermarket that is ready to begin building behind the Bank of America and Advance Auto Parts at the corner of WRB and 54, Porter said that dirt should begin moving within the next couple of weeks. And, he notes, as far as he know, there still is no plan to close the existing Publix store in the Hollybrook Plaza just east of the intersection of 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

What About Next To The Mall?

The other question about Wiregrass Ranch that I get asked most often is about the large plot of land that has been cleared on S.R. 56, just east of the Shops at Wiregrass. Porter confirmed that although that lot was originally intended to be the second phase of the mall, the mall itself changed twice in just the last couple of years and that Porter’s development arm — Locust Branch, LLC — had purchased back the lot from Queensland Investment Corp. But sadly, although the land has been cleared, Porter said that no new development on the site was imminent.

“We’re just getting it pad-ready,” he said. “That is a potential $100-million asset and we are working to bring higher-quality, better users to that site and to make it more of a true mixed-use location.” He added that while he couldn’t yet make any announcements about what is to come to that location, “We have had a lot of talks with interested parties about it.”

Orlando Health Hospital Update

Also getting ready to begin moving dirt in the next couple of weeks is the Orlando Health Hospital, which will become the third hospital in Wesley Chapel when it opens in 2025. Porter said that there also will be a medical office building affiliated with the hospital that he will be able to show plans for soon. The office building will be located “on the fringe” of the planned Town Center in Wiregrass Ranch.

The Latest On Raymond James

Although Porter still couldn’t say when it will actually begin building, he said that the long-awaited Raymond James Financial — which plans to build 400,000-1 million sq. ft. of a large office campus to the east of the Fairfield Inn and the Audi of Wesley Chapel dealership — “has spent a couple of million dollars on site work already and could begin actual vertical construction by as soon as June or July.”  

Cooper’s Hawk & Other Eateries 

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited new building in Wiregrass Ranch is the construction of the new Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant (photo), which is now under construction to the east of the Culver’s on S.R. 56. Porter said he hopes Cooper’s Hawk will open by the end of this year, but we’ll have to wait and see how the construction goes.

He also noted that in the same general area as Cooper’s Hawk, there is another restaurant site available and that he continues to receive “a ton of letters of interest from equal-level restaurant users” for that spot. “Think about what’s near the Cooper’s Hawk in Tampa (on Boy Scout Blvd., near International Plaza),” Porter said. “It could be like any of those restaurants.”

In that case, it could be anything from Eddie V’s or Ocean Prime to Kona Grill and Del Frisco’s, but Porter wasn’t at liberty to say anything other than, “I think the community will be pleased once we’re able to announce something.”

Amberlin Apartments And…

A number of people also have asked about an age 55+ apartment community being built in our area. That community, which has recently begun vertical construction, is called Amberlin at Wiregrass Ranch.

Porter says, however, that there are other communities that also are planned in that large area with frontage on BBD.

And finally, Porter had no update at our press time about when the planned Town Center will begin building, but stay tuned for an update in the “not-too-distant” future. 

Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus Takeover — The Rest Of The Story!

On April 18, Pasco County’s Board of County Commissioners voted to buy out the contract of RADDSports, LLC, to manage the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus. 

I called the county’s tourism office that same day — and made three additional attempts before I went to press with this issue — in an effort to get official responses to a number of my questions about the takeover plan from tourism director Adam Thomas, who did not respond to my questions. 

Instead, the only response I got, from Tambrey Laine, the manager of media relations for Pasco County Government, was the press release put out jointly by the county and RADDSports, and that, “The county is declining to comment further.”

Please note that almost everything presented below is a matter of public record. The only exception is what the owners of RADDSports told me Thomas said to them prior to the Sports Campus groundbreaking in 2017; however, Anthony Homer of RADDSports assures me that what he says Thomas said at that time is true. — GN   

 For those who don’t understand why Pasco County has agreed to buy out the contract to take over the management of the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus for what will end up being more than $6 million of taxpayer funds, you’re not alone.

It seems that our editor was the only reporter who thought it odd that Pasco Tourism director Adam Thomas (right) chose to pose for this picture with former county commissioner Mike Moore — rather than with the management of RADDSports — when the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County won the Florida Sports Foundation’s award as the state’s Best Small Market Venue for 2021.

Adam Thomas, the county’s director of tourism who renamed the tourism department “Experience Florida’s Sports Coast,” got the job basically the same day Pasco and the private firm RADDSports, LLC, broke ground on the Sports Campus together in 2017. 

RADD’s Anthony Homer had told me back in 2020 that Thomas had told him and RADDSports president Richard Blalock prior to the groundbreaking ceremony that if it were up to him (meaning Thomas), there would be no private-public partnership between the two entities. And, it seems Thomas has been doing everything he could to end that agreement ever since.

For one thing, despite Thomas’ claims to the contrary last year, RADD has provided proof that it never did actually default on its agreement. And yet, Thomas still was able to convince the five county commissioners back in October 2022 to vote in favor of that default.

Thomas had the county hire the attorneys (with county money) who wrote up the default paperwork that the commissioners voted on in October — without the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) ever seeing any proof of the default and without even discussing it before they voted to approve it from the Board’s Consent Agenda. The commissioners at that time accepted Thomas at his word that RADD was focusing on local events, not on increasing sports tourism in the county, which was the primary portion of RADD’s mandate in that agreement.

Prior to the unanimous vote at that October BCC meeting, RADD even provided the commissioners with actual statistics from an independent study firm that proved that not only had no default taken place, but that RADD had actually outperformed all of the tourism benchmarks of its agreement.

These facts presented by RADD were confirmed by a separate $35,000 independent report — commissioned by Thomas — also using public funds.

In fact, RADD did such a great job of establishing the Sports Campus as a tourist destination for people outside of Pasco that the study showed that it was the #55 tourist draw in all of Florida last year, outperforming much more established attractions like the Miami Seaquarium (#56) & the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium (#57). The Sports Campus also won the Florida Sports Foundation’s Small Venue of the Year award for 2021 under RADD’s management.

Again, despite Thomas’ claims, it wasn’t only RADD’s local programs that were hugely successful — it hosted 112 events (there have been many weekends with more than one event) in 2021-22 and those events helped local hoteliers sell tens of thousands of room nights both years in Pasco — and bring more than 92,000 unique visitors to the county. All of this happened despite RADD first taking over the Sports Campus at the height of Covid.

In addition, Pasco received the agreed-to $150,000 payment from RADD for 2021 and would have received its agreed-to $150,000 payment for 2022 had the BCC not voted to default the company. Pasco also would have received 11% of RADD’s revenue this year, and already has received millions more in sales and bed tax funds from all of the visitors the Sports Campus has brought in from all over the country and even beyond.

Instead of continuing this mutually beneficial partnership, Thomas convinced the commissioners to spend the following:

• $250,000 in taxpayer money on legal fees to force RADD out;

• $3 million over the next five years (including $1 million this year and $500,000 each year for the next four) to buy out the agreement with RADD;

• $2.8 million to operate the Sports Campus — at a loss (for at least the first two years, according to the default notice approved by the county in October);

• $94,000 to purchase furnishings & other items from RADD; and 

• $35,000 for the independent study previously mentioned.

So, is that $6,179,000 an amount of money a small, but growing, county would spend of its taxpayers’ funds to take over a supposedly defaulted contract? 

“We thank the county for recognizing the value that RADDSports has brought to the Sports Campus,” says Homer of the buyout agreement.

I don’t know why Thomas has had an issue with RADD from Day One, but I felt compelled to at least provide the actual facts of this situation, as I have not seen most of the information presented here reported by any other local news media.