Wiregrass Ranch Prepped For Major Projects

West Palm Beach-based commercial developer John Dowd played a pivotal role in the development of the Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch area near S.R. 56 when, with the stalwart help of JCPenney as the lead anchor, he helped spearhead the birth of The Shops at Wiregrass mall.

Dowd admitted that it wasn’t easy. Right before the mall finished, the economy started to slow. Had it been six months later, Dowd doesn’t think the mall would have ever been built. “We had tenants come to us who had literally just signed leases and wanted out,’’ he said. “Everybody was so afraid of what was going to happen to the world.”

But, thankfully, the world did survive. And, so did the mall.

Dowd is back in the area, and is again teaming up with local landowner/developer JD Porter to help give the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) another economic shot in the arm.
At the Wesley Chapel Economic Development meeting at Mulligans (inside New Tampa’s Pebble Creek Golf Club) on April 28, Dowd and Porter regaled a crowd of more than 100 local business leaders with tales from the past, but mostly of a future they see as bright and bustling.

The Wiregrass mall, which Dowd said didn’t have the start everyone had hoped when it opened in 2008, is now enjoying the kind of success that was expected. That is triggering further development in the area, as the Porter family carefully and judiciously parcels out its land to businesses and developers who fit into their long-range plans.

Dowd said he was attracted to working with the Porter family because of the family’s deliberate style. Unlike many landowners, JD Porter said he is no rush to sell to the highest bidder and turn an instant profit. Instead, the Wiregrass Ranch DRI continues to only greenlight projects the Porter feel add value to the entire area.

Wiregrass Ranch Set To Expand

Here’s some of those plans Porter and Dowd shared at the Economic Development meeting:

1. On S.R. 54, just down the road from Walmart, the first project between Dowd and Porter will be a 12,600-sq.-ft. strip center, with two nicely designed buildings. Two restaurants are already signed up, with two more close to coming aboard as well. The project will feature a typical mix, including a cell phone store, nail and hair salons, restaurants and “good neighborhood use” businesses.

“We already have more interested tenants than we have space for,’’ Dowd said.

2. On S.R. 56, east of the Wiregrass Mall expansion (which will include restaurants, a movie theater and a grocery store), Porter and Dowd are doing is having site work done at another shopping center, to be called Wiregrass Commons at 56, which will include a “green” or specialty grocery store.

Nothing has been signed yet, Dowd said, and “we’re not doing any of the small stuff until we get an anchor signed up. Once that happens, that will be a 50,000-60,000-sq.-ft. project in total and a nice addition to the area.

3. Porter also said a hotel would be finalizing a deal within 30 days, and that is expected to also immediately east of the Wiregrass Commons at 56 project. He did not say which hotel, but we have heard rumors it will be a Marriott Fairfield Inn.

4. Even further east on S.R. 56, the long-awaited Raymond James Financial campus is close to officially announcing its arrival.

No, seriously.

Porter joked that he was sick and tired of talking about the long-rumored project, which some had begun to doubt. But doubt no more.

“We got good news (April 27) and I truly believe within the next 2-3 weeks we’ll have a permit,’’ Porter said. “Having that permit triggers the closing. Having that closing means the other two or three office users, which we are we are talking to right now — anywhere from 600,000 square feet to another 1.2-million-sq.-ft., Fortune 50 companies — they close, and I would suspect we’re going to see movement within the next 4-6 months after that.”

Porter said Raymond James will add between 4,000-6,000 jobs, and that you can double that total to 8,000-12,000 jobs with the other unnamed businesses set to follow.

That will also begin to create some of the day traffic that Dowd says is necessary if the area is going to attract more quality restaurants, as well.

5. Porter said they will be closing on an assisted living facility, “in the next 45-60 days”. Porter didn’t disclose any other information, but the facility will be called Beach House at Wiregrass Ranch Assisted Living & Memory Care, which is owned by the Prevarian Companies.

The facility will be multiple stories when completed next to North Tampa Behavorial Health, which also is expanding and will be adding 48 rooms by the end of the year.

6. As part of trying to force vertical integration into the development plan, Porter said that in 30-45 days construction also should begin on a condo project, called Altis at Wiregrass, which will be located directly north of Wiregrass Commons at 56.

“If I would’ve said condos in Pasco County 3-4 years ago, you probably would have told me to get the hell out of here,’’ Porter said. “Well, it happened.”

Porter hinted at four-story structures, with rooftop pools and verandas. “Something typical of Hyde Park and South Tampa,’’ he said. “But not typical Pasco County.”

The condos, which according to site plans will include 394 multi-family dwellings in 15 separate buildings, are part of Porter’s plan to build new and different projects in the area. “If you wanna play in the sandbox, you have to step it up,’’ he said. “We are very fortunate to be in the right area. If people want to be here, bring something new to the table.”

Just The Beginning Of New Phase For Wiregrass Ranch

Porter promised other major announcements concerning major retailers still to come. But for now, he is pleased with the area’s progress, citing the proximity of an expanding hospital, a state college with room to grow into a full-fledged university and more retail in the area. He also expects an increase in new homes as well, and once the residential areas mature a mixed-use town center can be developed.

Porter also said his family is rethinking its commitment of donating 120-acres to the county to build a park in the area. A tennis center fell through more than a decade ago, as did a proposed baseball complex on the site last year. In November the county announced it would be seeking partners in a public-private relationship to build an indoor facility on land that also would include outdoor fields.

But Porter, frustrated with the county’s inability to move forward on donated land, says he may take back some of it back by the end of the year and build the park privately, as part of his long-range plan to provide the area with “synergy”.

“We are looking to create something we can be proud of out here not just tomorrow, but 10-50 years down the road,’’ he said.

Look for more updates on this area at WCNeighborhoodNews.com.