More retail and a new apartment complex — on vacant land northeast of The Shops at Wiregrass — are on the drawing board at Pasco County’s planning department.
Forest City Enterprises, the developers of The Shops at Wiregrass, and NRP Group are partnering on the next phase of development on the former Wiregrass Ranch property in Wesley Chapel.
Conceptual plans filed with the county show a development of 248 apartments and 127,000 square feet of retail.
Among the retail possibilities are restaurants, a specialty market, a cinema and shops.
Forest City will handle the commercial side of the project. NRP Group will build the apartment complex.
The retail portion likely will fall within 120,000 square feet but could be somewhat larger or smaller depending on the tenants’ needs, said Abbas Hasan, manager of planning and development for the Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises.
The next step is filing an application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that would approve a permit for the project.
“The process takes quite a long time,” Hasan said. “We’re trying to get all the pieces together.”
Specifics on tenants and construction schedules are on hold until the Corps of Engineers weighs in, and the project is further along.
“The Shops at Wiregrass are basically a lifestyle center and an open-air mall. This is more a few large anchor type users and more specialty stores,” Hasan said. “It will complement the mall and others in the area.”
The apartments will be linked with the retail, so that residents will be able to walk to the retail part of the development, said Kurt Kehoe, vice president of NRP Group, which has offices in Lake Mary, Florida.
“Being able to have the pedestrian and vehicular connections to both existing and upcoming commercial is key,” Kehoe said. “In a suburban area, this is not normally what you find.”
The project will include three-story and four-story buildings, with upscale apartments. Most of the apartments will be one-bedroom and two-bedroom layouts, though some will have three bedrooms, Kehoe said.
Some apartments will have detached garages. There will be a clubhouse, pool and fitness area.
“Generally there is a lot of optimism for the tri-county area, especially Pasco,” he said. “There’s a lot of desire to live, work and play out there.”
Published May 20, 2015
