Dusek new honorary mayor
The votes are in, and so is the money. Pasco County has a new mayor, and it’s Terri Dusek.
Dusek, a local real estate agent, ran a campaign of “Paying it Forward Through Music.” She was one of several people and businesses honored at the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce annual dinner last week. Dusek also won Ambassador of the Year.
The dinner included the installation of the new chamber president, Charlene Ierna, of Ierna’s Heating & Cooling. She succeeds Denny Esber, who also is retiring from the board along with director Gary Loman.
Before he left, Esber handed out his President’s Award to Tony Masella of OurTownFla.com for his outstanding service to the chamber and the community.
Hungry Harry’s Bar-B-Que was the Large Business of the Year while All Smiles Tampa Bay won Small Business of the Year. A Focus on Fitness was New Business of the Year, while Habitat for Humanity of East & Central Pasco was Non-Profit Member of the Year.
If honorary mayor and the chamber’s top ambassador wasn’t enough, Dusek topped a successful season as Chamber Member of the Year as well.
The Community Service Award was a tie between April Saland of A.L. Saland Insurance Solutions, and Pam Oakes of Pasco International Tourism.
Finally, the Central Pasco Chamber honored the lifetime service of Larry Delucenay and retiring Pasco County commissioner Pat Mulieri.
Lake Francisco Plaza sold
A 1980s-era shopping center along Land O’ Lakes Boulevard has a new owner.
Robert and Elizabeth Ferrer purchased Lake Francisco Plaza at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Lutz, early last month for $1.3 million. That was nearly $200,000 less than what Lake Francisco Plaza LLC out of Georgia paid for the same 121,000-square-foot strip mall in 2005.
The center, near where U.S. 41 and Dale Mabry Highway split just north of the Hillsborough County line, has spaces for retail and office, according to Pasco County property records. The largest is 54,000 square feet.
Lake Francisco Plaza has been part of the Yount family since the beginning in 1984, with even the company that purchased it in 2005 listing Thomas C. Yount as one of its managers.
Pasco had a strong quarter in property sales of transactions more than $1 million. The period between March and June, not including any late filers, saw $72.8 million change hands, compared to $37.2 million sold during the same quarter in 2013, according to county property records.
Pinchers Crab Shack opens at The Shops
Pinchers Crab Shack, a seafood restaurant chain based out of Bonita Springs, has opened its 10th location at The Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel.
Dacie Broshears will manage the restaurant, located at 28330 Paseo Drive, Suite 185. Broshears also managed what had been the closest Pinchers location before in Lakewood Ranch near Bradenton.
Pinchers started in 1997 at a six-table restaurant in 1,500 square feet of space in Bonita Springs. It has grown to 10 locations and more than 500 employees, stretching form Wesley Chapel in the north to Key West.
For information, visit PinchersCrabShack.com.
Market struggling to grab first-time homebuyers still
Condominium sales in the Tampa Bay region are down, but prices are on the rise as home sales continue their long recovery in the state.
The median sales price of a condominium in the region, which includes both Pasco and Hillsborough counties, was $110,000 in May, up nearly 13 percent from the year before, according to a new report from Florida Realtors. The number of closed sales dropped nearly 10 percent, however, to 1,256 units.
Single-family home sales climbed a little more than 1 percent last month in the area, while median sale prices slipped about the same percentage, to $156,000.
Statewide, condo sale prices rose nearly 14 percent to $145,000, while home prices ticked up another 4 percent to $180,000.
The market still struggles to attract first-time homebuyers.
“Going forward, we’re concerned about affordability,” said John Tuccillo, chief economist for Florida Realtors, in a release. “In particular, the difficulty of first-time buyers to access mortgage financing, and the lag in providing a much-needed supply of new homes may hold back Florida’s housing market.”
Avalon Park West welcomes D.R. Horton
D.R. Horton has recently completed construction of its first model home at Avalon Park West in Wesley Chapel.
The model is located in the Cypress Village neighborhood of the community, where the homebuilder is planning 56 new houses.
The company will offer homes ranging from 2,045 to 3,576 square feet, according to a release, with prices starting at $270,000.
Avalon Park West is located just off State Road 54, east of Interstate 75.
New tenants in Trinity
Commoncents Wealth Advisors LLC has signed a five-year lease with Trinity Medical Holdings Inc., for 1,605 square feet of space in the Trinity Medical and Professional Center, 8820 Belagio Drive.
The lease was negotiated through Hold-Thyssen Inc., a Winter Park-based commercial property firm, which also was involved with a lease for 1,100 square feet of space at Hunting Creek Pointe in Trinity for JGI Insurance Group LLC. The landlord there is Sunfield Homes Inc., for the property located at 3610 Galileo Drive.
