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Connerton in early planning stages for 150-bed hospital

December 24, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Florida Hospital is inching closer to eventually building a new hospital in the Connerton community after developers there got initial approval for a 150-bed facility.

Pasco County’s Development Review Committee gave the initial OK last week for Connerton to begin planning its second phase of the project, which could include 3,600 more homes, 190,000 square feet of retail and 725,000 square feet of government space.

As Connerton continues to grow just north of Land O’ Lakes, entrances from U.S. 41 and State Road 52 will have to be improved, Pasco County officials say. (File Photo)

The revised plan adds another 110,000 square feet of medical office space, bringing that total to 200,000, doubling the nursing home beds to 100, and adding 150 beds for a hospital.

Despite the move, Connerton representative Stew Gibbons tells The Laker/Lutz News there aren’t any immediate plans to build a hospital at the Land O’ Lakes Boulevard community, located just south of State Road 52.

“What we’re doing with now is securing approval of the entitlement limits so that can decide what they can put there, depending on the market at the time,” Gibbons said. “It’s a great location, especially when Ridge Road goes through, which will give you access across the county. “

Florida Hospital — which operates local hospitals in Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills and the University of South Florida area of Tampa — owns about 34 acres of land in the county, purchased by University Community Hospital Inc., before that hospital chain was acquired by Florida Hospital’s parent. It was part of a $5.1 million land deal the hospital put together in October 2007, just as the housing market was starting to come apart.

For the second phase of Pasco’s “new town,” Connerton is looking to focus a little more on multifamily, with about a third of the proposed residential in that phase taking that route. The first phase was primarily single-family homes, with approvals for nearly 4,000 homes.

The second phase also would include Connerton’s employment center, which will be a mix of government, office, industrial and medical.

“This is an example of how Connerton always has been designed,” said Andrea Zelman, an attorney who represents the community. “We are on the road to creating those jobs.”

But to do that, some of the roads in and around Connerton will need to be upgraded. That would include turn lanes for the entrances off U.S. 41 and State Road 52, and also finishing the link with Collier Parkway that has been on the drawing board for years.

Pasco’s chief assistant county attorney David Goldstein put emphasis on the stretch of Collier Parkway, proposed to link from Ehren Cutoff, calling it a “crucial piece of roadway that we cannot ignore much longer.”

“I wanted to make sure the county people up here understand the importance of doing something about Collier Parkway,” Goldstein told the committee. “We have to find a way to build that missing gap of Collier, and get that connected up to the employment center.”

However, not everyone is for expanding Collier. Stephen Coogle, who owns a 6-acre home on Ehren Cutoff bordering the Connerton project, said neighbors to the development deserve more attention to ensure they don’t lose value in their homes.

“We need to have buffers,” Coogle said, which could come primarily by preserving existing tree lines that border his property. Also, drainage from a Collier Parkway extension would need to be properly taken care of, so that it doesn’t flood his property instead.

“Our property and wetlands are not being taken into consideration,” Coogle said. “Progress needs to happen, but we should not have to sacrifice what we paid for.”

Gibbons said Connerton developers are working to address concerns of neighbors, but that many of Coogle’s concerns are premature.

“We are in the timing and phasing process, and we haven’t even designed anything yet,” Gibbons said.

When that process does begin, surrounding neighbors would be notified, and have a chance to express concern while those plans are drawn up.

Roadway improvements will be funded in part by a nearly $30 million contribution by Connerton, along with another $7.7 million in county incentives.

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Future is here: Body cameras coming to Pasco

December 18, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Many law enforcement agencies around the country continue to debate whether they should have patrol officers wear body cameras — but the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office isn’t waiting any longer.

More than 400 deputies and investigators will be equipped with body cameras in February, a movie Sheriff Chris Nocco said would make neighborhoods safer for deputies and the people who live in them.

Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy and field training officer Kristina Perez, right, demonstrates the new body camera that other deputies in Sheriff Chris Nocco’ department will be equipped with beginning in February. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“This is not the panacea,” Nocco said during a news conference last week. “This is not going to be the cure-all for all the issues of our world. But it’s a tool, just like any other tool that we use in law enforcement.”

The sheriff’s office is in the process of ordering 415 sets of Taser Axon cameras, which can be mounted on glasses, hats, shirt fronts, collars, lapels and other locations on a deputy. They record up to four hours of video and audio, and have a battery that lasts 12 hours.

Deputies will turn it on whenever they get out of their patrol car to interact with the public or investigate a crime, Nocco said. At the end of each shift, deputies connect their camera to a docking station to upload each video. Once it’s in the system, they cannot be manipulated, and deputies will not be able to edit them.

It’s the kind of system that will not only provide transparency in how deputies interact with people inside Pasco County, but it also could streamline the court system significantly.

“The criminal justice system’s job is to get to the truth,” said Craig Laporte, an attorney with Proly Laporte & Mulligan in Port Richey, who represents one of the deputy unions. “If an individual has, in fact, committed a crime, this provides evidence of that. This could reduce the number of jury trials … because the state attorney will immediately have information they can use.”

Cameras also could significantly reduce the complaints filed against deputies, each one of which must be investigated. By having an unedited video and audio record of the encounter, internal investigations would not have to rely on witness accounts alone, discouraging people from making false claims against the officer.

It also could stop a deputy from crossing any lines, making some of the problems police are experiencing in New York City and Ferguson, Missouri, a lot less likely to happen.

While the use of body cameras is something some observers have suggested after the officer-involved deaths in those cities, Nocco said Pasco’s plan has been in motion for quite some time, with field testing beginning last October.

“This started months ago because citizens are constantly pulling their phones out and taping deputies,” Nocco said. Those deputies were “looking on their own to get body cameras, and they were talking about buying them on their own. But I said to wait, because we have to come up with a policy.”

That policy includes when deputies are expected to have the cameras on, and how long videos will be stored before they’re deleted. The policy also makes it clear that the cameras can’t be used as “Big Brother,” Nocco said, referring to the novel “1984,” where supervisors can’t pull up random video just for the sake of disciplining a deputy.

The entire program will cost $400,000 a year — far less than what other neighboring agencies like the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is considering, Nocco said. Initial funds will come from federal forfeiture dollars, but future years will require funding through tax dollars controlled by the Pasco County Commission.

The cameras bring their own controversies to the table, primarily when it comes to privacy rights, Fourth Amendment protections of search and seizure through the U.S. Constitution, and how footage is used, and what is made available to the public. Nocco says he hopes lawmakers in Tallahassee will address body cameras this coming year, but in the meantime, he’s moving forward.

So far for the upcoming legislative session, only one bill has been filed in Tallahassee regarding body cameras. State Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, filed H.B. 57 on Dec. 4 that, if passed, would require every uniformed law enforcement officer primarily assigned to patrol duties to be equipped with a body camera by Jan. 1, 2016.

“We’re not fearful of being a leader out there,” Nocco said. “There’s always going to be bumps in the road, and there is always going to be tweaks.”

Cameras like this already are in use in different parts of the United Kingdom, and those police departments provided a significant amount of data on how the cameras were used. For example, one town in Scotland found that 70 percent of cases that involved body cameras were less likely to go to trial. Closer to home in Rialto, California, complaints against law enforcement officers dropped from 24 to just three.

Published December 17, 2014

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County commission cancels baseball park agreement

December 16, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Pasco County’s business partnership with James Talton to build a massive baseball park in the Wiregrass Ranch area is over. At least for now.

The county commission voted unanimously to terminate an agreement with Talton’s Pasco Sports LLC after the company failed to provide necessary paperwork to show it had $3 million available to help with the design stage of the project that would’ve built nearly 20 baseball fields as well as dormitories to attract the youth baseball camp industry to Pasco. Talton and retired Major League Baseball player Gary Sheffield wanted to build the complex on 100 acres of land, not far from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, which they said could become a significant youth sports training destination.

The county will now explore the possibility of advertising the land to a new private developer, and work out a different deal that could still focus on baseball, but maybe other amenities as well. County administrator Michele Baker, however, still left the door open for Talton and Sheffield, saying it’s possible for the two to come back to the table under a new structure.

“We can all look at this not as a failure, but as an opportunity for us to find something that is going to be a perfect fit and a mix for Pasco County,” commission chair Ted Schrader said right before the vote late Tuesday. “We have a great asset that is not going anywhere.”

The Wiregrass Ranch area and the potential to do something with the land there, Schrader said, is exciting for the county, because it “is the corner of Main and Main, and we are blessed and fortunate to have such a fine opportunity to do that.”

Finding private financing for what was at one time a $70 million project has been troublesome under the current agreement with the county, Talton has said, and he was willing to move forward with the project without the county’s involvement, or its $11 million in pledged tourist tax dollars.

“In our minds, this is just another step in the process, and we have every intention of getting this project completed,” Talton said last week. “The current agreement is being terminated. I literally cannot work based on the current financing environment. We will negotiate new terms and have financing in place upon execution so we can move forward immediately.”

The biggest stumbling block was land, Talton had said in the past. The county would continue to own the land that was deeded to it by the Porter family — the developers behind Wiregrass Ranch. However, one sports consultant told county officials Tuesday that there may be a little more to it than that.

“He didn’t have the proven track record,” Dev Pathik, chief executive of Sports Facilities Advisory, told commissioners of Talton. “The potential partners, while they expressed interest, they were not ready to sign on and take any risk.”

Land, Pathik said, does not hold the collateral value with investors it used to.

“The banks have learned they don’t want to own dirt,” he said.

As Pasco appears to go back to the start in planning a potential sports complex that could attract visitors to the county, Hillsborough County has teased some thoughts about possibly partnering to build a competing facility to the south. J.D. Porter, who represents the land holdings of Wiregrass Ranch, says Pasco officials shouldn’t worry, and not rush into anything because of what others might say.

“Every single time this comes up for a vote, Hillsborough County says they are going to do something,” Porter said. “Have they? They haven’t. We have played into that as a county for a long time, and we have been a little step-brother.

“They haven’t delivered. You have your own asset that far outweighs anything they have in their portfolio, and you have to look at that as having a chip they don’t possess. You are ahead of the game, and you are taking steps right now that has much more of a reality of a business plan that is not a pipe dream.”

In fact, Porter said if he was sitting in a Hillsborough commission board room right now, “I would be a lot more fearful than you guys should be.”

The original agreement signed a year ago called for Pasco Sports to provide the county verification of $23 million in financing necessary to design and construct the park by last summer. However, that agreement was amended in July to give Talton and Sheffield a 90-day extension.

It was during that period that Pasco Sports provided a $3 million commitment letter from Hallmark Mergers & Acquisitions LLC, along with a letter from Florida EB-5 Regional Center LLC saying it was committed to raising $20 million in funds.

County officials, however, didn’t feel that was enough to meet the terms of the agreement, and the commission then gave Talton and Sheffield until Dec. 5 to at least show they had $3 million available for the project. That deadline passed, however, with a letter from Talton proposing a new plan that would eliminate the need for the $11 million county contribution — but also remove payouts to the county after it’s built — but nothing in terms of the $3 million.

That prompted Baker to recommend the entire deal be cancelled.

Wanted: New bikes to spread Christmas cheer

December 11, 2014 By B.C. Manion

What began as one couple’s attempt to teach their daughter about the struggles that many families are faced with has broadened into an effort to bring new bicycles to children who have little prospect of ever owning a new set of wheels.

Todd and Cindy Caroline of Lutz began providing new bicycles to children from less fortunate families about six years ago. They wanted their daughter Zoye, now 9, to understand that not all families are as blessed as theirs has been, Cindy Caroline said.

Todd Caroline gets ready to deliver new bicycles during a previous Christmas Bicycle Drive. Caroline and his wife, Cindy, began giving new bikes to children from less fortunate families six years ago. (Courtesy of Cindy Caroline)

Over time, the effort branched out.

At first, the Carolines simply asked people attending their annual Christmas party to bring a new bike to help brighten a child’s holiday, Caroline said. Then, they decided to shift the effort over to their company — Caroline Contractors LLC — so they could reach out to their suppliers, business associates and other members of the community to help.

This is the fourth year that the company has had its Christmas bicycle drive. Each year, it collects at least 100 new bicycles, or the family makes up the difference.

But this year, it has a substantially more ambitious goal. It wants to collect 1,000 new bikes.

Caroline knows that that’s more of a dream than a goal, but she’s open to miracles.

In the past, the couple has given the bicycles to other charitable groups, Caroline said, and those groups have distributed the bicycles primarily to children living in East Tampa communities.

This year, the focus has shifted to helping local children, Caroline said. She attributes the switch to a conversation she had with Suzanne Beauchaine, an account manager for The Laker/Lutz News.

Beauchaine had asked her why the new bikes didn’t go to local children, and Caroline responded it was because she didn’t have a local event. That prompted the Lutz woman to consider staging a local event to give away the bikes.

Buoyed by Beauchaine’s encouragement, Caroline began making telephone calls. First she contacted local schools — Schwarzkopf Elementary in Lutz and Myrtle Lake, Pine View, Connerton, Oakstead and Odessa in central Pasco — to see if they could help identify children from families in need.

Then, she began calling around to local organizations and businesses to see if they could help.

Caroline called Chad Hudson at Hungry Harry’s Family Bar-B-Que, who stepped up in a big way. The popular Land O’ Lakes restaurant is providing food and the use of its Lake House for a party on Dec. 21 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Charlene Ierna of the Lutz-based Ierna’s Heating & Cooling is providing a bounce house for the party. The kids will get free haircuts, too, courtesy of Star’s Organic Spa as well as Cameo Salon & Spa.

Caroline still is trying to line up live entertainment, but at the very least, she said she will have holiday music over a loudspeaker system.

She’s also trying to collect turkeys and other holiday foods to give to each family.

“We just want to be able to bless these families because life is very hard every day for them,” Caroline said. “They struggle. I’d really like to be able to give the families a Christmas dinner.”

Besides the local groups that already have stepped up, Caroline said she’s reached out to members of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce and is hoping they come through to help ensure there are enough bikes for each child to take one home.

“Our office used to be right next to the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce, so our heart is Land O’ Lakes,” Caroline said. “My husband grew up here. He went to Land O’ Lakes High, so he’s homegrown here.”

She’s also looking for a source that can provide free or discounted helmets, worrying about the children being safe as they ride their bicycles.

Donations from the general public also are gratefully accepted, Caroline said. It typically costs $50 to $80 for a new bike, depending on the size.

“If I can get a bike for every child that comes, I’ll do it,” she said. “If I can’t, I’ll do a lottery-type system.”

Some people may wonder why the focus is on providing new bikes, instead of food or other items.

“You go out on a bike and you forget all about whatever the troubles at home,” she said. “I want them to have fun.”

Ways to help
Here are four ways you can help to make a child’s Christmas special:

Drop off a new bicycle at Caroline Contractors, 19003 Apian Way, Lutz; or Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce, 2810 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes.

Purchase a bicycle and have it picked up.

Order a bicycle online from Walmart or Target and have it shipped to Lutz, where it will be picked up.

Contribute money to purchase a bicycle, which range in cost from $50 to $80, depending on size.

For more information, or to schedule a pickup, call Cindy Caroline at (813) 931-4611, or email her at .

Published December 10, 2014

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In Print: Big land buy in Wesley Chapel, magnet school going up

December 10, 2014 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

What would you do with 1,000 acres of land if you had a chance to buy it?

A small group of owners are experiencing that first-hand in Wesley Chapel right now after a bunch of agricultural land just west of Quail Hollow was gobbled up in a $4.2 million land sale.

If more than 1,000 acres of land purchased last week west of Quail Hollow is ever developed into homes, roads like Mangrove Drive could require some upgrades. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo)

Will it become homes? A new commercial center? Or will it stay as grazing land. Bill Eshenbaugh, the owner of Tampa’s Eshenbaugh Land Co., wasn’t a part of this deal involving 1,000 acres off Mangrove Drive, but he knows the owners — Charles Bruck through his SoHo Dayflower company, as well as the Aprile family.

“The Apriles are good dairymen, and they can work that land just the way it’s been for the past few decades,” Eshenbaugh told reporter Michael Hinman. “They really have nothing to lose on this. It’s one of the lowest prices I’ve seen.”

However, Bruck is known for his development work, originally planning to build a 260-acre corporate park on State Road 54 near the Suncoast Parkway that is now part of the Bexley Ranch project.

What do these owners have planned? And are there clues in the recent past on what could go there? Find out in this week’s print edition of The Laker, available now on newsstands and driveways throughout the region. Or you also can read the full story online for free through our e-edition, available right here.

Not terribly far from this land purchase, Pasco’s first magnet school continues to come together quickly.

Sanders Memorial STEAM Magnet School — which focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — already is being flooded with applications from potential students, and even more are expected before the Jan. 15 deadline.

“As a district, we know we must compete for the students we serve,” Pasco County Schools superintendent Kurt Browning said, as reported by B.C. Manion.

The campus is being built on the site of the old Sanders Memorial Elementary School at 5126 School Road in Land O’ Lakes, and is expected to be open for the upcoming school year next fall.

Want to see and learn more about the new magnet school? Then check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, available for free now. Or read it online in our free e-edition: just click here.

And not every school needs to be new to get attention. The Old Lutz School is back in the news, thanks to its annual celebration of Christmas.

The 18th annual event will have everything: music, cookies, hot chocolate, trains and plenty of Christmas-themed decorations, including nutcrackers and trees.

“We never miss it,” Suzin Carr, a two-time Lutz Guv’na, told reporter Michael Murillo. “We make it part of our holiday.”

How can you make it a part of your holiday? Read this week’s print edition of the Lutz News, available now. Or check out our online e-edition by clicking here. And yes, it’s free.

And finally, photojournalist Fred Bellet has some great pictures to share from the 35th annual Lutz Arts & Craft Fair hosted by the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club. See it online by clicking here.

All of these stories and more can be found in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, available in newsstands throughout east and central Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough County. Find out what has your community talking this week by getting your local news straight from the only source you need.

If The Laker/Lutz News is not coming to your door, call us to see where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800, or read our free e-edition by clicking here.

Moore takes aim at sexual predators with new ordinance

December 8, 2014 By Michael Hinman

New Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore wasted no time settling into his office, nor cementing his relationship with county sheriff Chris Nocco, proposing an ordinance Monday that could be one of the toughest in the state against registered sexual predators and sexual offenders.

Moore wants to introduce a draft ordinance at the commission’s regular Jan. 13 meeting that would expand existing state law requiring registered predators and offenders to not live within 2,500 feet of where children might congregate.

It’s modeled after an ordinance already in place in Miami-Dade County, and that already has been challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union. That ordinance prohibits predators and offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school.

Moore’s would go beyond even that. He wants nearly a half-mile separating predators and offenders from not only schools, but also bus stops, day care centers, libraries, assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

“Anywhere that our most vulnerable citizens congregate,” Moore told reporters Monday at The Shops at Wiregrass, where the sheriff’s office maintains a field office.

Considering the number of bus stops in Pasco County number more than 6,500, that alone could make it nearly impossible for someone who is a registered predator or offender to move into or live in the county. Nocco said he had no problem with that.

“It’s not a bad day if they all leave the county,” he said.

For details on Moore’s proposal, check out the Dec. 10 print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

Baseball complex in jeopardy? Developer misses deadline

December 5, 2014 By Michael Hinman

An ambitious plan to bring a major youth-oriented baseball complex to the Wiregrass Ranch area of Wesley Chapel might be coming apart.

Pasco Sports LLC, a partnership between Blue Marble Strategic’s James Talton and retired Major League Baseball star Gary Sheffield, missed a deadline to file a financial plan with Pasco County officials Friday, a little more than a week after county commissioners gave them a little more time to get money together.

“I am very disappointed that they were unable to obtain the financing by today’s deadline,” Pasco County administrator Michele Baker said, in a statement. “However, we still believe very strongly in the concept. Youth sports are an important component of our tourism plan, and the Wiregrass location is geographically well positioned for the region. We look forward to continued dialogue with interested parties in order to bring a sports complex like this to Pasco County.”

Pasco Sports was looking to get $11 million in county funding to help construct the project, along with $23 million of its own money. However, getting a financial backer to front the private side of the deal has been problematic for Talton and Sheffield in recent weeks, which initially was a $70 million project.

The cost and scope of the project was reduced in recent weeks while Pasco Sports tried to bring in financing.

The key to the deal was a $3 million pledge to guarantee loans on the project, something Sheffield told commissioners just before Thanksgiving that he would be willing to front himself if need be.

“I talked to my bankers, and at the end of the day when all this is said and done, if nobody comes in and does this, I’m going to use $3 million myself to take care of that note,” Sheffield said at the time.

It’s unclear whether Sheffield was still pledging that amount, or if it was enough to help Pasco Sports meet the deadline. Talton, however, told The Laker/Lutz News in an email Saturday that he’s not giving up.

“We have to go through this process in order to structure a deal that will work for our lenders and investors,” Talton said. “In our minds, this is just another step in the process, and we have every intention of getting this project completed.”

Talton told members of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce last October that his project — consisting of 19 baseball fields, dormitories and other sports-related amenities — could create an estimated 8,000 jobs and a $318 million annual economic impact boost to the county. Even the $11 million Pasco is investing would come back quickly, he said, as the project is estimated to pay the county $9 million in taxes and other costs.

Commissioners wanted to make a final decision on the $11 million investment at its January meeting, but in order to do that, the developers needed to have paperwork submitted by the end of the day Dec. 5. That would then give county officials time to review the paperwork before it was presented to commissioners.

Getting more time seems unlikely, at least based on what commissioners told Talton and Sheffield last month in Dade City. New commission chair Ted Schrader said there would be no more deadline extensions.

Story updated 12/6/14 at 11:42 a.m., to include comments from James Talton.

New Lowe’s means new traffic light on State Road 54

December 4, 2014 By Michael Hinman

The newest Lowe’s in Pasco County is set to open its doors in March. But how traffic will be handled in and out of the new store on State Road 54 is still being worked out.

The project’s engineer, David Desilet of Lincks & Associates Inc., has requested another meeting with county officials, trying to work out some last-minute details of what will be a new intersection just east of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard.

When the new Lowe’s opens in Land O’ Lakes next March, it will add the first traffic light along State Road 54 between U.S. 41 and Collier Parkway. At the same time, it will give customers at the neighboring Village Lakes Shopping Center the opportunity to make a left turn out of that strip mall, something that is very difficult to do right now because there is no signal. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

For now, the Florida Department of Transportation has permitted a traffic signal in front of Lowe’s that would help customers visiting not only the new hardware and building supply store, but also the Village Lakes Shopping Center across the street. That would provide a right turn lane into Lowe’s for traffic heading east on State Road 54, county traffic operations manager Robert Reck said, while extending left turn lanes heading westbound that right now lead to U.S. 41.

Lowe’s is building a road on the east side of its store, located at 21500 State Road 54 in Lutz, that would connect with Village Lakes’ west side entrance, according to development plans filed with the county.

To do that, however, Village Lakes would have to remove 27 parking spots between the outparceled restaurants Pizza Villa and Benedetto’s, to create a new through path for customers trying to make their way across the shopping center’s parking lot. That would shift such traffic to the north side of Benedetto’s, giving shoppers a straight line to drive through, and removing a partial travel lane on the south side of the restaurant.

The shopping center would replace some of those lost parking spaces on the southern-most portion of the Village Lakes property along State Road 54 by removing an existing through road, and constructing 14 new spaces.

In return, Village Lakes will get a new entrance and exit that will allow customers to turn left or right in separate lanes, or travel straight across State Road 54 to Lowe’s. Customers also can choose to walk between the centers with the construction of crosswalks as part of the new intersection.

When the traffic light goes into operation, it could potentially add some commute time for drivers making their way down State Road 54. Right now, there are no traffic lights along the nearly two-mile stretch between U.S. 41 and Collier Parkway, allowing vehicles to flow through unimpeded.

It also would put two traffic lights within a half-mile of each other, the busy U.S. 41 intersection just blocks away. It’s not clear if the traffic lights for Lowe’s would be synched with the operation of the U.S. 41 signals to help keep traffic flowing through both intersections. A request to FDOT officials for details on the new traffic signal was not returned by presstime.

Lowe’s told The Laker/Lutz News last week it plans to open the 152,000-square-foot store during the last week in March. It’s being built on a 42-acre tract of land that is expected to bring 125 jobs to the area.

The new store will have a 103,000-square-foot sales floor, and a 31,300-square-foot garden center, according to site plans submitted to Pasco County officials, along with enough parking for nearly 525 cars.

The North Carolina-based Lowe’s company purchased the land between Winter Quarters Pasco RV Park and a Pasco County fire station there in 2005 for $2.7 million, and originally had hoped to open the store by 2009. However, Lowe’s abandoned those plans in 2011, with reports at the time the company would try to sell the land.

Instead, Lowe’s kept the property and broke ground on construction earlier this year.

The Land O’ Lakes location is the third Lowe’s in Pasco, joining a store at 7921 Gall Blvd., in Zephyrhills, and 8312 Little Road in Port Richey.

Published December 3, 2014

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Costco eyes Cypress Creek Town Center for new store

December 2, 2014 By Michael Hinman

The world’s third-largest retailer is looking to set up shop in Pasco County, and become the first major store associated with the Cypress Creek Town Center.

Costco Wholesale Corp. is set to meet with county officials just before Christmas about opening a 153,000-square-foot store at the shopping center, located near the intersection of State Road 56 and Interstate 75. It is slated for an 18-acre outparcel part of the overall property currently controlled by Pasco 54 Ltd., Pasco Ranch Inc., and JG Cypress Creek LLC.

This would be Pasco County’s first Costco store, and the first one to be built in the Tampa Bay area north of Brandon. The only other location in the region is in Clearwater.

Costco has the potential to make a tremendous economic impact on the county, and the region. The average retail employee makes $20 an hour, nearly double that of other retail workers, according to a 2013 report by Businessweek. Employees at the company typically start out at $11.50 an hour, and after five years, can reach as high as $19.50. Also after five years, Costco workers get bonuses of more than $4,000 each year.

At Walmart’s similar Sam’s Club stores, according to the same report, workers start at $10 an hour, and typically reach $12.50 after five years with no bonus plan.

Costco reportedly earns $814 in sales each year per square foot, compared to $586 from Sam’s Club.

No official announcement has been made on when Costco would break ground, let alone open. However, work already has begun on Tampa Premium Outlets, slated to open late next year not far from where the Costco is planned.

New luxury apartment complex coming to Land O’ Lakes

November 26, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Wood Partners is stepping in where another developer left off, resurrecting a 311-unit apartment complex that could add even more residents along State Road 54 in Land O’ Lakes.

The Atlanta-based company announced the new project — called Alta Terra Bella — just off 20 Mile Level Road Monday, following a report on The Laker/Lutz News’ website, LakerLutzNews.com.

Developers of the new Alta Terra Bella apartments say the new Land O’ Lakes community will inject nearly $25 million into the local economy, and indirectly create nearly 400 jobs. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo)

“As the Tampa Bay area continues to experience robust employment and income growth — especially in the hospitality, financial and business service industries — Pasco County will continue to grow,” said David Thompson, Wood Partners’ Florida development director, in a release. “Alta Terra Bella is ideally located near top schools, and provides convenient interstate access to employers throughout the Tampa area.”

Wood Partners closed on 52 acres of land through a subsidiary, Alta Terra Bella LP, last week. It’s located between Via Bella Boulevard and 20 Mile Level, just north of State Road 54. The developer paid Capstone Resdev LLC $4.2 million for the vacant land, according to county property records, using part of a $30 million mortgage the company received early last week from Synovus Bank.

Pasco County officials met with representatives from Wood Partners last June, where the developer shared plans to build 311 apartment units in 14 buildings. Also on the plans are a freestanding clubhouse and freestanding parking garages, with a complete build-out of more than 452,000 square feet.

The project was originally known as Viento at Terra Bella Apartments, according to documents filed with the county, with units averaging about 1,200 square feet. The parking garages would be individual, one-story units, each with six bays for vehicles or storage.

Wood Partners is not expected to waste much time in breaking ground and getting construction started. The company expects to start leasing next September through its Wood Residential Services subsidiary, according to a release, with a full completion date scheduled for May 2016.

A community like this could inject as much as $24.5 million into the local economy — including $2.5 million in taxes — that would ultimately create nearly 380 jobs, Wood Partners officials said, using a formula offered by the National Association of Home Builders.

The population within a five-mile radius of the proposed Land O’ Lakes development has exploded by 114 percent since 2000, compared to a smaller but still strong 20 percent for the rest of the Tampa Bay region, the developer said. At the same time, household incomes have risen 37 percent, with 64 percent of households generating income of more than $50,000 not far from the proposed complex.

The land for Alta Terra Bella was originally purchased in 2007 for $6.8 million by BSP/Pasco LLC, a company associated with Orlando-based developer Scott T. Boyd. However, PNC Bank filed foreclosure papers against the property in October 2011, according to county records, claiming they were owed nearly $6 million.

The bank won title to the property through is Capstone Resdev affiliate in August 2012, and the land has been on the market ever since.

The new community will be located in the same general area where Florida Medical Clinic operates its headquarters. It’s also close to 46 acres of land Academy at the Lakes purchased in August 2013 on 20 Mile Level for $2 million.

The Collier Parkway school purchased the former MacManus property for $44,000 an acre, while Wood Partners spent just under $81,000 an acre for its land. The developer plans to use just 19 acres of the site for the complex, slating the rest for conservation and other non-commercial uses.

Charlan Brock & Associates designed the community, according to a release. It will have a 9,000-square-foot clubhouse that will include a community room, fitness center, playroom, a Wi-Fi café, and a summer kitchen overlooking a swimming pool.

The community will have more than 630 surface parking lots, and 76 garage spaces for rent.

Biggest local real estate purchases of 2014

1. $36.1 million, Arlington at Northwood in Wesley Chapel
BES Northwood Fund IX LLC of Chicago purchased this 312-unit apartment complex in May and renamed it Enclave at Wiregrass.

2. $16 million, Wiregrass Ranch development in Wesley Chapel
Pasco County Associates II LLLP picked up more than 332 acres in May for a 550-home subdivision along the southern portion of State Road 56, not far from Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter at Wiregrass Ranch campus.

3. $10.2 million, West Winds Assisted Living Facility in Zephyrhills
Sabra Health Care Holdings III purchased the 75-bed nursing home on Eiland Boulevard in October.

4. $4.7 million, Creative World School in Land O’ Lakes
Emerald Holding and Investments LLC bought the 7-year-old building and 2 acres of land on Mentmore Boulevard from Ballantrae LLC in July.

5. $4.2 million, Alta Terra Bella in Land O’ Lakes
Alta Terra Bella LP, a subsidiary of Wood Partners, purchased 52 acres of land off State Road 54 to build a new 311-unit apartment complex.
Source: Pasco County Property Appraiser

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