Costco Wholesale received tentative approval recently for beer and wine package sales at a proposed membership warehouse club slated to open near Tampa Premium Outlets.
The Pasco County Planning Commission on Dec. 2 recommended approval of the alcoholic beverage license for the approximately 153,000 square feet of store space, plus about 2,100 square feet more for a separate liquor store.
The Pasco County Commission is expected to vote on the license in January. Additional site plan approvals and building permits are still to come. An opening date for the national chain likely won’t happen until late 2016.
“There is a ways to go in the process,” said Grace Yang, an attorney who represents the applicants, JG Cypress Creek LLC and Costco Wholesale.
Representatives for the companies were not available for comment.
Costco is an anticipated addition to the retail beginning to sprout along the State Road 54 and State Road 56 corridor, at the Interstate 75 interchange.
Tampa Premium Outlets, which opened in October, has 100-plus outlet stores including Michael Kors, Nike, Coach and PacSun. A sports complex and ice rink, known as Florida Hospital Center Ice, recently received building permits, with an opening planned for spring 2016.
Construction is under way on Culver’s restaurant on an out parcel fronting State Road 56. Permits also are approved for Cheddar’s Casual Café in the same vicinity.
Chick-Fil-A, Kohl’s, Panda Express and BJ’s Restaurant and Brew House also are planned as part of the master-planned Cypress Creek Town Center, located on separately owned parcels on the north and south sides of State Road 56.
According to the company website, Costco’s history traces to the Price Club which opened in San Diego in 1976. The Costco brand opened its first store in Seattle in 1983, and then 10 years later merged with the Price Club.
Costco is one of the largest retailers in the world, generating more than $113 billion in sales in fiscal year 2015, which ended in August.
Published December 30, 2015
