Kohl’s is the latest retailer to schedule a sit-down with Pasco planners as a future tenant at the Cypress Creek Town Center at State Road 56 and Wesley Chapel Boulevard.
The store’s conceptual plan on file with the county shows a 55,000- square-foot building at the same intersection where construction crews are hard at work on the 1.1 million square-foot Tampa Premium Outlets.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
According to county records, representatives of the national department store chain were expected to attend a pre-application meeting scheduled for April 28.
No official announcement on Kohl’s presence at the proposed outdoor mall has been made. Kohl’s has stores in Brandon, Lutz and New Port Richey.
A Kohl’s representative wasn’t available for comment.
Other tenants who have indicated intentions to open at the mall are Costco, Chick-fi-A, Cheddar’s Casual Café and Culver’s.
Chick-fil-A plans a 4,791-square-foot fast-food restaurant at Cypress Creek with 132 seats. And Cheddar’s Casual Café is proposing an 8,066-square-foot restaurant with its signature fresh, made-from-scratch menu items including croissants, salmon filets and hamburgers.
Costco Wholesale Inc., filed its plans in December for a 153,000-square-foot discount membership warehouse club. The retail giant was second behind Walmart in 2013 among the top 10 of 250 global retailers.
Culver’s likely will have a mid-June groundbreaking and a fall opening timed with the opening of the outlet mall.
This will be a second location for franchise owner Marty Roeske, who opened his first restaurant in Wisconsin nearly 15 years ago. He and his wife are moving to Wesley Chapel, while their son operates the Wisconsin restaurant.
“When I dream of a location, I’m thinking about access, population and incomes,” Roeske said. “I can’t think of any characteristic that isn’t there.”
The employment base, with area high schools nearby, also is strong, said Roeske, who has searched for more than two years for a Florida location.
Tampa was on the radar, but Wesley Chapel won out.
“We warmed up to Wesley Chapel quickly,” he said. “It’s so new and has so much energy. It’s only going to go up.”
He is proposing a 4,235-square-foot restaurant at Cypress Creek with 110 seats. A bicycle rack and a covered patio also are part of the plans.
The fast-food chain offers its signatures “Butterburgers,” fried chicken, sandwiches and salads.
In addition to this location, a different Culver’s franchise owner also has submitted plans for a 4,242-square-foot restaurant at The Shoppes at Trinity Lakes. A pre-application meeting took place on April 6, according to county records.
Currently Culver’s has 541 restaurants in 22 states. The Wisconsin-based chain is expanding its operations in Florida. In the past two years, 11 franchised locations have opened in the state. The first was in Naples; two are in Tampa.
“It’s a hot bed,” said Paul Pitas, Culver’s spokesman. “We have a lot of folks who are transplants from the Midwest. They’ve moved there, or they are snowbirds, but they definitely know the brand.”
Published May 6, 2015
