Leaders from Moffitt Cancer Center, Lennar, and Metro Development Group recently toured the Central Pasco site that is planned to become home to a massive research and innovation district — as well as to one of the West Central Florida region’s newest live-work-play communities.
As plans for the new Angeline mixed-use community continue to take shape — H. Lee Moffitt, founder of Moffitt Cancer Center; Dr. Patrick Hwu, CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center; John Ryan, CEO of Metro Development Group; and Mark Metheny, division president of Lennar Central Florida toured the property on April 22 — riding in off-road vehicles along trails and dirt roads, according to a news release.
Angeline — which is being billed as a wellness-themed community — will be developed on thousands of acres of land, east of the Suncoast Parkway and south of State Road 52.
Moffitt plans to create a massive research and corporate innovation district that is expected to become a life sciences destination for the world.
Moffitt is working closely with the project developer, Metro Development Group, and the lead homebuilder, Lennar.
In the first phase, Moffitt will construct 128,000 square feet for a corporate business park, generating approximately 430 full-time jobs, the release says.
Once the Suncoast Parkway-Ridge Road Extension intersection is built, the first phase is expected to be complete in five years.
Plans for the Angeline community, which spans 6,200 acres, include a variety of homes from leading homebuilders for 30,000 new residents, a 150-acre regional park, Crystal Lagoon and beach, village center featuring restaurants and retail, and 3,600-plus acres of natural, undeveloped green space with an extensive trail network that could span up to 100 miles, the release says.
“Touring the Pasco campus for the first time only solidified how incredible this endeavor will be,” Moffitt’s CEO Hwu said, in the release.
He is meeting with biotech companies and other potential partners to be involved in the Moffitt facility.
“We foresee a first-of-its-kind campus with patient care, research, biotech, wellness, digital innovation and ultimately cures,” Hwu adds, in the release.
He also talked with the Metro Development Group and Lennar leaders about how the growth opportunity created by Moffitt’s new Pasco County location was one of the major reasons he decided to join Moffitt as CEO last year.
Site entitlements for Moffitt’s project, which encompass 24 million square feet, include plans for a hospital, research and development space, office, manufacturing, laboratories, pharmacies, educational facility/university, hotel, and commercial space. The multiyear, multiphase project is expected to create 14,500 jobs.
At the site visit, Metro Development Group shared initial ideas for the surrounding mixed-use master-planned community and amenities to complement Moffitt’s expansion campus, according to the release.
Leaders discussed potential synergies, such as researchers working with students at a STEM magnet school.
Angeline will have a focus on being a wellness community, with fitness trails and recreation areas that would benefit those who live and work on campus, as well as cancer patients and survivors. The community will be built with a digital infrastructure to provide high-speed connectivity indoors and outdoors, the release says.
“We are proud to partner with Moffitt and Lennar on this forward-thinking project,” John Ryan of Metro Development Group, added in the release. “At Metro, we are known for creating healthy places for residents to live and work, and being aligned with Moffitt is a great fit in this regard.”
“We are very excited to be one of the first builders selected for Angeline, and look forward to providing a great product for the residents of Angeline and Pasco County,” said Lennar’s Metheny.
On the same day that the tour was taking place, Dr. Timothy Kubal was talking about the Moffitt Cancer Center at Wesley Chapel, where he is senior medical director, during a Zoom economic development briefing with members of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.
During his talk, Kubal mentioned that the tour of the cancer hospital’s new Pasco site, which included Moffitt’s CEO, was happening on the same day.
“We bought a massive amount of space — 775 acres, Suncoast Parkway, Ridge Road extension,” Kubal said, noting the need for that site “arises out of a need for space.”
Plans for the site, he said, are not “100% fleshed out yet, because it is so early.”
However, he added: “We’re going to keep growing because we’ve got a 25-acre footprint that is old.
“We need to be able to offer all of these different services in different places.
“So, we’re growing — we’re going to grow north, south, east, west — and we’re looking to grow with the community,” Kubal said.
Published May 05, 2021
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