Crews are busy at Angeline, a new 6,200-acre master-planned community in Central Pasco.
A recent tour of the property, given by Vaike O’Grady, vice president of marketing and communications for Metro Development Group, provided an early glimpse of the emerging development.
Fabric banners proclaim Angeline, on a portion of Sunlake Boulevard, just south of State Road 52.
A welcome center is under construction.
Some street signs already are posted, including Banyan Breeze Boulevard and Anchor Dune Drive.
Vibrant signs proclaim some of the community’s values: Thrive. Nourish. Learn. Connect.
Lennar will build the first homes in Angeline, from its Active Adult Collection, with model homes expected to open this summer.
A multimillion amenity center and clubhouse will be constructed within Lennar’s gated neighborhood — featuring a resort-style swimming pool, fitness center, tennis, pickleball and bocce ball courts, and more.
“We are currently launching with four (builders). Just like in any of our large communities, we would expect to have a very diverse mix — anywhere from eight to 10 builders, over time,” said Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development Group.
“We like to create multigenerational communities, so everything from townhomes, villas, entry-level single-family homes, move up, luxury, for rent, multifamily apartments.
“Our goal is to be able to offer a very diverse product mix, so there’s something in it for everyone,” he said.
Angeline will be massive
When completely built out, Angeline is expected to have about 35,000 people, Goyani said.
The community will be home to H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center’s planned Pasco County 775-acre campus, which is entitled for up to 24 million square feet of planned clinical and research facilities.
Plans include 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.
Its footprint is larger than downtown Tampa.
“It’s super exciting. We can’t more thrilled to have an anchor like Moffitt Cancer Center here,” Goyani said.
Recently, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $20 million in funding for Moffitt, which would have been recurring for 30 years. At the same time, he left intact $106 million in funding for infrastructure for Moffitt.
Goyani said the governor’s veto will have no impact on Metro Development Group’s plans in Angeline.
Moffitt issued a statement following the recent legislative session, thanking the governor and legislative leadership for their support of Moffitt’s efforts.
In part, that statement says: “The new funding approved will help accelerate Moffitt’s expansion efforts in Pasco County to better serve more patients, increase our research and education efforts, create new jobs and make our vision to build a global destination to live, work and cure cancer a reality.”
Not far from the planned Moffitt site, Pasco County Schools is building a 6-12 STEAM Magnet School, focusing on science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
Goyani said the school is significant.
“That’s an integral part of our town center. It’s the first of its kind, not only from an educational standpoint, but from a place-making standpoint that we’ve integrated a four-story school, right within the heart of the town center,” Goyani said.
Angeline also will feature the latest in technology.
“We’re creating an entire city, from the internet up,” said Goyani, obviously passionate about what that will mean to the people who live and work there.
“Angeline is going to have the fastest connectivity in the Tampa Bay area at over 2 gigs —included for everyone who moves into the community.
“At a very fundamental level, we see technology as the great connector and the great equalizer, especially in today’s world.
“Technology is the only thing that can bridge the digital divide.
“So, you could be a school student, you could be a CEO high-level executive, you could be an hourly laborer — but guess what, one thing in common to everyone is technology.
“When I’m looking for a restaurant, I’m connecting to the same level of connectivity. I’m using the same maps, I’m using the same websites that a CEO or an executive or someone else would do, if you bring the same technology to everybody, regardless of where they live.
“They rent an apartment, the live in a townhome, or they live in a multimillion dollar home — we want them to be able to connect, learn, stay healthy, by getting access to the same technology,” Goyani said.
Angeline promotes wellness
The new community in Central Pasco is designed to promote good health.
It will have a professionally managed working farm. It will have a regional park.
An extensive trail network will weave throughout Angeline and will have connections to the Starkey Preserve, the Connerton Preserve and the Crossbar Ranch Preserve.
“We want to create the healthiest zip code in the country,” Goyani said.
For one thing, people who want to do telehealth appointments are unlikely to encounter problems with the strength of their internet connection.
Besides encouraging good health, the trails provide easy connections between people and the places they want to go, he said.
“You could go on a bicycle, golf cart. You can take an e-bike, you could take a scooter; (or) autonomous golf carts, when they arrive eventually. Or, you could just bike and run,” Goyani said.
“You should be able to get to anywhere within the community without hopping in your car,” Goyani said.
Angeline also promotes sustainability, he said.
It will have state-of-the art battery- and solar-powered streetlights that are completely off-grid and are dark-sky compliant.
It also will retain much of its natural beauty.
“Preserving the natural area is part of our sustainability goal. More than half of the Angeline project is conservation and preserve areas,” Goyani said.
“The way we do that is basically bending our building footprints and subdivision phases around the existing natural areas, and respecting what’s out there that came before us.
“It’s obviously harder. It’s also expensive. But we think that’s the right way to do it,” Goyani said.
One manmade amenity that’s expected to be popular is Angeline’s planned crystal lagoon. The development group established the first lagoon in Florida in Epperson in Wesley Chapel, and another one is under construction in its Mirada development.
The lagoon sparks interest, Goyani said.
“So, you’re in California, you’re in New York, you want to move to Florida. Or, you’re living in South Tampa, and you say, ‘OK, why would I go up to Angeline?
“The lagoon provides that visual ‘Wow,’” Goyani said.
He also noted: “What we saw during Covid was that it was just a great way for people to safely gather outdoors, continue with their life.
“It just provides for good, all-around family enjoyment,” he said.
Metro Development Group’s involvement in Angeline began in 2018, when it acquired the property.
“Originally, Lennar had it under contract, and based on what they saw what we’d done at Connected City, the ability to transform an entire region, they approached us to see if we would be interested in taking over Angeline. That’s how we got involved,” he said.
The property’s size and its access to the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 52, as well as the Ridge Road extension running through it, made Angeline appealing to Metro Development Group.
“We want to create something that is of this size and scale, that can also handle traffic for the next 50 years,” Goyani said.
Angeline, a 6,200-acre master-planned community, one day will be like a small city.
Plans for the area, which is south of State Road 52 and east of the Suncoast Parkway, include:
- Moffitt Cancer Center’s Pasco County campus, a 775-acre life sciences and research park, expected to attract researchers and companies from around the world
- A diversity of residential options, expected to appeal to be people of all ages in different stages of life
- A community farm
- A 6-12 STEAM Magnet School (STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics).
- 3,600 acres of green space and an extensive trail system
- A MetroLagoon
- The fastest internet in the nation, accessible to all within the community
- Access to State Road 52, the Suncoast Parkway and Ridge Road. An extension of Ridge Road will run through the property, ending at U.S. 41.
Published June 22, 2022
