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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Wheelock Communities

Starkey Ranch K-8 is set to open next fall

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A new kindergarten through eighth grade school that’s being constructed in the Starkey Ranch community now has an official name: Starkey Ranch K-8.

The school is scheduled to open next fall, and will part of a complex that includes a district park, a theater and library. The district park opened in November 2017.

This is what the Starkey Ranch K-8 School campus will look like. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

The quartet of community amenities resulted from a public-public-private partnership involving Pasco County Schools, Pasco County and the Wheelock Communities, the private developers of Starkey Ranch, a community off State Road 54 in Trinity.

Starkey Ranch K-8 School is the public school district’s first school specifically designed for elementary and middle school students.

The school is expected to have about 1,000 elementary school students and 600 middle school students. The campus includes a gymnasium, athletic fields, a running track and sports courts that will be available during non-school hours to residents, through a shared-use agreement.

Additionally, the third part of the partnership involves Pasco County, and involves the construction of what’s been dubbed TLC, which stands for theater, library and cultural center.

The TLC will accommodate public library patrons and students. It also will have a 250-seat theater and three makerspaces.

The Pasco County School Board approved the school’s official name during its Oct. 6 meeting. The board prefers to name schools after the general location, features of the area or historical information about the area.

Published October 14, 2020

Growth and change are hallmarks at area schools

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As 2019 becomes 2020, area schools continue to respond to growth, while also changing academic options available on some campuses.

Recently, Superintendent Kurt Browning announced an initiative that will create significant change in West Pasco-area schools to bolster academic performance, but he also outlined some coming projects within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area, as well.

This is what the new Instructional Performing Arts Center, to be built on the campus shared by Cypress Creek High School and the new Cypress Creek Middle School, will look like. The campus is at 8701 Old Pasco Road in Wesley Chapel. (Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)

Specifically, Browning said the district plans to add a grade 6-12 STEM/STEAM magnet school in Land O’ Lakes that is proposed to open in August 2023 and a grade K-8 STEM/STEAM Magnet in Wesley Chapel, proposed to open in August 2024.

That’s on top of previously announced plans, which include an Eastside Technical High School, opening in August 2022.

District officials envision a magnet technical school that doesn’t fit the traditional educational mold.

They say it will combine a rigorous curriculum along with technical skills training — and will seek community partnerships to give students real-world experiences.

The idea is to prepare students to have many options when they leave high school — whether, say, they want to work as a welder for someone else; or, they want to have their own welding business.

While that school is still a couple of years off, the district plans to open Cypress Creek Middle School in August 2020.

It will be located on the same campus on Old Pasco Road in Wesley Chapel, where Cypress Creek Middle High has been serving grades six through 12.

Once the new middle school opens, it will serve grades six through eight, while the high school serves grades nine through 12.

The Pasco County School Board approved boundary changes — which primarily affected the Seven Oaks community in Wesley Chapel — to reassign students from that area to Cypress Creek Middle and Cypress Creek High. The boundary changes will relieve crowding at John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High School.

In the fall of 2020, Pasco County Schools is scheduled to open Cypress Creek Middle School. It is being designed for 1,600 students, making it the district’s largest middle school. The middle school will join Cypress Creek High and Pasco Hernando State College’s Instructional and Performing Arts Center. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

On the same Cypress Creek campus, the school district donated land to Pasco-Hernando State College for the Instructional Performing Arts Center, now under construction, which will be known as IPAC.

The new performing arts center is expected to provide both educational opportunities and entertainment. It also is expected to benefit middle school through college students, through its programming.

Cypress Creek Middle School was designed to be compatible with the performing arts center, too. It will have a state-of-the-art black box theater, as well as facilities for dance, orchestra and chorus.

Meanwhile, the district also plans to open Starkey K-8 School in August 2021. It’s the first district school designed deliberately to serve kindergarten through eighth grade.

The school is the second phase of a partnership between Pasco County Schools, Pasco County government and Wheelock Communities, the private developers of Starkey Ranch, a community off State Road 54 in Trinity.

One part of the project is the Starkey District Park, which opened its first phase in November 2017. Two additional phases are planned for the park.

The school will be near the district park.

There’s also a third part of the project that involves construction of what’s been dubbed TLC, which stands for theater, library and cultural center.

In addition to new construction, the district also is working to improve existing facilities.

Most recently, it wrapped up a massive makeover of Land O’ Lakes High School — which involved five phases, and required considerable coordination to complete while students and staff remained on campus.

The work was done in stages to avoid sending students and staffs to another campus, or using split sessions.

The project involved reconfiguring spaces to improve campus flow, and modernizing facilities.

It involved tearing out walls, redoing plumbing, electrical and upgrades to technology. It also included a five-classroom addition to the science wing.

The school recently celebrated the project’s completion with a rededication ceremony, and on another night, it offered public tours.

Major Pasco County Schools projects, 2019-2020:

  • Zephyrhills High campus-wide renovation
  • Land O Lakes High campus-wide renovation, final phase
  • Cypress Creek Middle construction
  • Starkey K-8 construction
  • Starkey Library Theater construction
  • East Technical High construction
  • SunlakeHigh design and construction of classroom wing
  • Bexley Elementary design and construction of classroom wing

Source: Pasco County Schools

Published January 01, 2020

Pasco to open K-8 school in fall 2021

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The groundbreaking last week for Starkey Ranch K-8 School was celebrated in grand fashion —  at a gathering that included a high school jazz band and color guard, preschoolers, a private developer partner, elected leaders and government officials.

The school is the second phase of a partnership between Pasco County Schools, Pasco County government and Wheelock Communities, the private developers of Starkey Ranch, a community off State Road 54 in Trinity.

Members of the Pasco County School Board join top district staff in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Starkey Ranch K-8 School. (B.C. Manion)

One part of the project is the Starkey District Park, which opened its first phase in November 2017. Two additional phases are planned for the park.

Starkey Ranch K-8 School, located near the district park, is the public school district’s first school specifically designed for elementary and middle school students.

It is expected to open in August 2021, with about 1,000 elementary school students and 600 middle school students.

The school campus includes a gymnasium, athletic fields, a running track and sports courts that will be available during non-school hours to residents, through a shared-use agreement.

Additionally, there’s a third part of the partnership that involves construction of what’s been dubbed TLC, which stands for theater, library and cultural center.

Matt Call, project director for Starkey Ranch, talked about the collaborative attitude the partners have shared.

“It began as an idea to work together to create something great,” Call said.

The approach that’s been used, he said, “is something that we sometimes feel is missing in society today — just the idea of putting aside our own differences and our own desires, and really coming together and working to do something.”

His enthusiasm for the partnership was shared by Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning.

“We have looked forward to this day for a very, very long time,” Browning told the crowd.

The joint efforts will yield a community asset, he said.

“These amenities add, not only to Starkey Ranch, but also to Pasco County as a whole,” Browning said.

This is what the Starkey Ranch K-8 School campus will look like. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

And, because the facilities will be shared — instead of being duplicated, Browning said, “the taxpayers are winners on this project.”

The superintendent added: “We want it to be a community place. We want it to be a place where people come and gather, and socialize and learn.”

Pasco County Commissioner Mike Wells noted that “from the county standpoint, the last time we built a library, my father was a county commissioner. That was in 1982.

“This is a very, very exciting day. The TLC is the first of its kind in Pasco County.”

The center will accommodate public library patrons and students. It also will have a 250-seat theater and three maker spaces.

Like the other speakers, Wells praised the cooperative arrangement to pursue these facilities.

“It’s not very often that we all come together to do things,” Wells said, noting that government agencies have a tendency to operate in silos.

Commissioner Kathryn Starkey, a former school board member, said she hopes that Starkey Ranch K-8 School is so successful that the school district will build more in the future.

“I’m so excited for the residents that live here and for all of those lucky kids who are going to be able to experience this kind of school,” Starkey said.

She also talked about the TLC.

“We have worked really hard to make this facility different than the normal facility. We’re going to have outdoor space, where you can have cocktail parties,” she said.

She expressed gratitude that both the school board and the Pasco County Commission put in some extra money to make the TLC “exactly what we wanted.”

School board chairwoman Alison Crumbley said the project is exciting because of what the school will offer for students. She’s also pleased by the presence of the theater and cultural center because she’s a proponent of the arts.

Browning said the K-8 model will provide “opportunities for middle-schoolers to mentor elementary school kids, which is a great, great thing for us.”

No decision has been made yet on the boundaries for the new school, said Chris Williams, director of planning for the school district.

Beyond assigning students from Starkey Ranch to the school, various options are being discussed, including the possibility of a magnet school to fill the remaining spots, he said.

The school construction budget is $44.4 million.

Published September 11, 2019

Pasco County’s development ready to take off

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Dreams and visions for the redevelopment of Pasco County began more than two decades ago. Today, homes, shops, hotels, offices and medical campuses are coming out of the ground and redrawing the county’s future.

On March 1, developers of four of Pasco’s master-planned communities updated more than 100 people who came to the annual Meet the Developers breakfast. The Pasco Economic Development Council sponsored the event at the Marriott Residence Inn, off State Road 54.

In closing remarks, Bill Cronin, president of Pasco EDC said, “this is the right time, the right place for Pasco County…If nothing else, I hope you have that ‘oh, wow’ effect. That’s not the Pasco I knew.”

Bill Cronin, president of the Pasco Economic Development Council, left, introduces developers who spoke at a ‘Meet the Developers’ breakfast. They are: Matt Call, project director of Starkey Ranch/Wheelock Communities; Tom Panaseny, vice president/general manager of Bexley by Newland Communities; J.D. Porter, president of sales and development of Wiregrass Ranch Inc.; and, Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development Group LLC.
(Courtesy of Pasco Economic Development Council)

Speakers at the breakfast were Matt Call, project director at Starkey Ranch, which is being developed by Wheelock Communities; Tom Panaseny, vice president and general manager for Bexley by Newland Communities; J.D. Porter, president of sales and development of Wiregrass Ranch Inc.; and, Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development Group Inc.

“We’re all selling this dream and vision of where Pasco can go,” Call said.

Three years ago, Starkey Ranch, about four miles west of the Suncoast Parkway, off State Road 54, was largely still on the drawing board.

Today, Starkey Ranch anticipates having more than 300 new homes under contract in a year, Call said. So far, there have been more than 150 closings, he added.

The average price of homes being sold there is in the low to mid-$400,000s. The most expensive home — at about 4,800 square feet – sold within the past two weeks for about $874,000.

“Most are not first-time homebuyers,” Call said. “Most are moving-up buyers.”

Upcoming projects included widening Gunn Highway and extending the road into Starkey Ranch.

About one-third of a 20-mile trail system is built and will eventually connect with Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Preserve and the Suncoast Trail.

A business park, fronting State Road 54, is in the works. A town square is planned for 2018.

While Newland Communities is new to Pasco, its track record in Tampa Bay includes master-planned communities in Hillsborough County, including FishHawk Ranch in Riverview and Westchase in Town ‘n Country.

Panaseny described Newland as the largest private developer of planned communities in the country, with projects in 19 states, stretching from coast to coast.

The homebuilder’s first Pasco community is Bexley Ranch, in an area encompassing about 1,700 acres. It is located also on State Road 54, east of Suncoast Parkway.

The Bexley family is developing another 5,000 adjacent acres still under their control.

The Newland project is zoned for more than 1,700 homes; about 95,000 square feet of retail; and, more than 560,000 square feet of office, though that could increase to as much as 1 million square feet.

About five miles of a planned 13-mile trail system is built.

An elementary school now under construction is scheduled to open in August.

About 400 lots are available, with 400 additional lots expected to be ready by the end of the year. Twelve model homes are open for viewing.

Bexley also is planned for offices, shops and a hotel, as well as apartments and single-family homes.

A groundbreaking is anticipated in March for more than 300 apartments.

Access to Bexley currently is through the Ballantrae community to the east. But, within 60 to 90 days, Panaseny said Bexley Village Drive should open, with access directly off State Road 54.

The average home price is about $350,000.

“It’s been a strong market,” Panaseny said.

Upcoming projects include a medical facility, a Race Trac gas station and convenience store, and a 7-acre shopping center.

“We’d love to have a grocery store anchor the center, or possibly restaurants,” Panaseny said.

A Marriott hotel is expected to break ground in July.

There also is about 32 acres available for offices. “We very much want to bring Class A office space here,” he said.

Wiregrass Ranch is rebranding itself, with a new logo and a re-energized focus as new developments in the master-planned community emerge.

Wiregrass is the fastest growing community in the Tampa Bay area, said Porter, of  Wiregrass Ranch Inc.

The property is zoned for 10,500 homes; 2.7 million square feet of retail; 2.6 million square feet of office; and 600 hotel beds. A middle school and a high school have been built. Additional retail and office space are planned.

Next to The Shops at Wiregrass, plans are underway for an expansion that will include high-end shops and boutiques, a cine bistro, a grocery store and apartments.

Raymond James Financial campus is expected to start construction later this year on a campus that could have about 1 million square feet of office space and an 1,800-space parking garage.

Medical facilities are filling up the surrounding area. They include Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, Florida Medical Clinic and North Tampa Behavioral Health.

Beach House is an upscale assisted living facility under construction.

“You’re going to continue to see good, smart growth because it’s an environment people want to be in,” said Porter.

Metro Development Group is building a master-planned community at Epperson Ranch, which is part of a state-approved pilot program to create a Connected City corridor built with technology innovations. At build out, Metro is projecting about 37,000 homes; 12 million square-feet of office, retail and technology manufacturing; 100 miles of traffic lanes for self-driving vehicles; and two Crystal Lagoons.

The first lagoon at Epperson Ranch is a 7-acre, manmade pool of crystal blue water under construction at Epperson Ranch, off State Road 52 at Overpass Road. To the north, a second community, known as Mirada, is also planned with a larger Crystal Lagoon.

Metro controls about 35 percent of land within Connected City, which sets aside about 7,800 acres in northeastern Pasco. Metro and other developers are expected to build master-planned communities embedded with cutting-edge technology, and focused on creating technology driven jobs and new businesses.

A groundbreaking for the Crystal Lagoon at Epperson happened in February. The lagoon is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. In the first weeks, 15 homes have sold, and there is a waiting list of more than 1,000 people who want to buy, said Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro.

Published March 8, 2017

Pasco is real estate ready

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The real estate market in Pasco County is thriving.

And, evidence of that was on display at “Meet the Developers: The Future of Real Estate.”

The annual breakfast meeting, hosted by the Pasco Economic Development Council, brought together developers, real estate brokers, investors and community leaders at the Residence Inn on March 2.

Four examples of Pasco’s current and future development initiatives were highlighted: Compark 75, Starkey Ranch, Connected City and the Duke Energy Site Readiness Program.

Compark 75 defied conventional wisdom that building on speculation in the midst of an economic meltdown would be a bad idea. The initial developer in 2008 abandoned the project.

Tom Ryan, economic development manager for Pasco Economic Development Council, standing by the podium, moderated a panel on the future of real estate in Pasco County. On the panel, from left, were: Danielle Ruiz, economic development manager for Duke Energy; Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development; Heidi Tuttle-Beisner, broker with Commercial Asset Partners Realty; and Matt Call, project director for Starkey Ranch/Wheelock Communities. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
Tom Ryan, economic development manager for Pasco Economic Development Council, standing by the podium, moderated a panel on the future of real estate in Pasco County.
On the panel, from left, were: Danielle Ruiz, economic development manager for Duke Energy; Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development; Heidi Tuttle-Beisner, broker with Commercial Asset Partners Realty; and Matt Call, project director for Starkey Ranch/Wheelock Communities.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

But, Larry Morgan of HR Pasco LLC, and Ross Kirk, of KVR Development LLC, joined forces as owner and developer, respectively, to take on the challenge.

The industrial park is next to Interstate 75, about halfway between State Road 54 and State Road 56 interchanges. Suncoast Parkway is 12 miles to the west. The Tampa North Aero Park is along Compark 75’s northern boundary.

In 2014, a $15 million expansion of the industrial park broke ground. It was the first major investment in commercial office construction in Florida since the 2008 recession.

More expansion is under way, with the ongoing construction of a new 65,000-square-foot building. It will be the fifth building at the 165-acre site.

Every building has gone vertical without signed tenants. But, the park is nearly filled to 100 percent capacity. Plans also are  are under way for a new building that can be designed as a multistory office, or built-out for light industrial or manufacturing.

“As fast as we can build them, we are finding quality companies to go in them,” said Heidi Tuttle-Beisner, a broker with Commercial Asset Partners Realty who handles leasing for the park.

Starkey Ranch is a master-planned community of more than 5,500 homes under development by Wheelock Communities in Odessa, off State Road 54.

Groundbreaking on the first model homes took place in 2014. Homes are now selling in Whitfield Park. The welcome center opened in spring. And, Taylor Morrison anticipates a grand opening in April for its model home center for the Esplanade subdivision at Starkey Ranch.

The interest in the ranch is evident in the 2,400 visitors on average who click onto the community’s website each week, said Matt Call, project director for Starkey Ranch/Wheelock Communities.

Interest also is high on the proposed business park and retail sites planned at State Road 54 and Gunn Highway.

Call said announcements would be made on an anchor grocery store, likely in June. And, an apartment complex also is coming at that location, with an announcement expected soon.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in this opportunity,” Call said.

A one-of-a-kind gigabit community and a crystal lagoon are the centerpiece attractions for Metro Development’s “connected city” corridor.

State lawmakers created a special development district for about 7,800 acres in central and eastern Pasco County as a 10-year pilot program. Interstate 75, State Road 52, Curley Road and Overpass Road border the district. Development in the district will be able to bypass the typical state reviews in favor of local control in the hands of Pasco County commissioners.

Metro Development is developing master-planned communities on the former Epperson Ranch within the special district. One town center feature will be a 7-acre man-made swimming pool, known as a crystal lagoon.

“We want that to be integrated into the community,” said Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations for Metro Development.

But, Metro Development also will create the first planned gigabit community, or Connected City, in the nation. Residents and business owners will live, work and play in an environment linked by Ultra Fi, a broadband system with speeds so fast that photos can be downloaded in seconds, not minutes.

Assistance in its development will come from US Ignite, a nonprofit group founded by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation.

Future development on property adjacent to Zephyrhills Municipal Airport is getting a boost from Duke Energy through the Duke Energy Site Readiness Program.

In 2015, Duke Energy representatives worked with the city of Zephyrhills on a study of about 440 undeveloped acres around the airport.

The site is centrally located in Florida, and is in proximity to such highways as State Road 54, I-75 and Interstate 4. In addition, there is the bonus of a CSX rail line in the area.

Duke Energy has reviewed nearly 190 sites in six states in the southeast during the past 10 years.

Information from these reviews serves as a guide for local communities that want to create pad-ready sites for development.

One obstacle is expansion of the site’s wastewater capacity at an estimated cost of $1.7 million, said Danielle Ruiz, economic development manager for Duke Energy.

However, she said tax revenues from the Penny for Pasco program could provide funds for this project.

Pasco County recently launched a revolving loan program, with up to $15 million available to make sites pad-ready or to build shell buildings for potential industrial, manufacturing or flex-space. The deadline to submit proposals to the county is April 11.

Published March 9, 2016

Pace picks up for construction in southern Pasco

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Commercial and residential developments are popping up at the Suncoast Parkway interchange and along State Road 54/State Road 56 corridor at an ever-quickening pace.

There’s so much happening that it’s difficult to keep up with what’s under construction, what’s on the drawing board and what’s moving toward final sale.

To help sort things out, the Pasco Economic Development Council Inc., brought developers and brokers together for a meet-and-greet session on Feb. 19 at the Residence Inn at NorthPointe.

“We see the dirt flying,” said John Hagen, president and CEO of the Pasco EDC. “It struck us there’s really a lot of people who don’t know what’s going on here.”

So, in 10-minute bursts of information, representatives for the various developments presented highlights of a half-dozen mixed-use, master-planned and commercial communities.

Wiregrass Ranch, on the eastern end of the State Road 54/State Road 56 corridor is the most advanced of the developments.

But there’s still much more to come, said J.D. Porter, whose family owns Wiregrass Ranch.

The long-delayed Raymond James Financial Campus, off State Road 56, is approaching the permitting stage, Porter said.

About 600,000 square feet of office space is planned with opportunities to expand to 1 million square feet, he said.

“There’s no exact start date, but we feel very comfortable,” Porter said. “It’s a no-brainer. It’s going to get done.”

The first phase probably is about $18 million in roads and utilities, he added.

Future projects include a new park, a charter school, and a convention and performing arts center.

“We’re starting to take our business to the next level,” Porter said.

Meanwhile, close to the Suncoast Parkway, construction has begun on Bexley Boulevard, the entrance to Bexley Ranch, a 5,000-acre master-planned community. That development will be at the northeast quadrant of State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway.

About 1,700 acres will be developed in the development’s first phase, including about 93,000 square feet of retail and 563,00 square feet of offices, said Tom Panaseny, vice president of California-based Newland Communities.

Newland Communities is the same company that developed Fishhawk Ranch and Westchase in Hillsborough County.

The future Tower Road, which will link to Ballantrae subdivision, will be a four-lane divided roadway with a flyover across Suncoast, Panaseny said.

Thousands of homes, a town center, specialty shops, hotel, medical uses and office space are part of the mix, he said. More than 12 miles of internal trails will link with existing trails in the community.

“Everything we do, we try to connect to trail systems,” Panaseny said.

Another development — NorthPointe at Suncoast Crossings at the southeast quadrant of State Road 54 and Suncoast Parkway — is planned to have a mixture of uses, with up to 1 million square feet of offices, research and development, and hospitality.

Two parcels are potential locations for hotel, office or retail, said Steve Oakes, vice president of development for The Hogan Group, based in Lutz.

Developers are keeping options open for how NorthPointe moves forward, said Paul Michael, vice president of Atlanta-based TPA Group. “We’re all in this together…to create a sustainable live, work, play environment which we hope to be a success in Pasco County.”

Asturia, another master-planned community, is off State Road 54, west of the Suncoast Parkway. The 500-acre development has approval for up to 300,000 square feet of commercial, 530,000 square feet of office or light industrial, 550 single-family homes, 200 town homes and 440 apartments.

“You can see piles of dirt and a lot of construction,” said Lane Gardner, managing director for Houston-based-Hines. A groundbreaking was held in December with completion of the first construction phase scheduled for May 2015.

Starkey Ranch is a 2,400-acre master-planned community off State Road 54 with approval for 206,500 square feet of Class A offices, 43,500 medical offices, 300,000 square feet of light industrial, 100,000 square feet of support retail, 220 hotel rooms and small commercial infill parcels.

More than 2,000 residential units are planned including homes in an “adult lifestyle” subdivision near Huckleberry Pond. It will, however, not be age-restricted.

“We are focusing on creating community,” said Matt Call, project director for Wheelock Communities. “We don’t want to be another subdivision. We want a true community.”

A town center with a grocery store as the anchor is planned at Gunn Highway and State Road 54. Other amenities include a business center, light industrial, a hotel, medical office, shops, day care center, coffee shop, church and more than 20 miles of trails.

A welcome center and model homes from Ryland and M/I are nearing completion. A groundbreaking is expected later this year for the Starkey Ranch District Park.

The park is not a tourism destination, Call said. “It’s really for local residents.”

Mitchell West 54, at Little Road and State Road 54, will feature a neighborhood shopping center with a movie theater amid its proposed 800 residential units.

“We think this is an infill location,” said Gary Nelson, senior vice president of Kitson & Partners based in Palm Beach Gardens.

Groundbreaking on the 330-acre site is planned for early 2016 with an opening day expected in 2017. There will be about 980,000 square feet of retail, medical and offices. A hotel and senior living component are possible.

The first development in the project will be the neighborhood center with grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants and some high-end retail, said Matt Buehler, retail specialist director for Kitson & Partners.

Published February 25, 2015