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Maren Way

Under Construction

July 24, 2019 By Brian Fernandes

Firestone Complete Auto Service
Motorists will have a new option for car maintenance with the opening of a new Firestone Complete Auto Service, at 25170 Maren Way in Land O’ Lakes. The shop, which is off State Road 54, will be equipped with seven service bays, as well as an indoor waiting area, along with an HD-TV and Wi-Fi service. The 6,116-square-foot building is set to open in late September and will provide 10 to 15 jobs.

Flying Squirrel Sports
Flying Squirrel Sports will bring new recreational activities for both adults and kids. The 40,000-square-foot structure will include indoor trampolines, dodge ball games, an arcade, pool tables, and a restaurant, among other amenities. The coming attraction will be housed in the Willow Bend Towne Centre, 22920 State Road 54 in Lutz. Construction is set to be completed in August, with an official opening date planned in September.

East Pasco Fleet-Transit Facility
Efforts are underway to build a facility to house county vehicles and buses at 9928 McKendree Road in San Antonio. The 31,427-square-foot station will include an area to wash buses, a refueling station and multiple bays for vehicle maintenance. Construction is expected to end by late 2019.

Heartland Dental Clinic
A Heartland Dental clinic is under construction in the Land O’ Lakes Connerton community at 20301 Pleasant Plains Parkway. The one-story office is 4,320 square feet and will hold 13 rooms. End of construction and grand opening are both set for September.

Curious about something new that’s popping up in your community? Please send us the location — along with the address, if possible — and we’ll see what we can find out. Send your email to .

El Dorado Furniture opening fall 2019 at Brightwork Crossing

August 1, 2018 By Kathy Steele

The largest Hispanic-owned furniture retailer in the United States plans to open a new store in the mixed-use, residential and commercial project, known as Brightwork Crossing.

An apartment complex at Brightwork Crossing is under construction at State Road 54 and Wesley Chapel Boulevard. Shops and a hotel are planned, too.

A new Burger King restaurant recently opened on a parcel, fronting State Road 54.

The estimated opening for El Dorado Furniture Store is fall 2019, according to Pedro Capo, chief operating officer of the family-owned business.

This is an aerial view of an El Dorado Furniture Store that opened in Cutler Bay, in Miami-Dade County. Company officials are in early stages of planning a store in Pasco County that would open in fall 2019. (Courtesy of Smith Aerial Photos/El Dorado Furniture Store)

Bowman Consulting Inc., filed a preliminary site plan for El Dorado Furniture, and had a pre-application meeting with Pasco County planners in July.

“Everything is looking good,” said Capo.

The Miami-based business is expanding elsewhere in Florida, including new stores in Naples and Fort Myers. A former Sports Authority on Tyrone Boulevard, and a Babies R Us, will be remodeled and opened as El Dorado stores.

The site plan for El Dorado shows a two-story, 70,000-square-foot building, with access from Ashley Creek Trail.

Ashley Creek is among new roads built, internal to Brightwork Crossing. Maren Way is a new road off State Road 54, leading to Burger King and the apartments.

A WaWa gas and convenience store also is featured on the site plan, across from the furniture store. It also has access from Ashley Creek.

The recent El Dorado Furniture store opening in Naples is the company’s 16th store, said Capo.

The company has wanted to move into Pasco for awhile, and looked at a site about five years ago, east of Interstate 75. Tampa Premium Outlets was still in planning stages.

“It was too soon. Then, the recession came in,” said Capo. “But, now the timing is right.”

Company founder, Manuel Capo, left Cuba after the Fidel Castro regime confiscated the family’s chain of furniture stores, known as Casa Capo. Capo and two of his six sons sailed a small boat, named El Dorado, to Mexico, and then settled in Miami, according to the website.

The rest of the family later joined them.

Capo opened El Dorado (named for the boat) in 1967 in Little Havana.

Manuel Capo died nearly 10 years ago. His sons now operate the family business, which is recognized among the top 50 furniture retailers in the country, the website adds.

In the early 1990s, the family designed a unique showroom concept, featuring the El Dorado “boulevard.” Customers stroll along a streetscape, dotted with old-fashioned benches and street lamps, 16th century-inspired stained glass windows, and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Capo said the parking lot also features old-fashioned street lights and brick pavers to begin what is essentially a neighborhood experience.

Typically, customers in most furniture stores might spent 20 minutes, but El Dorado customers stay as long as an hour, he added. “They can just relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and wander around,” Capo said.

The store has more than 20 storefronts, and specialty furniture shops, which showcase various furniture styles from contemporary to traditional.

Same-day delivery is available in many instances.

“Being Hispanic, typically the whole family comes to shop,” Capo said. “They’d bring anybody that fit in the car, even their neighbors.”

But, he said, the boulevard concept proved successful “for everybody. We do have people for all over the world to look at our boulevard.”

Pasco County commissioners approved Brightwork Crossing in August 2017. The development will have about 350 apartments, 250,000 square feet of offices, retail, and a 150-room hotel.

The approximately 32-acre site is off State Road 54, west of Wesley Chapel Boulevard. It is behind the Shell gas station and Walgreen’s drugstore.

State Road 54 and Wesley Chapel are at the epicenter of retail growth in Pasco. Tampa Premium Outlets, a row of restaurants, a new At Home store and Costco are among the projects that opened on the south side of State Road 56.

Cypress Creek Town Center, on the north side of State Road 56, is filling up with restaurants, including Bahama Breeze Island Grill, Mellow Mushroom, and Chuy’s Tex Mex. The Hyatt Place Hotel is almost ready for its grand opening.

Other planned shops include HomeGoods, Blaze Pizza and Hobby Lobby.

Published August 1, 2018

Apartments on the rise at Brightwork Crossing

April 25, 2018 By Kathy Steele

Brightwork Crossing is going vertical.

Brick-and-mortar tower-like structures are rising on the 32-acre site, off State Road 54, west of Wesley Chapel Boulevard.

These are early signs of an apartment complex approved for up to 350 units. The complex will be a series of four-story buildings with more than 60 apartments per building, according to county records.

Permits also have been approved for a WaWa convenience store, a Burger King and the apartment’s clubhouse. Internal roads include Tapestry Way, Maren Way, Ashley Creek Trail and Canopy Creek Way.

Construction crews are building apartments at Brightwork Crossing, a mixed-use project at Wesley Chapel Boulevard and State Road 54. This view is from Old Cypress Creek Road. (Kathy Steele)

Alabama-based Arlington Properties and BW 54 56 Holdings LLC are partners in the development. Representatives for the companies weren’t available for comment.

Pasco County commissioners approved the mixed-use, commercial and residential project in August 2017. It’s been on the drawing board since 2015.

Brightwork Crossing is approved for the apartments, as well as 250,000 square feet of offices, retail and a 150-room hotel.

Firestone Complete Auto Care store has been named as a potential retail store.

Construction began in summer 2017 as bulldozers cleared and leveled the vacant land, located directly behind the Shell gas station and Walgreen’s drugstore.

Traffic spills into the area from all directions, off State Road 54, State Road 56, Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Interstate 75.

Brightwork Crossing will fill out a prime corner at this major juncture for new development, which already includes Tampa Premium Outlets, Cypress Creek Town Center, and Florida Hospital Center Ice.

The site where apartments are being built was bisected by Old State Road 54, and often used as a cut-through by motorists seeking to avoid long waits at Wesley Chapel and State Road 54 and State Road 56.

Old State Road 54 became part of a land swap that gave the county green space for its wildlife corridor, as well as room for a future park-and-ride facility.

Recent and future road projects are on tap to improve traffic flow along the area’s major corridors.

Brightwork Crossing will have access via Wesley Chapel Boulevard to Cypress Creek Town Center, at the center’s Pondside Drive entrance.

Wesley Chapel is partially widened, near State Road 56, and the county plans eventually to widen the boulevard to six lanes to just north of Magnolia Boulevard. There will be 4-foot bicycle lanes, a median, 5-foot sidewalks on the eastern side, and an 8-foot multi-use trail on the western side.

Construction is expected to begin in 2018 on a diverging diamond interchange at I-75 to improve traffic flow.

Published April 25, 2018

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Avalon Park Wesley Chapel Aims to Provide A Sense of Belonging

May 24, 2022 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

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A Guide for Summer Camps in Pasco County 

May 23, 2022 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

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05/26/2022 – Food distribution

Farm Share, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, Pasco Sheriff Charities, the Pasco County NAACP, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay will partner for a free food distribution on May 26 starting at 9 a.m., at the Boys & Girls Club of Lacoochee, 38724 Mudcat Grant Blvd., in Dade City. Food will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last. The event is a drive-thru, rain or shine. … [Read More...] about 05/26/2022 – Food distribution

05/26/2022 – Lawn fertilization

Keep Pasco Beautiful will host a workshop for HOAs, homeowners and anyone who wants to learn how to properly maintain their lawn, on May 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Patel College of Global Sustainability, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Room 136, in Tampa. Panelists will include members from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the University of Florida Pasco Extension Office, who will explore a range of fertilization topics. For information and to register, visit EventBrite.com. … [Read More...] about 05/26/2022 – Lawn fertilization

05/28/2022 – Memorial Day Concert

The “Let’s Do Good Memorial Day Concert” is scheduled for May 28 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Land O’ Lakes Heritage Park, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., to benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Tunnel to Towers provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children, and builds custom-designed smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. The foundation is committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and aiding the victims of major U.S. disasters. The event will include vendors, gifts, a Forget-Me-Not Garden, and more. Entertainment will be provided by Fred Chandler, Charles Goodwin, Cruz Er Mac, Mike Henderson, and Travis White. Special guests include Congressman Gus Bilirakis and State Sen. Danny Burgess. Rain date is Sept. 10. … [Read More...] about 05/28/2022 – Memorial Day Concert

05/28/2022 – Pet supply drive

Munchies Natural Pet Foods, 1722 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in Wesley Chapel, will host a Pet Supply Drive on May 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., to benefit the Pet Peace of Mind Program at Gulfside Hospice. Gulfside team members will be on site to offer information about the program and to collect donated supplies, such as pet food, cat litter, treats, basic supplies and other items. The donations will be distributed to hospice patients, to help provide care for their pets. For information about the Peace of Mind program, visit Gulfside.org, or call 727-845-5707. … [Read More...] about 05/28/2022 – Pet supply drive

05/28/2022 – Seafood Festival-CANCELLED

The North Tampa Bay Chamber’s Summer Seafood Festival is scheduled for May 28 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Tampa Premium Outlets, 2300 Grand Cypress Drive in Lutz, between the outlets and At Home. There will be seafood, crab races, a kids zone, live bands, craft beer, a local market, a Nautical Art Show, and a crab claw-eating contest. For information, call 727-674-1464. … [Read More...] about 05/28/2022 – Seafood Festival-CANCELLED

05/30/2022 – Memorial Day Ceremony

Lexington Oaks Community Center, 26304 Lexington Oaks Blvd., in Wesley Chapel, will host a Memorial Day Ceremony on May 30 from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., in front of the big flag. There will be patriotic songs and readings, and the playing of "Taps."  The event is weather permitting. … [Read More...] about 05/30/2022 – Memorial Day Ceremony

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