Dignitaries, reporters and champion athletes like retired Tampa Bay Lightning winger Dave Andreychuk had come to hear about the new ice hockey complex planned for Cypress Ridge Boulevard in Wesley Chapel. But they also learned about something else as well — another large hotel is coming, and it will be located right next to the new hockey facility.
Developer Gordie Zimmermann was mum on who might be looking to build not far from where Hampton Inn & Suites already is, but it’s looking like it’s nearly a done deal.
“We are speaking of the development of the hotel with the owner that (has the land) under contract,” Zimmermann told reporters after a press conference Thursday.
He added that the company wanting to come in has “three or four brands” they could use to name the hotel. But it will be five stories tall, and feature 120 rooms.
The hockey facility itself will be twice the size of a similar complex Zimmermann developed in Brandon, where many local hockey athletes travel to practice and play games. It will cost about $17.4 million to construct it, with the 13 acres of land it will sit on closing Thursday morning for about $2.6 million.
Once construction of the facility gets started, it will take up to nine months to build, Zimmermann said, but it’s expected to open by Fall 2015. It will feature four rinks — one a size that could accommodate the National Hockey League, and two others considered Olympic-sized. A fourth smaller one can also double as a basketball court, according to plans.
What the hockey complex will be called is still anyone’s guess. Renderings of the facility used Cypress Creek in the name, but Zimmermann said he’s open to finding a corporate naming sponsor who would pay to put their name on the facility.
For more about the facility, check out the June 4 print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.
