21 minute read
KRATE, mini-golf (x2), DDI & more on the way in Wesley Chapel in ‘22. See
By JOHN C. COTEY
john@NTNeighborhoodNews.com
Wesley Chapel is on a great run of fun and interesting projects, and 2022 should be no different. Here’s the five we’re most looking forward to this year.
1. KRATE Container Park
The long-awaited KRATE container park at The Grove at Wesley Chapel is expected to be fully open by summer 2022 — which is great news for local residents in the quickly expanding S.R 54 corridor looking for more shopping and dining options.
There are so many cool things coming to Wesley Chapel this year, but KRATE is No. 1 due to the unique nature of the project and the anticipation that has built up because it has taken much longer than many expected, due in no small part to a variety of Covid-related issues.
KRATE was the jewel of developer Mark Gold’s plans when his company, Mishorim Gold Properties, bought The Grove, then a moribund 250-acre parcel anchored by a shopping center, for $64 million in September 2019. Gold has invested an additional $20-million in the KRATE, which he claims will be the largest container park in the U.S. and
The long-awaited KRATE container park is the coolest thing opening in Wesley Chapel in 2022, but it’s far from the only thing. (Photo: Charmaine George) something that will draw visitors from around the state to Wesley Chapel.
The seven-acre KRATE project will feature 55 businesses in converted shipping containers, each with their own product-centric mural painted on the side by artist Whitney Holbourn of Colorado.
Only two stores — Provisions Coffee & Kitchen and Shake-A-Salad — are already open. Once the others are ready, the KRATE is expected to cash in on what is likely to be a welcome experience in these Covid-ridden times — an open-air market featuring restaurants, retail shops and even a stage that will host concerts and other performances. Its proximity to The Grove’s big box stores, and popular restaurants like Treble Makers and the Falabella Family Bistro, the Double Branch Artisanal Ales craft brewery, The Grove movie theater (and home of Side Splitters comedy club) and a new mini-golf course (see below) will make The Grove arguably the top entertainment destination hub in Pasco County, if not all of Tampa Bay. 2. PopStroke Entertainment
Remember a few years ago when the major complaint about Wesley Chapel was that there was nothing to do? Well, since 2016, we’ve added the Advent Health Center Ice facility, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, an indoor recreation center and outdoor roller hockey rink at the Wesley Chapel District Park and the Main Event bowling alley and game center on S.R. 56.
As if that’s not enough, in 2022, Tiger Woods PopStroke Entertainment, a mini-golf and restaurant concept he owns with entrepreneur Greg Bartoli, is coming to Wesley Chapel’s Cypress Creek Town Center on the north side of S.R. 56.
The project went vertical in November and is expected to open this spring.
PopStroke will feature specially designed holes (by Woods and TGR Design, his award-winning design team) that are meant to mimic real putting on a real course, so no bridges, windmills or ramps will be getting in the way. PopStroke will have two 18-hole putting courses, with synthetic turfs, fairways, bunkers and rough. The elevation changes throughout the course will bring it to life.
A customized app will track scores on a digital scoreboard, and golfers can order food and drinks, which will be delivered directly to them on the course. There also will be an outdoor dining area with a full menu, a variety of craft beer and wine, ice cream, outdoor games and a playground.
If we had to guess, we’d say PopStroke’s mini-golf will be more oriented to adults or fans of the actual game. But, for all the usual owner and bells and whistles..… 3. Grove Mini-Golf
Adjacent to the movie theater at The Grove (photo above) is another mini-golf course under construction, but this one promises a more traditional version of the popular family pastime.
No, there’s no windmills, but there will be plenty of holes requiring tricky shots — one hole you shoot over a river, another into a river, and there’s even a figure-8 hole and lots of hills and rocks.
Owner and builder Ryan Mortii says he dropped $80,000 on landscaping alone to create a rich, tropical oasis experience, and nighttime neon lighting and fire will give it a fun, festive feel. All of the holes will be illuminated with neon lights and glow-in-the-dark flags and balls.
Mortii says he expects Grove MiniGolf to open in March, about a year after it first broke ground. 4. Diverging Diamond Interchange
If navigating castles, rocks and water on a mini-golf course doesn’t get you excited, how about navigating the soonto-be-completed (no, we’re not kidding) Diverging Diamond Interchange at the S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection? (below)
We’re not sure how fun figuring out the DDI will be compared to, say, shooting par, but the new intersection is less confusing than it looks, say officials (and our editor), and a whole lot more efficient.
The DDI should be ready to go sometime this summer, which is good news considering the project was halted and in limbo from late June-early Sept. 2021, when D.A.B. Constructors pulled out of it — one of seven Pasco County projects the company bailed on — and later filed for bankruptcy.
Work restarted September 13, 2021, when Superior Construction took over the project.
The DDI is supposed to eliminate conflict points and make for a safer interchange, using free flowing lanes — sometimes taking you to the other side of the road. There will be plenty of signs to direct you, and the DDI is expected to calm arguably Wesley Chapel’s most frustrating and troublesome intersection. We’d suggest hitting up YouTube to watch a few videos. It’s probably still easier than reading the slope on a green. 5. S.R. 54 Widening
The widening of S.R. 54 from east of Curley Rd. to just east of Morris Bridge Rd. from two lanes to four was also a casualty of the D.A.B. Constructors fiasco, going into limbo on July 28 of last year. The project took a little longer to get back on track than the DDI. In fact, work on the widening by Cone & Graham only started back up on Jan. 10.
The $43-million project has been a long time coming, breaking ground in November 2017.
Those who live in the growing 54 corridor, like Avalon Park Wesley Chapel and Meadow Pointe IV residents, will be thrilled when the work is done, although no completion date has been given yet. But the project was far enough along that you can expect the widening to wrap up sometime in 2022. (Now if someone can get around to doing something about the S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs and I-75 intersections…please?)
And...While these are our top 5, they aren’t the only cool things happening in 2022. Wesley Chapel is getting a second lagoon at Mirada, which at 15 acres is twice as large as the one in Epperson, new restaurants like The Living Room will be popping up, and there’s enough construction (BayCare Hospital, Raymond James) that we might even see a few surprises.
By JOHN C. COTEY
john@NTNeighborhoodNews.com
Residents in a Quail Hollow neighborhood are hoping to stop a residential treatment facility for young boys ages 13-17 from taking root — or at least wait until it has gone through a thorough zoning verification that examines exactly what its plans are and will mean to the community.
The issue, however, is that Pasco County may have already erroneously granted permission to Elevated Youth Services (EYS) to operate the facility at 26318 Lawrence Ave.
According to chief assistant county attorney David Goldstein, back in August, EYS owner Nicholas Browning sought approval for a residential treatment facility for 12 minors with handicaps and disabilities. Frederick Humberstone, a planning and zoning tech II for the county, wrote back to Browning informing him that the proposed use as a residential group (single family of unrelated people) was a permitted use (as opposed to a conditional use, which residential treatment and care facilities are supposed to be considered).
Browning then closed on the property, paying $495,000 for the five bedroom, 3,500-sq.ft. home.
However, Humberstone was incorrect, because the correct permitted use is only supposed to be for six or fewer residents.
“Was the letter probably erroneous under our code? Yes,” Goldstein said at the Jan. 6 Pasco Planning Commission meeting . “However, it’s clear that the applicant relied on it, and then bought the property after they got the letter.”
Goldstein says that makes this a “fairly unique” case, although he still recommended approval but with conditions, which would include a 1-to-4 ratio of supervisors to children, limits on street parking, and not accepting any residents who have been adjudicated as sexual offenders.
However, that wasn’t sufficient for other members of the planning commission — nor for a dozen or so Quail Hollow
One of the complaints by residents about Elevated Youth Services’ plan to build a residential treatment facility on Lawrence Ave. is overcrowding on what is barely a two-land road. residents who showed up at the Dade City Courthouse — and the case was continued to the Feb. 3 Planning Commission meeting while Goldstein and EYS continue to negotiate the conditions. EYS is essentially seeking approval for a residential and treatment facility but want relief from going through the conditional use process (CUP) because it claims it would violate the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and unfairly burden EYS’s use of the property. “We would have no problem going through the CUP process if it was required of all groups of unrelated persons,” said EYS attorney Dan McDonald, “but it’s only required of handicapped persons needing treatment and care at a treatment and care facility. The case law is very, very clear on this. This is discriminatory.”
Some members of the planning commission and the Quail Hollow residents argued that not enough is known about EYS to grant any approval, and would like to see them go through either the state screening process, or by a third party.
“They (EYS) haven’t agreed, and specifically refused to agree, to state screening,” claimed Dan Lincoln, the attorney representing Quail Hollow.
Some Planning Commission members and residents also raised concerns that the EYS website makes references to problem sexual behavior. Worried that the home’s residents may include juvenile sexual offenders, one resident said that while she understood the need to rehabilitate, “our quiet residential area is not the place.”
McDonald denied that EYS accepts any sexual offenders. He said EYS does not accept youths who pose a direct threat of harming others, and it uses individualized risk assessment and psycho-sexual evaluations to make those determinations.
Residents who spoke also raised other concerns, wondering where so many teenage boys would find room to play outside in a small yard, whether the property’s septic tank could handle so many people and parking on the street causing safety issues.
This 3,500-sq.-ft. home at 26318 Lawrence Ave. would become a residential treatment facility
if EYS’ plan is finalized. (Photo source: Google Maps)
Goldstein suggested a continuance as both sides try to come to an agreement and the county can avoid getting sued.
Resident Lauren Taylor had little sympathy for the county’s predicament. “It’s not our fault you sent that letter out,” Taylor said. “And, if there’s repercussions because of that, that’s not our fault either. Pasco is going to have to deal with it.”
By JOHN C. COTEY
john@NTNeighborhoodNews.com
After nine months of operating quietly on the campus of Cypress Creek High off Old Pasco Rd., the Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) is preparing to spread its wings in 2022.
On Jan. 6, PHSC and governmental officials held the IPAC’s official ribbon cutting, with a dozen or so local dignitaries (like county commissioners Ron Oakley and Mike Moore and Florida State Rep. Randy Maggard, a PHSC graduate) on hand to give short speeches, some of them focusing on the success of the IPAC and its future offerings to the community.
Afterwards, IPAC executive director Lauren Murray, DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts), said that PHSC students have already embraced the theater classes, and will be able to take dance classes this semester and participate in the facility’s music program starting this fall.
There also will be group piano and guitar lessons, which also will be available to the public, and Murray (right photo) has high hopes for launching a community art series this fall, which would include things like jazz trios, locally produced musicals and even stand-up comics.
“It will be pretty diverse, with musical, theatrical and dance events that we expect will reach a broad range of people,” said Dr. Murray.
The state-of-the-art, 35,000-sq.-ft. IPAC features a number of studios for things like dance, music and video production, and the 444-seat Will Weatherford Theater — named for the former Florida Speaker of the House who helped secure funding for the $18-million facility, is considered the heart of IPAC.
The facility already has won two awards — a first place Special Projects in the Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association, Inc., 2021 Architectural Showcase!, and an Excellence in Collaboration award from the North
Pasco Hernando State College held the official ribbon cutting of its Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC), which has been open less than a year, on Jan. 6. Speakers praised the public-private effort to bring the facility to fruition. (Photos: Charmaine George) Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco County Schools, was one of those first approached when the idea of building a performing arts center or arena came up years ago. He told the ribbon-cutting crowd that in his search for the right kind of design, he collected floor plans from the Tampa Bay area’s Mahaffey, Capitol and Straz theaters, and even a theater in Singapore that had a $100-million price tag.
There have already been 26 events held at the IPAC, most of them small and self-produced by local groups who rented the theater. There have been two fully-staged theatrical productions, musical events, day-long conferences and Dr. Murray said the active Indian community in Wesley Chapel has held two dance events with three more planned this spring. She is hoping to augment the positive start with the community art series, outdoor festivals, week-long festivals and large-scale events. “We plan to reach a lot of people,” Murray says. “We really are looking to cover the gamut.” For more information, visit PHSC.edu or call (813) 536-2816.
By CELESTE McLAUGHLIN Correspondent
When Dr. Kiran C. Patel Elementary School opens this fall, it will complete the campus that currently houses Patel High School for students in grades 9-12 and Terrace Community Middle School for students in grades 6-8.
The 32-acre campus is located on Raulerson Ranch Rd. and is visible from I-75 near E. Fowler Ave, just 15 minutes south of New Tampa.
Patel High opened its doors for the 2019-20 school year and has continued to increase in popularity, with 450 students already signed up with hopes of being chosen by lottery to fill one of the 150 available slots at the school for the 2022-23 school year.
Terrace Community Middle School has been operating for more than 20 years and moved onto the Patel campus at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year in August.
After establishing the high school and working to bring the middle school onto the campus, Dr. Kiran C. Patel has turned his attention to younger students with the latest campus expansion.
“I think education in the formative years is what will create the future for any-
(L.-r.) Co-founder Ashok Bagdy, Dr. Kiran C. Patel and former Chiles Elementary assistant principal
Ashley Galfond are the driving forces behind Dr. Kiran C. Patel Elementary, which opens Aug. 2022. body,” says Dr. Patel, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist who is both the founder and financier of the school. “Here we have an educational institution that focuses on a well-rounded person who has qualities of being a better human being. We don’t just focus on the grade of the school. There’s no question we want students to achieve a high standard of measurable goals, but there’s a lot more to education than that.” After initially committing $20 million to launch the high school, Dr. Kiran has spent another $20 million to build the elementary school and has spent an additional $5 million on upgrades to the campus, such as adding a covered outdoor court and restrooms by the sports fields. The Tampa resident’s business enterprises include luxury real estate development, medical software, healthcare solutions and commercial property acquisition and management. The success of these businesses allows him to make impactful contributions on a global scale, which he has done through the establishment of schools, colleges and hospitals on three continents.
“Construction on the elementary school was completed this summer,” says Ashok Bagdy, who is a co-founder of the school, along with his wife, Kavita Jain, and Sonali Judd, who is Dr. Patel’s daughter.
Bagdy explains that the 84,000-sq.ft. building is L-shaped. The elementary school is housed in one half and the middle school in the other. The two schools are completely separated with no interaction and TCMS remains a completely independent charter school.
Bagdy also says the campus was built with security in mind. Classrooms have key card entries, there are security cameras, a school security officer, and the school can be locked down in an emergency, with “one click to lock all doors.”
About The Elementary School
New Tampa’s Ashley Galfond has been hired as the first-ever principal of Patel Elementary.
Galfond was most recently the as-
sistant principal at Chiles Elementary in Tampa Palms. She taught elementary school since her graduation from USF in 1998 until she moved into school administration seven years ago.
While she says it was not an easy decision to leave Chiles, she is extremely excited about the smaller focus at Patel.
In fall 2022, the school will open with students in just three grades — kindergarten, first and second grade. “Each year, as those children move to the next grade,” Galfond says, “we will add that grade until — four years from now — we will have K through five.”
Patel Elementary will open with a total of 270 students. There will be five classes in each of the three grades.
Each class will be limited to just 18 students. Although the physical size of each of the classrooms was expanded just before construction, it was to allow kids to spread out more for physical distancing because of Covid, not to make space for more kids in each classroom. The Three ‘Pillars’
Galfond says that faculty members explain to parents and students that there are three crucial “pillars” at Patel Elementary.
The second pillar, she says, is social emotional learning, which will be woven into the academic curriculum every day. Galfond explains that this includes teaching children to support one another, helping them to learn to express their own opinions and views, and figure out ways to calm themselves when they become upset. She
Dr. Kiran C. Patel Elementary will open this fall with kindergarten, first and second grade students, about 270 students total. adds that teacher training is a crucial part of the program. The third pillar, according to Galfond, is project-based learning. “It is inquiry-based,” she says. “We start with a question to engage students – something that affects the community in some way — and then, all disciplines are tied in to solve the problem, from reading to science to math.” Dr. Patel notes that while academic achievement will be emphasized, it is not the only measure of success for the students who attend Patel Elementary. “We will have a holistic approach and the goal of producing a student who is going to be an asset to the community,” explains Dr. Patel. “The purpose of education should not be to become a CEO. That should not be the primary goal, but to say that I will be a better human being and leave the earth better than I found it.” Students Chosen By Lottery
Parents whose students will be entering kindergarten through second grade for the 2022-23 school year and are interested in attending Patel Elementary must apply online at PatelElementary.org. Students are chosen to attend the school through a random lottery process. “This is the year with the best chance to get in,” explains Galfond. “It’s the most spots we will ever have.”
Every Tuesday in January, at 6 p.m., the school will host a new applicant Open House where families can meet the principal, with food and drinks provided.
Patel Elementary is located at 10739 Raulerson Ranch Rd. in Tampa. To apply online for a spot for the 202223 school year, visit PatelElementary. org. For more information, call (813) 444-0660 or see the ad on page 21.
