GAINSWave Therapy in Wesley Chapel, FL

BayCare Health System opened its newest hospital in Wesley Chapel on Tuesday, marking the first time the nonprofit has built a hospital from scratch.

Built at a cost of $246 million, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel will be the first hospital to be branded with the nonprofit’s name. It’s also the first time the hospital chain has gone through the process of obtaining certification for a brand-new hospital.

The nonprofit already runs 15 hospitals in the Tampa Bay region, the majority of them legacy hospitals that it took over. It built two satellite campuses for St. Joseph’s Hospital in Riverview and Lutz that operate under the Tampa hospital’s license.

Patients began arriving at the emergency department of the 86-bed, six-story hospital early Tuesday morning. The six-story facility is located at 4501 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., just south of State Road 54 in Pasco County.

The hospital will be accredited by the Joint Commission, an organization that certifies health care firms. Final approval from the commission is only granted after the hospital has treated as least 30 patients, said spokesperson Lisa Razler.

In addition to an emergency room, the 318,000-square-foot hospital includes an intensive care unit with 12 virtual-monitoring beds and diagnostic services such as imaging and lab, and surgery rooms.

Related: BayCare names Philadelphia health care executive as new CEO

Every patient room is private and includes voice control of lighting and blinds through an Alexa system, Amazon’s cloud-based voice system. It can also be used to page nurses.

It is intended to serve patients in Pasco, Hernando and northern Hillsborough counties.

“This facility will expand access to convenient and high-quality care and address the needs of that growing community,” said Stephanie Conners, BayCare CEO and president, in a statement.

Wesley Chapel’s burgeoning population had already attracted new health care infrastructure, including an AdventHealth hospital, a Tampa General Hospital remote emergency room and the North Tampa Behavioral Health Hospital.

More is coming.

Orlando Health, the owner of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, in July announced plans for a 300-bed, multistory hospital and wellness campus at the corner of State Road 56 and Wiregrass Ranch Boulevard.

The Moffitt Cancer Center will later this year embark on construction of Speros FL, a 775-acre global innovation center focused on cancer care and research.

Although The Grove has a big head start staking its claim as Wesley Chapel’s “official” downtown — with the expansion of “The Village,” the addition of the KRATE Container Park and the addition of new apartments and Grove Mini Golf, plus a new SuperTarget store, a new competitor has finally joined the discussion:

The Avalon Park Group has announced today that it is partnering with Nye Commercial Advisors, LLC, to lease 23,720 square feet of commercial/retail space in the 73,067 mixed-use Building, “DT1,” located in Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel.

DT1 is the first of three buildings planned for the first phase of the long-awaited downtown section of this master planned community. The three-story building now under construction is comprised of the 23,720 sq. ft. of commercial/retail space that will be located below 40-unit multi-family, for- rent apartment homes.

The additional components planned for Phase 1 include a 97,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use building with 21,000 sq. ft. of commercial/retail space below 60-unit multi-family, for-rent apartment homes, a 103-unit multi-family building and a two-acre town park, which is expected to break ground later this year.

“Our relationship with the Nye team goes back more than 30 years, when we initially purchased the property,” says Beat Kahli, the president and CEO of Avalon Park Group. “Nye’s deep roots in the Wesley Chapel community, and their commercial expertise, make them the perfect partner to bring needed commercial uses to Downtown Avalon Park and eastern Pasco County.”

Upon completion, Avalon Park Wesley Chapel will encompass more than 1,600 acres and will be home to approximately 400,000 sq. ft. of retail and 100,000 sq. ft. of office space in its unique downtown. The initial construction in Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel began in 2018, with the addition of the Pinecrest Academy K-7 Charter School. Pinecrest Academy also is now building its second phase, which includes the addition of approximately 600 6th-8th grade student stations.

“Wesley Chapel continues to grow each day,” says Brent Nye, the executive director of Nye Commercial Advisors. “We welcome the opportunity to bring the businesses and services needed to Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, which will serve as a downtown for the entire region.”

Nye also says that although they are primarily seeking 3-5-year leases on these first available retail spaces, “We are open to different lease terms.” He adds that no outparcels have been included in the current plan, but, “some land is available and we are open to discussion about that but since we have higher-than-typical suburban densities on our land, one-story uses may be a challenge.”

He adds that although Avalon Park Group is handling the leasing of the 40 residential apartment units separately itself, those units are being built concurrently with the retail spaces below them and are expected to open around the same time, which should be by sometime during the first quarter of 2024, “if everything goes according to plan.”

Please note that certain types of retail uses may not be allowed, including “adult entertainment” uses, and bars and some other retail uses may first have to be approved by Avalon Park Group.

As stated in the official Avalon Park Wesley Chapel website — AvalonParkWesleyChapel.com:

“Do you dream of living where you work and working where you play? Then bring your business home to Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel.

The distinctive small-town flavor and the convenience of downtown living merge in downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel to create the perfect place to spend an hour or the entire day. Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel will bring conveniences like dining, shopping, schools, grocery stores, and your neighborhood doctor within a short walk or bike ride of your home.

In this town, there’s room for every entrepreneur — storefronts, shops, and office bays downtown, as well as rent-by-the-day workspaces for home-based businesses. There will be schools and medical centers where neighbors work. There’s a local Marketplace where chefs serve and musicians play; a commissary kitchen where makers create; and a General Store where artisans will share their wares. And, all of it will lie along the sidewalks of this picturesque town.

Best of all, Avalon Park Wesley Chapel also will offer complimentary advertising and marketing services for our neighborhood businesses, helping you build relationships with the residents in our neighborhood and beyond.

Whatever you need, make your business the talk of the town in one of Central Florida’s fastest-growing areas.”

For more info about Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel, visit AvalonParkWesleyChapel.com or call (813) 783-1515. For Phase 1 commercial leasing info, call Nye Commercial Advisors at (813) 973-0214.

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL — A Target is set to open at the Grove at Wesley Chapel in what is currently an empty 16-acre lot near the big box retailers.

The 148,500-square-foot building will be located just to the south of Cost Plus World Market at the southeast corner of the intersection of Oakley Boulevard and Pink Flamingo Lane.

The Grove, 6105 Wesley Grove Blvd., is located in the heart of Wesley Chapel where nearly 10,000 apartments are set to open in the next two years. The 250-acre property features numerous national tenants, including Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michaels, Old Navy, PetSmart, Planet Fitness, TJ Maxx and Ulta.

The property also boasts the Krate at the Grove container park made of shipping containers that offer 29 restaurants and 17 boutique retail shops, all run by small business owners,

The Krate at the Grove features an outdoor stage with live music on weekends, special story time events for kids, the Market Elaine, featuring more than 80 vendors on the first Friday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m., car shows, free movies and holiday events.

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Additionally, the property is home to the two-story Grove Theater, Bistro & Entertainment complex which includes an upscale bistro restaurant with in-movie dining in a movie-themed restaurant, a theater outfitted with plush, reclining seats, a Side Splitters Comedy Club, Cycle Cinema offering spin classes with visuals on a cinema screen, and a 40-plus game arcade.

“With all the families moving into Wesley Chapel, it just makes sense to bring in a Target,” said Mark Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold, which purchased The Grove for $64 million in September 2019. Gold invested millions more in the renovation of the property.

Related:

“Target is a household name and the perfect retail partner for our bustling community," he said.

Other businesses slated to open on the property include:

In addition, two housing developments are taking shape around the property.

Three-hundred multifamily units are under construction just north of the B&B movie theater and418 units are under construction in the Grove West development across Oakley Boulevard. About the Grove at Wesley Chapel

WESLEY CHAPEL — If you’re compiling a list of things that quickly developing Wesley Chapel is still missing, it wouldn’t be very long.

But a retail store with an emphasis on home improvement would be on it.

It could soon be time to scratch it off that list, however. Lowe’s had a pre-app meeting scheduled with Pasco County planners on April 17, submitting a preliminary site plan for a location on State Road 54.

The store would be on 9.5 acres on the northeast corner of S.R. 54 and Ellerbee Road, east of the Freedom Plaza and before Curley Road.

The area is adding homes at a mind-boggling rate with no end in sight. But while nearby Zephyrhills has a Home Depot, and New Tampa has both a Home Depot and Lowe’s, a Lowe’s would be the first large-scale home improvement store in Wesley Chapel.

With more than 2,100 locations nationwide, Lowe’s is the second-largest home improvement chain behind Home Depot.

If it decides to proceed and receives approval, Lowe’s will be off S.R. 54 behind two outparcels.

Another pre-app meeting that was scheduled with the county prior to Lowe’s was proposing converting portions of the parcel into a 60,000-square foot medical center, with the remaining acreage to be used for multi-family housing.

The Hub at Lexington, a mixed-use commercial center expected to offer a “live, work, shop and play experience,” has filed preliminary plans with the Pasco County planning department.

The Hub will complement and be at the front of the Lexington Oaks, along the north side of Wesley Chapel Boulevard and immediately south of the community’s main entrance on Lexington Oaks Blvd.

It is expected to feature a mix of restaurants, shops and service-oriented tenants, according to the plans. It includes six one-story buildings ranging in size from 5,300 to 8,600 square feet.

The property owners are listed as Specialty Restaurant Corp., which owns Whiskey Joe’s and the Rusty Pelican in Tampa.

Although it has been previously reported, Target has finally confirmed it will be building a 148,500-square-foot store at The Grove at Wesley Chapel. The Target will be south of Cost Plus World Market at the southeast corner of Oakley Boulevard and Pink Flamingo Lane.

Harley-Davidson, the popular motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, has officially announced it will hold its grand opening on May 20 from 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

The store is at 25245 Wesley Chapel Blvd.

By GARY NAGER & KATHERINE PATTERSON

After the devastating hurricane season of 2022, when much of Southwest Florida was blasted by Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole took a similar toll on much of central and eastern Florida, more and more people across the Sunshine State are concerned about making sure their homes are properly insured.

Between the company’s entertaining television ads featuring an adorable talking gecko, and its high customer satisfaction ratings, it’s easy to see why GEICO has become one of the top insurance companies in the state of Florida.

Jaime Bryant opened the local GEICO-Wesley Chapel office on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (in the SuperTarget-anchored Northwoods Plaza) with nine employees in Dec. 2020, or a little more than two years ago. Since he and his wife Shannon had been living in Wesley Chapel (and they now have a year-old son, Elliot), he decided to open a local office, after working for GEICO’s corporate office in Lakeland for 16 years.

“The Wesley Chapel area has seen a lot of growth and a lot of changes the past few years,” Bryant says. “People are moving to this area to start and raise their families. In order to establish roots here, they need to be properly insured. That’s where we come in.”

He says that as far as homeowners (and hurricane) insurance is concerned, GEICO sells policies underwritten by Homesite Insurance, but Bryant says he and his on-site agents can tailor those policies to each homeowner’s specific needs. “We sell policies for homes built in 2002 or newer,” he says. “If it’s a mobile or manufactured home, it’s 1995 or newer. If it’s a condo or townhome, in most cases, they can be any age.”

He adds that since townhomes don’t require a full homeowners policy, since those owners share some of their space and, “there is a master policy that covers the roof and the exterior, so they only need to cover the interior, which is a lot cheaper.”

He also notes that brand new homes — and there are many here in the Wesley Chapel area, in particular — “are generally less expensive to insure because they have newer roofs and are being built to higher standards” than older homes.

Homeowners policies generally cover the dwelling/home itself, but also any other structures — garages, sheds, lanais, fences, etc. — as well as the personal property inside the home, including furniture, appliances, electronics, clothing, jewelry, etc.

“There’s also loss of use coverage, for if you’re ever displaced from your home by damage and have to live in a hotel,” he says. “It even includes money for dining out while you’re displaced.”

He adds that the same policy also generally includes personal liability coverage. “In other words, if anyone gets hurt in your home, it protects you from being sued. Some people do also require additional liability coverage, however.”

Hurricane insurance also is generally included with your homeowners policy, although Bryant says that it gives you a higher deductible, “usually around 2% of your home’s value.” If you have a home worth $500,000, that means you’d be liable for only the first $10,000 worth of damage from a hurricane. He says that here in Florida, all GEICO policies require hurricane coverage, although some other companies will try to get you a lower deductible — usually only $1,000-$2,500 — by not including hurricane coverage, which also covers damage caused by tropical storms, “as long as they’re also named storms. For non-named storms, those claims are usually covered under ‘wind damage.’”

As for flooding inside your home, whether caused by a hurricane, tropical storm, broken pipes, sewer backup, roof leaks, etc., Bryant says that because most of Wesley Chapel and New Tampa are not in high-threat flood zones that require flood insurance, most homeowners here choose not to get it.

“But, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good idea to have it,” he says. “If your sewer backs up or the pond near your home overflows, it’s possible you could need a flood insurance policy, which isn’t usually too expensive to add.

Reasons To ‘Bundle’ Policies

One of the things that GEICO’s TV commercials have focused on in recent years is insurance policy “bundling.” Bryant says that bundling, for example, your home and auto policies together will qualify you for discounts on both policies. “It doesn’t always end up costing you less than buying them separately, but it usually does,” he says. “But, when you bundle multiple policies together through GEICO,” he adds, because GEICO, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is such a large company, “you don’t have to worry about us leaving the state (as many other insurance companies have over the past few years).”

He also notes that auto and renters insurance also are often bundled, “because the renters insurance will then either be free or cost pennies on the dollar, which is probably the biggest savings you get by bundling.”

When you own a boat, Bryant says that whether you bundle it with your homeowners policy or not, “that’s one of our most competitively priced products on the market.” Other competitively priced policies include for recreation vehicles (RVs), travel trailers and mobile/manufactured homes.

Bryant began working for GEICO in 2004, after earning his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of South Florida. He also received his Florida 2-20 Resident General Lines License (which allows him to provide property, casualty, surety, marine, health and miscellaneous insurance lines, including auto, motorcycle, boats/watercraft, homes, condos, RVs, renters and even pet insurance) to ensure that his local GEICO office can provide people with virtually any type of insurance they need.

“We’re a one-stop shop for all of your insurance needs,” he says. “Come on in and talk to one of our local agents, rather than just call a 1-800 number, because we get to know you as a person and can tailor all of your policies to your specific needs. “With insurance, one size definitely doesn’t fit all.”

Although GEICO also offers a lot of information on the phone or by visiting GEICO.com, Bryant says that anyone in Wesley Chapel (or New Tampa) seeking insurance (or information about insurance) for the first time should come into his office to talk to someone who knows the area, the community and what insurance policies will best serve your needs. while you may not need the highest level of coverage, you also shouldn’t always choose the lowest possible price for your coverage, either.

Your local GEICO office also participates in local community events, such as the recent Easter Egg Hunt event at the Tampa Premium Outlets, golf tournaments and more.

The GEICO–Wesley Chapel local office is located at 1227 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. The office is open Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sat. For more info, call (813) 953-4200, visit GEICO.com/Wesley-Chapel-Bryant.