WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Wesley Chapel is known as one of the fastest-growing areas in Tampa Bay.
“It’s one of the more interesting communities we have in the county,” said David Engel, Planning and Economic Development Director for Pasco County.
“There has been so much growth,” said Hope Kennedy, president and CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Here, you’ll find plenty of housing, restaurants, shops, and recreational activities—but there’s one thing missing.
“Wesley Chapel is an unincorporated census designated place of Pasco County. So we do not have a city government, we do not have a city center. Therefore, we don’t have a Wesley Chapel downtown,” said Kennedy.
That is, there’s no Wesley Chapel downtown yet.
“We have a few developments that are coming to our community that are all vying for that flag in the ground to say this is downtown Wesley Chapel,” said Kennedy.
“There’s a lot of downtown opportunities, but there’s a primary one,” said Engel.
That's the Avalon Park Wesley Chapel project, off of State Road 54.
“The board of County Commissioners worked with Avalon Park Wesley Chapel to develop a small condensed downtown area there,” said Engel.
It’s a mixed-use development with about 1,800 acres.
“When all is said and done, we’ll have about 4,800 homes and about half a million square feet of commercial space,” said Stephanie Lerret, VP of Marketing and Community Relations for Avalon Park.
“We have urbanized streets, plazas and squares. Vertical mixed-use where we have restaurants and stores below and apartments above,” said Engel.
The first mixed-use building in phase one is currently under construction. Apartments will be on top of retail, where tenants have already signed up.
“We have ISI Wesley Chapel, we have an Indian restaurant, we have a new Latin fusion restaurant that just signed up, Rita’s Italian Ice, Prime Barber, Wolf Gang Bakery. So lots of great tenants,” said Lerret.
That is set to open this summer.
“After this you’ll see a community park just in front of it that will open. It will have an amphitheater that’s about two acres of space for food trucks,” said Lerret.
“We want to create a place here where you can come and have a cup of coffee with your neighbors. You can come and have an event. You can participate in events. You can do a paint night,” she added.
Construction on the entire Avalon Park Wesley Chapel development is expected to be completed in the next five to 10 years.
However, this isn’t the only place that’s calling itself "downtown."
The county is also now working on an opportunity for a downtown in the Wiregrass area.
“Now we’re working with the Wiregrass developer bringing forth an exciting downtown for Wesley Chapel that will have the architectural and place making impact of Midtown Tampa. We’ll have a mix of residential retail, eater-tainment and also employment. And it’ll be kind of the hub for that part of Wesley Chapel. It kind of defines that community,” said Engel.
