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The Grove To Cut Ribbon On Center

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 2, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - The first of central Pasco County's three major shopping venues will host its grand opening next Friday.

The developers of The Grove at Wesley Chapel will open their 800,000-square-foot lifestyle center with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting, according to Elizabeth Vocke, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh-based Echo Real Estate Services.

In the meantime, Dick's Sporting Goods will open its doors to customers today in what retailers call a "soft opening."

Dick's will be the second store at The Grove to open ahead of the official ribbon-cutting. Best Buy opened quietly last week.

Other tenants, including Toys R Us, are expected to open close to the scheduled grand opening.

During next week's grand opening, Echo officials plan to announce more future tenants for the plaza.

Even as stores open, work continues on much of The Grove.

Crews continue to build the plaza's 16-screen Cobb Theatres cinema and Coconut Court, a cluster of restaurants and small shops. Both are slated to open in the spring.

Work also is continuing to widen Oakley Boulevard, which will provide access to the plaza until crews finish the main entrance at Gateway Boulevard.

Meanwhile, work is ongoing on a plaza fronting County Road 54. That plaza is being developed by a subsidiary of Echo and will include a Chili's restaurant and a Sonic drive-in along with a variety of small retail clusters.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4201.

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