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Cypress Creek Road Repaving To Start Soon

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - Surveyors' stakes recently appeared along the edges of County Line Road on either side of its junction with Cypress Creek Road - the first sign that work could soon begin on improvements planned for the intersection.

Texas-based Greystar Property Management will make the improvements as part of its plan to build a complex of nearly 500 apartments just north of King Ranch. To make room for the apartment complex's future traffic, Greystar will spend about $2 million on road work, said Peter Petricca, Greystar's managing director.

The list of improvements includes:

•Adding turn lanes to make it easier for drivers on County Line Road to reach Cypress Creek.

•Shifting the southern end of Cypress Creek Road about 7 feet to the west to avoid conflicts with King Ranch.

•Striping Cypress Creek Road to put more room between drivers and the trees and power poles that crowd the shoulder of the narrow road.

Greystar also must repave the entire length of Cypress Creek Road and contribute to a fund that eventually will pay for a new traffic light at the intersection of Cypress Creek Road and State Road 54.
Cypress Creek Road falls short of the county's standards for modern roads. On the east side, it's hemmed in by trees growing along the boundary of King Ranch. For the past year, Hillsborough County's HART bus line has used the road as part of its express line's rush-hour loops through Wesley Chapel.

A study of the road's right of way earlier this year found no public land on the east side where the road abuts King Ranch. Ranch owner Hank King declined to let crews make the county-mandated improvements on his land, forcing Petricca to shift the south end of the road slightly to the west.

King has plans to build his own 548-unit apartment complex just south of the Greystar project. That plan has stalled, however, while King remains embroiled in a dispute with the county over his plans to develop his 300-acre ranch. King also is suing the county because the eastern edge of Cypress Creek Road lies partly on his land.

Both Petricca's apartments and the plans for King Ranch reflect the influence of Cypress Creek Town Center, the regional mall complex now under development north of King Ranch.

The mall's developers are obligated to extend County Road 54 south across King Ranch, but King has yet to give or sell them the right of way.

Petricca said he expects to begin construction on Cypress Creek Road by late March. He'll begin work on the apartments at about the same time, he said Friday.

Landowners James Scarpo, Randy Sherman and Carl Wolding on Oct. 29 jointly sold Greystar their three nested parcels, which amounted to about 22 acres. The sale price was $8.8 million, county records show.

Scarpo, Sherman and Wolding and their families are free to stay in their homes until construction begins in the spring, Petricca said.

Petricca expects to spend about two years developing the entire apartment complex. The first set of buildings could be available for lease by early 2009, the rest to follow about a year later, he said.

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

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