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S.R. 56 Extension Gets OK'd
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Published: February 15, 2008
WESLEY CHAPEL - County officials on Thursday approved plans to extend State Road 56 east across Wiregrass Ranch from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.
The approval sets in motion a road project long-awaited by developers, area residents and county officials. The deal to extend S.R. 56 has been in the works for at least four years.
The first section of the road, from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to Meadow Pointe Boulevard, will be built by Forest City Enterprises and the Goodman Co. The two companies are developing the Shops at Wiregrass in the northeast corner of the junction of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and S.R. 56.
Forest City and Goodman took over construction of the road last year after Pulte Home Corp. pulled out as the lead developer for the 5,000-acre Wiregrass Ranch project. Pulte's pullout put an end to the company's plans for a resort-style, Del Webb retirement community and cast doubt on two other projects planned for Wiregrass.
Forest City and Goodman have said they expect to begin work on the road in April. They'll have 18 months from the date they start work to finish the road, according to the Development Review Committee.
The first segment of the extension will be six lanes in front of the Wiregrass plaza. The road will taper to four lanes where it meets Meadow Pointe Boulevard. Don Buck, the developer of Meadow Pointe, also will contribute to construction of the road, according to his deal with Pasco County.
The extension will tie into Mansfield Boulevard, providing direct access to Wiregrass High School and Long Middle School. The schools were built at the southern edge of Wiregrass where it meets Meadow Pointe. For more than a year, students have reached the schools by driving through Meadow Pointe to Mansfield Boulevard.
Long-range plans call for extending S.R. 56 as far east as U.S. 301 south of Zephyrhills.
Also on Thursday, DRC members initialed plans for a retail complex in front of Ballantrae, a subdivision off State Road 54 just west of U.S. 41.
Plans submitted by developer Daniel Aprile call for building 61,000 square feet of retail space and 10,000 square feet of office space on the property sandwiched between the highway and the large lakes at the front of the subdivision. Access will be off Ballantrae Boulevard.
The developers didn't reveal the names of any tenants for the development.
"The idea is to provide neighborhood-scale commercial and some office to provide services for Ballantrae and the surrounding area," said Clarke Hobby, the developer's attorney.
"We've designed to capture the most trips from Ballantrae as possible and are doing our best to complement the Ballantrae community," Hobby said.
The Ballantrae proposal is the latest in a growing number of commercial and office projects under development or proposed for the S.R. 54 corridor between U.S. 41 and the Suncoast Parkway.
Retail builder Amprop Development Corp. won approval last month for a Publix-anchored shopping center just east of Ballantrae. Offices are under construction outside the Oakstead subdivision and at the Devonwood project just west of U.S. 41.
Thursday's approval for Ballantrae was part of a list of retail projects approved by the Development Review Committee. That list included:
•Plans for a Walgreens pharmacy at the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Roaches Run. DRC members let the developer remove protected trees from the site in exchange for a donation to the county's tree mitigation fund, which pays for landscaping on public roads. The pharmacy will sit across U.S. 41 from the Arbor Square shopping center at the southwest corner of Connerton.
•Exemptions for a retail center planned for the heart of Meadow Pointe. The exemptions will let the developers provide less land than required for landscape buffers between the property and Mansfield Boulevard. Developers plan to build a small retail strip and a CVS pharmacy on the property at the corner of County Line Road and Mansfield.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
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