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Work Starts On Sunlake Boulevard

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Work has begun on Sunlake Boulevard, a long-planned major north-south roadway between U.S. 41 and the Suncoast Parkway.

Retail builder Amprop Development Corp. recently began clearing land for the six-lane road connecting State Road 54 with Mentmore Boulevard.

Amprop plans to develop a Publix-anchored shopping center straddling Sunlake Boulevard. The plaza, Sunlake Commercial Center, won county approval last month on the condition that Amprop build the road.
School officials want the new road - and its planned traffic signal - ready when Sunlake High's first senior class arrives in August. Sunlake High and Rushe Middle School lie just north of Amprop's land. They now use Mentmore Boulevard for access to S.R. 54.

"We have a tight schedule to be done by school opening in August, but we have a very good contractor doing the work so we think we can make it," said Eric Schoessler, Amprop's managing partner.

The kickoff of construction puts to rest delays that arose from the lengthy three-way negotiation among Amprop and residential builders Newland Communities and Lennar Corp.

The developers spent much of last year debating who would build which portions of the road and where the drainage would go. Landlocked Bexley Ranch needs Sunlake to reach the outside world.

Lennar designed the road, but dropped out of the construction last year as part of the housing slump forced the company to reconsider many of its projects in Pasco County.

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

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