Category Archives: Trinity in the News

News: Pasco County Schools To End mySchool Online

30 Mar
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!

Parents/Guardians,

This email is an update on the school district’s status regarding COVID-19 and our plans for the future.

Based on recent trends and initial guidance from the state, we will not offer the mySchool Online option next school year. We expect the vast majority of our students to be back in the classroom for in-person learning, and for our employees to return to the classroom or office.

Below is a set of Frequently Asked Questions.

How did you reach this conclusion?

The number of positive COVID-19 cases involving our students or staff have decreased dramatically since the high marks of January. We have seen occasional spikes, yet the overall trends are clear and they are promising. We continue to monitor the numbers closely – both in our schools and in the community at large.

Recent vaccinations are another promising sign. Thanks to our partnership with the Health Department and the efforts of our own employees, we have been able to vaccinate thousands of our employees.

What learning options will be available next school year?

At the start of the pandemic, our school district offered three learning options for students: traditional in-person learning, mySchool Online, and Pasco eSchool. Going forward, we expect the vast majority of students to attend school in person.

Pasco eSchool will remain as an option. It has been a nationally recognized option for Pasco students for more than a decade, and we plan no changes to our successful Pasco eSchool.

mySchool Online will no longer be an option.

Why are you eliminating mySchool Online?

The mySchool Online option was created as a temporary option during the pandemic. The Florida Department of Education only authorized Florida school systems to offer mySchool Online type options for the 2020-2021 school year, and current indications are that such programs will not be authorized by the state for the 2021-2022 school year.

Also, despite our best efforts, our data show that many students who opted for mySchool Online are not succeeding academically and would benefit from a return to in-person learning. There is also a growing body of evidence regarding the mental health benefits of attending school in person with classmates.

Will masks be required in the fall?

No final decision has been made regarding masks. At this time, the county still has a mask order in place, and that could change in the coming months. However, at this time we cannot say with any certainty whether masks will be required or optional, or some other status.

What options are available for medically fragile children?

For a small number of students, Hospital/Homebound is a service to continue instruction at home or in the hospital. Hospital Homebound is not a school of choice and state criteria for eligibility must be met. It is for students who are medically diagnosed as too medically compromised to attend school. Additional information regarding Hospital/Homebound can be found at this link.

I have more questions. Where can I go for answers?

You can submit questions and comments via Let’s Talk. We have created a “Trending Topic” called Education Options for 21-22 in Let’s Talk.

News: Pasco Tax Collector Announces Office Closure Dates in November

11 Oct
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!

Due to some important events and holidays in November, Pasco Tax Collector Mike Fasano announces the dates the five tax collector offices will be closed during the month of November. It is our intention to prevent customers from making unnecessary trips to the offices on these dates:

November 3, 2020 (Tuesday) – Election Day
November 11, 2020 (Wednesday) – Veterans Day
November 14, 2020 (Saturday) – State of Florida Computer System Upgrade
November 26, November 27 & November 28, 2020 (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) – Thanksgiving Holiday

We thank you for your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience these closures may cause.

Trinity In The News: Pasco’s residential and commercial boom continued as the decade ended

27 Dec
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!

According to CT Bowen of the Tampa Bay Times, Trinity is going to be the home of a new Longhorn Steakhouse and an Olive Garden, all in The Villages at Mitchell Ranch! It’s great to see some new restaurants coming to our immediate area!

Source

If you wonder how the Pasco County economy did for the decade, look no further than the interchange of Interstate 75 and State Road 56, where Lutz, Land O’ Lakes and Wesley Chapel come together.

The area was mostly empty fields through the first half of the 2010s, even though there were plenty of drawings and plans for a retail hub that had been expected to blossom years earlier.

Look now.

Over the past four years, commerce replaced grazing cattle in what is known collectively as the Cypress Creek Town Center. To the south, the Tampa Premium Outlets mall started the commercial boom when it opened in 2015, and warehouse-sized retailers like Costco and At Home followed suit. On the north side of SR 56 came a bevy of food service establishments, a hote, and an Earth Fare grocery as one of the anchors to a strip center.

The construction dust continues with Aldi, Main Event Entertainment and a trio of Bloomin’ Brand restaurants among the projects underway as the year comes to a close.

All told, Pasco County issued 521 permits for new commercial construction in its 2019 fiscal year that ended Oct. 1.

The boom in Lutz/Wesley Chapel was duplicated in west Pasco with the opening of the Village at Mitchell Ranch bringing retailing to the former homestead of the Mitchell family at the corner of Little Road and State Road 54 in Trinity. Sprouts Farmers Market serves as one of the retail anchors, and the restaurants Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse recently filed preliminary plans with Pasco County to locate there.

But those restaurants grocers, and general merchandise stores wouldn’t be opening if they didn’t have customers to serve. The greatest measure of the nearby customer base is the proximity to house rooftops. In the 12-month period ending Oct. 1, Pasco County issued 4,005 construction permits for new single-family homes.

Lennar continued to be nearly omnipresent in Pasco County. Just after the year started, public records showed the home-building giant had acquired 1,443 acres in the Connerton development east of U.S. 41 to bookend its planned Angeline development. Angeline, formerly known as Project Arthur, is slated for the thousands of acres south of State Road 52 between the Suncoast Parkway and the CSX railroad tracks. The project, which includes a planned 800-acre business park, unveiled its first proposed occupant — an expansion of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

Industrial recruiters stayed busy throughout the year with multiple project announcements, including:

  • Phillips & Jordan, Inc., building a regional headquarters near San Antonio.
  • Fleda Pharmaceuticals Corp., a new pharmaceutical manufacturer, which said it would create 30 jobs at a site in Odessa.
  • JDR Investments, which purchased a vacant 67-acre site in Lacoochee from Columbia Grain and Ingredients Inc., with plans to turn it into a 25-acre precast concrete plant.
  • Colwell Avenue Properties, which will build a pair of three-story office buildings, each totaling 60,000 square feet, along State Road 54 in Lutz.
  • Encompass Health. a provider of patient rehabilitation, home health and hospice services, which is bringing its regional business office and 179 jobs to a planned 37,000-square-foot office and administrative building within the Bexley by Newland Communities on the north side of SR 54.
  • Rooker Properties LLC, which said it will purchase approximately 99 acres owned by Pasco County’s Utilities Department and use a $3.7 million county incentive to build at least 400,000 square feet of industrial and office space. The project will be the largest-ever industrial space built on speculation in Pasco County, Rooker said.

Those aren’t the only things coming to Pasco County. By the end of the fiscal year, more than 1 million tourists had visited the county. They spent an estimated $462.6 million during their stays on hotels, restaurants, shopping, entertainment and attractions, according to a visitor-tracking study by the Tallahassee firm Downs & St. Germain.

It estimated the tourism industry’s yearly economic impact to Pasco County at more than $652 million.

Events in Trinity: Taste of Trinity 10 – May 18th

15 May
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!

The 10th Annual Taste of Trinity, the premier Food, Business Expo and Craft Show will be taking place on Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm at Seven Springs Middle School located at 2441 Little Road in Trinity.

The Seven Springs Middle School Parent Teacher Organization is thrilled to host the biggest Food, Business, Craft expo in the Trinity, Florida area! Taste of Trinity is our largest fundraiser and proceeds directly benefit our school to enhance our learning environment.

They are so excited to be celebrating our 10th anniversary, and it will be packed with fabulous restaurants, bakeries, businesses, craft booths, as well as, performances by our students and community members, games and raffles. This is a not to be missed expo event!

The West Pasco Business Association (WPBA) is excited to partner with Seven Springs Middle School PTO for this great community event.

Trinity in the News: Big things in store in Trinity

16 Jan
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!
PAS0116mitchellcenterupdate1.jpg
PAS0116mitchellcenterupdate2.JPG
The walls are now going up for what will be a Michaels store, one of the anchor tenants in The Village at Mitchell Ranch.
BY JOHN MORTON Suncoast News staff
Original News Source
TRINITY — As long as they don’t mind a little noise and a little dust, those who pass by the crossing of State Road 54 and Little Road are in store for seven or eight months of watching the fast-paced evolution of a new shopping center.

The first phase of the ambitious and long-awaited project at the southwestern corner of that intersection, now known as The Village at Mitchell Ranch, has entered full-steam-ahead mode, with completion of most shops and restaurants slated for late July or early August. The 22-acre commercial portion of project is now not only seeing constant construction, but its tenant list is nearly full.

It is highlighted by commitments from anchor stores Michaels, HomeGoods and Sprouts Farmers Market ¬— the first unit of the Phoenix-based chain of organic food supermarkets to arrive in Pasco County.

Meanwhile, the smaller stores have quickly followed with commitments. Of the 165,000 square feet available, only 5,700 square feet of in-line storefront — connected to other stores — remains open and only two parcels on the exterior remain up for grabs. They are 0.79 acres along State Road 54 and 0.83 acres on Little Road, next to what is reserved for a future PDQ restaurant.

The sudden progress come on the heels of stagnation dating back to the concept’s unveiling in 2015.

“We love it,” Ryan Jonson, the manager of Steak ’n Shake on Little Road, across from the development, said. “We see this as a huge opportunity for more sales and everyone has been waiting and hoping to see something happen. Based on what I’ve heard, it has been worth waiting for.”

Here’s the rundown of what businesses are on board:

Retail and services

ULTA Beauty, Five Below, Sketchers, Hair Cuttery, Aspen Dental, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, Organic Nail Bar, Spectrum, Cyclebar and Mattress One.

Dining

First Watch, Chipotle, Menchie’s, Jersey Mike’s Subs, PDQ, Blaze Pizza, Louis Pappas and Panda Express.

The walls are already going up where Michaels will sit, on the south end of the plot.

Landing the three large anchor stores was key to the quick turnaround.

“Typically, the smaller ones will follow and flank them and that’s exactly what happened here,” said Jenn Buonanotte, spokeswoman for The Shopping Center Group, the Tampa-based leasing advisor assisting Blackwater Real Estate, the developer of The Village at Mitchell Ranch. “We think there’s the perfect mix here of service providers, national names you’ll recognize, some local favorites, and some soft goods.”

She also credits the area’s continuing population explosion.

“That’s been the catalyst, going back to 2015,” she said. “It just took some time for it to all fall into place.”

Recent traffic studies show that nearly 119,000 consumers with an average household income of nearly $62,000 reside within five miles of The Village at Mitchell Ranch, with an average of nearly 150,000 vehicles traveling daily along State Route 54 and Little Road.

“Everyone has been very familiar with the viability of that market,” Buonanotte said of the area.

Blackwater also developed the Wal-Mart Supercenter in the northwestern corner of Little Road and S.R. 54 and Mitchell Ranch Plaza, in the southeastern corner.

Trinity in the News: Pasco community buzzes about renewed town center effort in Trinity

30 Aug
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!
MICHELE MILLER | TIMES The former Trinity Town Center, now called Trinity Tuscan Center, is under construction after a decade-long delay.
MICHELE MILLER | TIMES The former Trinity Town Center, now called Trinity Tuscan Center, is under construction after a decade-long delay.

By C.T. Bowen

TRINITY — Mike Orsi is the involuntary developer of Trinity Tuscan Center.

Involuntary, because one of the Orsi family companies, Sunfield Homes, sold the 13.5 acres of land at Little Road and Trinity Boulevard nearly 14 years ago for $5.4 million.

But Tarpon Springs-based developer Bill Planes’ planned pedestrian-friendly Trinity Town Center — a dozen Mediterranean-style buildings intended to hold upscale restaurants, boutique shops and professional offices surrounding a Main Street-like area with a clock tower and outdoor gathering space — flopped.

Against the backdrop of the Great Recession, a collapsing real estate market, accusations of bad faith, prolonged legal entanglements and eventually U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Trinity Town Center stood as an unfinished edifice — an unsightly cinder-block elephant in one of Pasco County’s wealthiest communities. Today, its only tenants are Raymond James Financial and Lifespring Church.

In late 2016, eight years after the originally scheduled completion, the Orsi family’s newly formed Trinity Tuscan Center LLC retrieved the property as part of the bankruptcy proceedings involving Planes’ former company, Trinity Town Center LLLP. Sunfield Homes not only sold the property, it lent money for the development and was owed $13.7 million.

And, no, this isn’t how Orsi planned it.

For one thing, Orsi companies own commercial property elsewhere, including 34 vacant acres across the street from the Trinity Tuscan Center.

“I could build there and not be bothered with what he (Planes) did,’’ Orsi said. “But it didn’t happen. It’s not my forte to do what he anticipated.’’

Instead, the new Orsi company is refurbishing the long-dormant, partially completed project to rebuild the development’s credibility and to attract tenants that never materialized.

“We had to take the staleness and the negative image from it, and that’s what we’re focusing on,’’ said Orsi. “We’re going into the market place (to seek tenants), but there was no point in trying to attract people into the place until you’ve got it refurbished and cleaned up.’’

They rechristened the property as Trinity Tuscan Center, cleaned off the graffiti, replaced broken windows and are installing structural steel, tile roofs, windows, doors, stucco and paint. Scaffolding towers, the sound of power tools and subcontractors’ signs for plumbing, air conditioning, stucco and roofing companies signal the construction activity.

Pasco County approved the center’s preliminary construction and drainage plans on Aug. 13. The plans show more than 150,000 square feet of leasable space, including three spots designated for restaurants and 11 spaces for office/retail. The parking garage is another 118,000 square feet.

Among the hoped-for tenants is a specialty grocery store to occupy 24,000 square feet. Orsi said they also plan to put a metal roof over the top floor of the parking deck where they can affix solar panels to power the lighting.

The renewed work is creating a buzz in the community.

“Everybody is just itching to see what is gong to show up,’’ said Realtor Dan Roberts, who is not affiliated with the project, but who started and administers the 1,700-member “Trinity Town Center Update Page’’ on Facebook.

“It would be an amazing community asset,’’ said Roberts. “To get the sort of town center with that true, fully realized landscape, you have to go to downtown St. Petersburg or to an Armature Works-style location (in Tampa). The draw will be regional for something like that.’’

Trinity Tuscan Center is within the county commission district represented by Commissioner Kathryn Starkey, who relayed a project update through her constituent newsletter in May.

“That center has stunning architecture and certainly lays itself out for some very nice restaurants and some very nice shopping for the community. I’m really glad to see the activity there,’’ she said last week.

Orsi was not specific on a time line except to say “from my part, it’s not fast enough.’’ He said the ongoing work is being done “all out of pocket. No financing.’’

He declined to speculate on tenants. Recruitment is tied to the area’s demographics, number of rooftops and competition in the marketplace, which is increasing. For instance, Sprouts Farmers Market already announced it would locate in another planned pedestrian-friendly project — the nearby Villages at Mitchell Ranch at Little Road and State Road 54.

“I absolutely will do my duty to get it finished,’’ Orsi said. He later offered a tongue-in-cheek paraphrase of Field of Dreams’ dialogue to sum up the Trinity Tuscan Center effort.

“We’ll build it. They will come.’’

Trinity in the News: Tired of fast food? Maybe there’ll be an Armature Works-like hall in Trinity

18 Jul
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!
MICHELE MILLER | Times Construction has begun on the Village at Mitchell Ranch at the southwest corner of State Road 54 and Little Road.
MICHELE MILLER | Times Construction has begun on the Village at Mitchell Ranch at the southwest corner of State Road 54 and Little Road.
By C.T. Bowen
Original Source – Tampa Bay Times

TRINITY — New Jersey-based M&M Realty Partners has a contract to develop the remaining 300 acres of the Mitchell 54 West project at State Road 54 and Little Road.

Land owner Dewey Mitchell shared the information July 11 with a North Tampa Bay Chamber luncheon crowd of 58 people at the Fox Hollow Golf Club in Trinity. Mitchell also offered an enticing tidbit about what might be in the works: A food hall and market place similar to Armature Works in Tampa.

Armature Works is a mixed-use project in Tampa Heights in a historic building that served as the storage facility for Tampa Electric’s street cars. It includes shared work space and meeting rooms and its centerpiece is the 22,000-square-foot Heights Public Market where communal seating is surrounded by 15 food locations.

M&M did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. The company developed the Market Place at Citrus Park, a 200,000-square-foot project that includes Costco, Aldi, and Ford’s Garage on West Linebaugh Avenue in Tampa.

The company’s web site also hints at more projects coming to the state by noting the ongoing construction of a 50,000-square-foot Boynton Beach Market Place, “one of M&M’s newest projects in Florida, but because of the partners’ aggressive outlook on this state, it will soon be one of many.’’

The 300 acres in Pasco County would be the second phase of the Mitchell project, planned as a 330-acre, mixed-use project of up to 800 homes and nearly 1 million square feet of commercial space. First announced four years ago, the project initially was planned to include an outdoor mall, movie theater, fitness center, offices and public gathering space within walking distance of the residential neighborhood. It’s a design concept referred to as a town center or lifestyle center.

The 30-acre first phase of the Mitchell project, known as the Village at Mitchell Ranch, is under construction.

VMR Development of Alabama acquired that parcel in May for $8.5 million. VMR is a newly formed company that includes the principals of Blackwater Resources of Birmingham, Ala. Blackwater previously developed the Mitchell Ranch shopping plaza on the southeast corner of the intersection.

Sprouts Farmers Market already announced it will be one of the anchors in the Village at Mitchell Ranch. Mitchell distributed maps to the audience that identified other tenants as HomeGoods, Mattress One, Michael’s, Ulta Beauty, PDQ, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Five Below and Skechers.

But the idea of M&M considering an Armature Works-like project for Trinity generated the most buzz.

“I loved hearing that,’’ said financial planner and former Pasco Commissioner Michael Cox, who introduced Mitchell to the audience.

“I think it’s fantastic,’’ said Hope Allen, president and CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber. “I think it’s absolutely a necessity. The 54 corridor is a great place for it.’’

She noted the collaborative work space could benefit entrepreneurs, while the food offerings “gives us added culinary options, outside of big box, chain restaurants.’’

Mitchell said the 300-acre second phase could break ground in October or November if the sales contract closes in the fall.

Trinity in the News: News Articles from around the Area!

3 Jan
Posted on Author Jay @ Welcome to Trinity!

Taso Italiano Featured in The Neighborhood News – April 20, 2017
Mitchell 54 West Project Updates – January 9, 2017
Circle K to build at Starkey Blvd and State Road 54 – June 28, 2015
List of Stores at Tampa Premium Outlets in Wesley Chapel – June 28, 2015
Publix to open new store in Shoppes at Trinity Lakes – March 13, 2015
Push to resume Ridge Road Extension – February 20, 2015
Developer Hines Set To Launch Asturia – January 25,2015
Big Pasco Outdoor Mall at Mitchell Ranch – September 5, 2014
Behnke Ranch Projects Calls For Homes, Multifamily Units – April 8, 2014
– Pasco County Government – Behnke Ranch Project Information
Trinity Neighborhood News – March 2014 Edition
Mall and 800 homes planned for Pasco’s Mitchell Ranch Property – March 14, 2014