Cypress Creek Town Center on hold

WESLEY CHAPEL -- Cypress Creek Town Center is indefinitely on hold, a spokeswoman for the mall said today.

The Richard E. Jacobs Group, developers of the 1-million-square-foot project, and the prospective tenants of the mall agreed last week to halt all construction at the site on Interstate 75 and State Road 56 and postpone its opening, said Deanne Roberts.

The mall was originally scheduled to open in October. "I don't know what the new date will be," Roberts said.

The mall has long been dogged by controversy. Environmentalists sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying the regulators should never have issued a permit for the Jacobs Group to fill 54 acres of wetlands at the site. 

In February, the corps suspended the permit, halting work on the 54 acres that would have been part of the mall.

Mall officials said that they decided last week to stop all construction on the site, because they did not want to risk the mall opening as an incomplete construction. But Roberts denied that Cypress Creek Town Center had lost any tenants because of these problems.

-- Chuin-Wei Yap, Times staff writer

Comments

[Bite Me!]

Good! Can we have our wetlands back? No - I suppose not.

[JH Skyscrapercity]

I think that this project exemplifies the lack of real foresight and planning of development in this state and region. Perhaps if our comprehensive growth plans and zoning didn't encourage so much sprawl, then we wouldn't always be fighting development encroaching into places it should never go... All of the retail being built in Wesley Chapel could have been laid out in a much more urban fashion, thereby saving dozens, if not hundreds of acres of sensitive lands from the bulldozer in the process.

Our laws and regulations simply don't encourage the right kind of development for our community's needs. Our laws encourage developers to build cheaply for today, not intelligently for tomorrow.

[Marc]

Can anyone imagine a developer in Pinellas getting a permit to fill 54 acres of land. The residents would show up with pitchforks and torches and lay waste to the government offices. What are the leaders in Pasco thinking? Cypress Creek is where the majority of Tampa Bay's drinking water comes from. I say make them pay to restore the land to its original wetland condition so we can protect what little clean water we have left.

[Don]

This is SO maddening. All the native oaks and palm trees were leveled, wild animals displaced and killed on the surrounding highways when their homes demolished, all the construction run off into the source of our drinking water...All for another unfinished construction site for people to vandal and dump their old couches. Oh, I DO hope the Office Depot still goes up cause Lord knows we need another office supply store. Oh wait! All those office condos in Pasco are empty, too!!
This is karma, Hi Sierra-I hope in addition to being morally bankrupt that you are financially so now.

[Marc]

If memory serves me, the Sierra Club intervened long before the demolition began, the developers knew they had an illegal Army Corps permit that was going to be revoked, but went ahead with the destruction anyways. I don't think you can blame Sierra here. I would blame the immoral and corrupt developer who had $$$$ in their eyes. They collected money from prospective leasees and assumed they could grease the proper palms along the way. They didn't expect the Tampa drinking water supply to get so visually polluted. Oh, and by the way they did kill several hundred Gopher Tortoises also with a permit that was out of date and had gross-fully under counted the number of them on the paperwork. The Sierra Club also sued to stop the culling of the protected tortoises, but a judge and the FWC were paid off and they were allowed to proceed without intervention. Boo hoo hoo, screw them!

[Lane]

Hi Sierra is the actual name of the man whom came up with this mall and pushed for it

[Lucy]

How sad to drive by and see the total destruction that has taken place in an area that used to be beautiful; all for another shopping center. Shame on everyone involved with this project. There IS such a thing as karma and they should all be very worried.

[Commercial RE]

Halting this project has as much to do with the current real estate market and the economy as it does the wetlands. Too much retail space is being built too fast in the area. These three large projects in Pasco were planned based on rampant residential development and growth continuing, which we all know hasn't happened. Vacancy rates are increasing and will increase dramatically when all the planed space comes available. They would have never found tenants to fill all of the space they had planned.

The environmental issues are a good excuse for them to halt the project indefinately.

The Grove at Wesley Chapel can’t even fill all of its space.

[Franky]

I hope there will be a cinnabuns.

[Marc]

Franky = Troll, don't feed the troll.

[Vishnu Buddhu]

Doesn't anybody care anymore? Where are the feelings and happy enviormental wacos that are stopping progress you bunch of liberals all do feel gooders.

[Troll]

I hope there is a Starbucks too, so I can wash down my cinnabun and reengerize for more consumption.

[Marc]

You can't beat a good Chilli:

You will need:
1lb of minced steak
1 large onion
1 regular tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce
1 tin of baked beans
2 fresh chillies chopped and seeded
or
minced chilli
hot chilli powder
chilli sauce
ground cumin
mixed herbs
2 cloves of garlic

I find the best way to cook chilli is in a wok so choose non stick for convenience. I advise getting all your ingredients ready in advance, i.e. tins opened and vegetables chopped.

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in the wok and add the mince. Fry until all the mince is brown, stirring regularly. (Mince is generally fatty and it's worth spending the extra money on minced steak rather than beef. You will notice the difference.)
2. Add the chopped onion and fry for a minute. (You could fry the onion before the mince if you like it really soft, but if you do it second it will retain more texture and flavour.)
3. Add the tins of chopped tomatoes, kidney beans and baked beans. Stir well. I usually swill a bit of water in the chilli sauce from the kidney beans and add this too as this will steam off with cooking.
4. Add the chillies or minced chilli. I like my chilli spicy but it can be hard to get good quality fresh chillies from your local supermarket. Birds Eye are the best. Green ones are milder than red ones and smaller ones are stronger than big ones. The seeds are very strong so make sure you don't include those unless you've got an asbestos mouth. Minced chilli is widely available. Use between one and two teaspoons depending on how you like your chilli.
5. Add some mixed herbs, ground cumin and chilli powder. A good way of making sure you don't put in too much at once is to pour it into the lid first until you' ;ve got the right amount. How much you use is obviously up to you but start with about ½ a teaspoon and work your way up. Cumin has bags of flavour and you'll notice the difference if you add it to all sorts of meals.
6. Add the garlic (with the skin removed and then crushed or finely chopped) and stir everything in well.
7. Chilli sauce probably isn't totally necessary and you'll need to experiment until you find the right level of spice for your taste. I add a sauce called Inferno that I bought at Le Saucier at Quinceys Market in Boston. If you're using sauce add it now and stir through. Most chilli sauces you'll find in the supermarket are for dipping and won't add much to a dish like this. Look out for Scotch Bonnet Sauce which is very good and some of the Piri Piri sauces can be useful.
8. Turn the heat down and let the chilli simmer gently for about half an hour, stirring every few minutes. You can cook chilli very slowly and all the flavours will infuse well. If it's drying out just add a bit more water. In the meantime cook rice or whatever you choose to serve it with. Personally I like steamed basmati rice and a tiny bit of sour cream on top of the chilli.
9. Enjoy!

If you're not sure how much spice to go for just add a bit and leave the chilli to simmer for a while. Taste it and see what you think. Remember you can always add more but there's no way it's going to come out!
This recipe will serve four and can easily be frozen. Remember to thoroughly defrost it before reheating and the chilli will be less spicy once it's been frozen so you might want to add extra spices.

[Franky]

I want to touch marc's cinnabuns

[Jh Skyscrapercity]

Perhaps the new time table can allow the developer to go back and densify the project, to save the 54 acres from being paved over? Construction costs and interest rates are both falling some, which means the cost of converting a few surface lots into garages on top of some stores would be offset a bit by this. Additionally, it should be pretty clear to the developer that folks are increasingly interested in more land efficient projects, and are apparently willing to pay for it. Using more land to sprawl may be easier/more profitable for builders up front, but it isn't better for the community in the long run, considering what we give up and get what we get in return. After seeing what rampant sprawl has done to our region over the past 30 years, it takes a cold soul and dim wit to calculate that more sprawl is just what we need. Growth is inevitable so long as immigration and the birthrate are positive, so objecting to projects like this is futile and rather myopic. Frankly, objection to growth is also destructive to the local economy and our collective job prospects as well. The problem isn't growth, it's how we grow. We need better planning, and leaders with the balls to actually lead for a change. Until we have both, regrettable growth like Cypress Creek Town Center will continue to systematically befoul the natural beauty that drew most people here in the first place.

[Jessica]

I have been against the mall from the beginning.Cypress Creek is a water tributary that should be protected.The mall site has not met the guidelines and has had total disregard for the creek, the wetlands and the wildlife.This creek filters Tampa Bay's drinking water!?? I only hope our leaders can see the HUGE mistake this was and protect what we have left of this beautiful area.

[JR]

Growth is inevitable. It could have been planned better, but eventually, something will be built there. I'm sick of driving to New Tampa or Dale Mabry to go shopping.
The Grove opening has curtailed that a bit, but so much is needed in the Central Pasco area. The residential growth has slowed down, but it will pick up again.

[Eb]

Why is this not in the main news for Tampa all over the US so everyone can see what a bunch of nitwits we are here. What are we thinking adding another mall just what we need on top of a wetland sanctuary really what is happening? And where are the neighbors of this mall...they need to speak out or do they care...Do we want more and more concrete?

[Volcom]

I live just around the corner and I hope constructions starts again soon. You tree huggers are just stalling the inevitable. You cannot stop growth, that land will eventually be built on, Jacobs Group or somebody else. With the price of gas the short drive will be nice. This will also create alot of needed jobs in Pasco.

[Rydermike]

If they can't do the mall there how about something more useful? Like a refinery!! Screw the envionmental extremeists , probably don't even live here in Pasco.
If it's Tampa people worried about thier drinking water they should do what the Los Angeles,Ca city father's were doing almost 100 years ago when they started buying many far from the city properties to ensure thier own water supply.

[Cary Rolf]

Are you all kiddin me? Do you not see what kind of economic condition this country is in lately. People need to go to work. If it comes down to my survival and the survival of a few hundred tortoise eggs, then I choose me and the rest of MANkind. Thes environmentalists are killin this economy with their tree hugging ideals. If they are truly animal lovers and activists, then go live with them for a winter and see how fast you come back to a nice, warm, fossil fueled home. Wake up you jack-asses

[Y.A.]

Job, Jobs, Jobs! What else is their to say...Some tree hugging jobless liberals just need to understand that this is not California. So take your Sierra club group and get out of town/state. I think it was California that developed the Interstate system...how many animals where killed to get that going. You guys are just a bunch of hypocrites.

[D]

People, Pasco county is a bedroom community for Tampa. With $4 gas, there is going to be no residential growth in Pasco, period, especially with the end of the housing bubble in Florida.

Furthermore, people praise the town center for creating jobs? Seriously retail at Books-A-Million is not going to be a serious employment nexus for the county. Retail only works in an area where there are already established employment centers that actually do or make something, not just sell toilet paper and cheap paperbacks.

This town center will never get off the ground -- it was part of the housing bubble and it has gone the way of the $500,000 Pasco ranch.

[MARIE]

I want the mall and everything that goes with it..University mall is the pitts and I'm all for one stop shopping.One of the primary reasons that we even bought in Wesley Chapel was because we were told that a mall would be built there..it's time to get on with it..Give the place some class.short trips to save on gas, good variety,jobs..and make Wesley Chapel a destination, not just something that you drive through..The environmentalists can't seem to come to a middle of the road decision..Leave it to them and we would be driving on a dirt road to go canoeing..REALLY what do you expect to happen to road front property in a growing area..Is growth in this area a surprise to anyone..Build the mall so I can go hit the sales......

Like Marie, I too was told that the mall was being built and bought a home nearby. No one likes to the need for longer drives to someone else's neighborhood (i.e. Tampa or Brandon) to go shopping and out for dinner. I'd like my home, neighborhood, and city to make me want to stay close and enjoy. I didn't know about the environmental aspects and effects before moving here, but since the area for the mall has already been leveled and damage done, let the builders continue to build the mall. Pasco and Wesley Chapel officials can find a way to help preserve areas not already leveled and cleared for construction. I'm for the environment and for construction of the mall. We can't go back in time to change things, but we can learn from the past and both build and protect the future.

[Emi]

I don't get it,people from pasco and also new tampa need a shopping mall to save on gas and on time, but I don't know why they have to build a huge shopping mall that interferes with the enviroment. Why not build a smaller shopping mall? Leaving a lot of land for the trees, the creek and the animals. That lot is huge!there is a lot of space.

[Crissy]

I moved to Land O Lakes 7 years ago because i was trying to get away from the city and wanted to live in a rural and undeveloped town. I live down the street from the site and drive past it twice a day, to and from work. When they started leveling everything I was sick to my stomach. As the days past I noticed more and more dead animals on and around the roads and highway running next to the site. There were deer, wild boar, turtle, whooping crane and racoon dead everywhere. I heard they were forced to relocate a lot of the protected turtles that lived there. Fast forward a year?? Not sure exactly how long its been but the area has been decimated. The majority of the wildlife has been killed or has long since left. The creek has been polluted. The roads are tore up. The site has been abandoned. Left in ruin. So my question is why are they NOW holding this up? What are they trying to save? Why dont they let them finish this mall and let us forget about this mess? Maybe then our property values will go up and I can sell my house and move further north to once again find a rural town and escape this sprawl. I dont mind driving 20 minutes to the nearest mall. I dont need one 5 minutes from my house. I say stop trying to hold this up any longer and build this mall so the community can benefit a bit. The whole thing is really disheartening.

[EAE]

I moved to this area in 2003, no shopping center is needed, we have more than enough now. Just thank them for the road widening and move on. It is nice to see the cows back on the property, that leads me to beleive they have no plans to build any time soon and wanted their greenbelt tax exemption back.

[dvolkert1970]

It's going to be finished, they're not going to spend 22 + million to widen SR 54 then walk away. Yeah the cows are back, but they'll be gone again soon. From what I hear they should have their construction permit re-instated soon and construction will begin again. The only thing that will change are the tennants, Circuit City and Linen & Things won't be there and the other's will have to be re-negotiated.