Pasco Hosts Groundbreaking For Wesley Chapel Recreation Center

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL — Despite a global pandemic, Pasco County isn't missing a step in its quest to become the Florida's Sports Coast.

In 2018, the county's tourism agency changed its name from Visit Pasco to Florida's Sports Coast to capitalize on its many youth and adult sports facilities, outdoor adventure offerings and water activities along the coast.

To further that goal, last week Pasco County hosted a virtual groundbreaking ceremony for a state-of-the art, 17,800-square-foot recreation center at Wesley Chapel District Park, 7727 Boyette Road.

Scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2021, the $4.8 million facility, funded with impact fees, will add a gymnasium and recreation center to the 144-acre park.

Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore has taken the lead on rebranding Pasco County as a sports mecca in Florida. While Pasco County has no major stadium, NFL, MLB or NHL teams to draw thousands of spectators to a single event, Moore said it makes up for it by providing a variety of hands-on recreational opportunities for outdoors and sports enthusiasts to participate in year-round.

The recreation facility at Wesley Chapel District Park is just the latest in a series of projects designed to give Pasco County a niche in the world of youth sports, which has a $17 billion economic impact in the United States, according to the National Association of Sports Commission.

Major youth sports tournaments in which players and their families travel from around the country have the potential to inject millions of tourism dollars into an area.

Designed by Wannemacher Jensen Architects and constructed by Keator Construction Inc., the gymnasium will house basketball leagues, gymnastics, volleyball leagues and adults sports such as pickeball. The facility will also have meeting rooms and offer local residents a place to gather for meetings, exercise classes and community events.

"I saw there was a void and a need out there for an indoor facility,'' Moore said.

The gymnasium will complement the facilities already existing at Wesley Chapel District Park including soccer, baseball, football, lacrosse and cricket fields, outdoor basketball court, three tennis courts, a playground adapted for children with disabilities, a fitness trail, fishing and picnic areas.

Additionally, the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation has chosen Wesley Chapel District Park as a site for one of two street hockey programs in Pasco County.

Earlier this year, the Pasco County Commission agreed to spend $240,000 to build concrete pads at Wesley Chapel District Park and J. Ben Harrill Recreation Complex at 2830 Gulf Trace Blvd. in Holiday to be used as street hocking rinks for its Lightning Made Street Hockey Initiative.

The Lightning Foundation will provide scoreboards and penalty boxes, and equip players in grades three to six with two complete sets of street hockey gear, including 80 sticks, two cases of balls, four goal nets, four youth sets of protective goalie gear, four adult size sets of protected goal gear and 80 reversible scrimmage vests, to be kept at the rinks.

The 60- by 120-foot rinks are expected to be completed by Aug. 30.

Tampa Bay Lightning already offers ice hockey camps, clinics and leagues for young hockey enthusiasts at the AdventHealth Center Ice skating facility, 3173 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Wesley Chapel.

The street hockey rink is another opportunity to introduce Pasco County children to sports, said Moore.

“It’s obviously exciting anytime you can introduce kids to a new sport,” said Commissioner Mike Moore, who spearheaded the gymnasium, cricket field and inclusive playground at the park.

In the meantime, construction is putting the finishing touches on the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, an indoor sports field house at 3211 LaJuana Blvd., Wesley Chapel, located on 80 acres donated by the Porter family, which originally owned all the land that now makes up the Wiregrass Ranch community. The site sits just north of State Road 56 east of the Shops at Wiregrass.

Funded with tourist development taxes, the $44 million facility will be operated by RADDSSports.

The 98,000-square foot sports center will feature eight bio-cushioned hardwood regulation courts that can be used for basketball, volleyball, mixed martial arts, gymnastics, wrestling, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, cheerleading and dance. It can be divided into eight basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts, and will include a training room, meeting space, concessions and a kitchen.

Outside will be two soccer fields, an event lawn and a stage for concerts. More fields will be built in a second phase.

A 128-room Residence Inn by Marriott will be constructed by Mainsail Development Group. The hotel and a nearby Fairfield Inn will accommodate out-of-town tournament athletes and their families. The facility is expected to attract 27,000 visitors to Pasco County each year.

See related stories:

Groundbreaking Set Friday On Pasco's 1st Inclusive Playground

A Place For Kids To Play Together; Pasco Opens Inclusive Park

Long-Awaited Groundbreaking For Wiregrass Sports Complex June 7