Residential community in the works for Pasco

WESLEY CHAPEL -- In the hands of a development company from St. Lucie County, the Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel could grow into a new town complete with thousands of homes, dozens of businesses, schools and a tennis stadium.

Core Communities, a development arm of $4.8-billion BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc, has signed a letter of understanding to buy the 5,000 acres about 2 miles east of Interstate 75 in central Pasco County.

Should the letter evolve into a contract, the deal would pay the Porter family, which owns the ranch, tens of millions of dollars. Pasco County's property appraiser conservatively estimates its market value at $42-million.

Core Communities would control the last huge chunk of land unclaimed by developers in Wesley Chapel, a community exploding with homes as a suburb of Tampa.

Ranch owner Don Porter confirmed Core Communities was his suitor but hesitated to talk in depth about the deal.

"I essentially gave them X number of days to negotiate a contract, and we're still negotiating, and the days have about expired," Porter said Wednesday.

Although BankAtlantic created Core Communities just last year to build planned communities throughout Florida and the southeastern United States, its other subsidiaries come with a long pedigree.

One of them is Levitt & Sons, the 73-year-old company that pioneered suburban development after World War II when it built Levittown on Long Island and in Pennsylvania.

If it buys the ranch, Core promises a community similar to St. Lucie West, a 10-year-old, 4,600-acre project it has spearheaded in east Florida.

A corporate Web site says St. Lucie West has 4,000 homes, 150 businesses employing 5,000 people, eight clubhouses and campuses operated by Indian River Community College and Florida Atlantic University.

Core also won approval last year to develop a 1,590-home community called Live Oak Preserve southeast of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and County Line Road in New Tampa.

According to its news release, Core strives to build "total living environments that expertly blend quality residences with commercial centers, schools, recreation and employment convenient to all."

In its commitment to relatively self-reliant communities, Core resembles Terrabrook, the development company expected to build Connerton New Town Development in Land O'Lakes. Connerton promises 8,000 homes surrounding an urban core of shops, government buildings and schools.

Jim Zboril, Core's senior vice president, didn't return calls from the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday. But Porter said the high quality of the company's earlier projects weighed heavily in his decision to seek a deal with Core.

"I'm real good at oranges and cows, but I'm not real good at this development stuff," Porter said.

Just as St. Lucie West claims the New York Mets spring training center as its own, the Wiregrass plans include the possibility of a multimillion-dollar public tennis stadium sought by the Saddlebrook Resort.

BankAtlantic, founded in 1952, is a $4.8-billion diversified business based in Fort Lauderdale. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BBX."

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