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JAMES THORNERDevelopments would sprout on parcels across from Wesley Chapel middle and high schools in a suburban makeover.
WESLEY CHAPEL - A familiar pattern is about to repeat itself in a forest across the street from Wesley Chapel High School and Weightman Middle School: Down go the trees, up go the houses.
KB Home of Tampa LLC plans 180 homes on 69 acres on the south side of Wells Roads, just north of the Chapel Pines neighborhood.
The company has asked Pasco County to rezone the land for two separate but related projects that could break ground as early as next year.
The first project, 117 homes, would occupy 48 acres across from the high school. KB is buying the property from a group of owners that includes Lykes Brothers Inc., Rebecca Christopher and Edward and Benita Simms.
The second project would start less than 1,000 feet to the east, across from Weightman Middle School. KB has lined up 21 acres, owned by the Hall family, on which it plans to build another 63 homes.
KB Home builds houses in a few up-and-coming neighborhoods in central Pasco, including New River and Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel and Ballantrae in Land O'Lakes. The Wells Road projects are among the first that KB will build exclusively.
A $5-billion company based in Los Angeles, KB has charted an aggressive course in the Tampa Bay area after acquiring American Heritage Homes in 2002.
About a mile to the east on 1,000 acres belonging to the family of county commissioner Ted Schrader, KB announced plans to build 1,999 houses, villas and townhomes. The site extends east from Curley to Handcart roads.
The Wells Road and Schrader projects would be major contributors to the suburban makeover of the still-rural Curley Road corridor. An estimated 15,000 new homes could rise on the 7-mile stretch between State Roads 54 and 52.
The schools on Wells Road are feeling the pinch already. Wesley Chapel Elementary, which opened next to the high school in 2002, registered 1,356 kids this fall in a school built for 724.
KB officials couldn't be reached for comment Monday.