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Developers see economy in the reshaping
As officials with four major developments meet, they note that building homes in Pasco means new markets.
By MELIA BOWIE
Published January 28, 2005
WESLEY CHAPEL - The sight of new homes going up along the State Road 54 corridor is now a staple of central Pasco's scenery
But there is more to the rising rooftops than meets the eye, say the developers of four major projects that are reshaping the county's landscape.
On Thursday, 270 people gathered at a Business Development Week luncheon to listen as representatives for Bexley Ranch, Connerton, Wiregrass and North Pointe at Suncoast Crossings discussed their projects and Pasco's future.
The event at Saddlebrook was sponsored by Progress Energy and the Pasco Economic Development Council. It drew the largest crowd that the annual function has seen in years - up from its average of 75 to 100 attendees, said Mary Jane Stanley, president of the council.
The four mixed-use projects will bring thousands of new homes to Pasco via "town center" communities complete with retail shops, office space and industrial centers.
"What has all this residential development have to do with economic development? Everything," said Georgianne Ratliff, director of planning for WilsonMiller, which is involved with all but one of the projects. "Residential development does two things: first, it creates markets ... ;second, it provides a place for workers to live (and) a place for the executives we'd like to attract."
Already North Pointe at Suncoast Crossings has drawn one targeted employer to the county: Opinicus, a Clearwater flight simulator manufacturer that is creating hundreds of jobs with an average wage of $67,000.
The high-tech company is building an office and warehouse complex at Suncoast Crossings and could break ground within 30 days, said North Pointe's developer, Mike Hogan of the Hogan Group.
"I know they have to be in soon because they just got a huge contract" about a month ago, he said. Opinicus first anticipated creating 225 jobs, but the number will be about 250 because of the contract.
[Last modified January 28, 2005, 00:21:17]
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