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Mall announces its first stores

The Grove shows its strategy of pursuing strip center-type big box stores, including the Tampa Bay area's first store from a large sporting goods chain.

By JAMES THORNER
Published November 10, 2005

WESLEY CHAPEL - Five stores, including electronics retailer Best Buy and the Tampa Bay area's first Dick's Sporting Goods, plan to anchor a mall-sized development northwest of Interstate 75 and State Road 54.

The Grove at Wesley Chapel, scheduled to open in 2007 with 800,000 square feet of stores, restaurants and movie theaters, announced additional agreements with Michael's, PetSmart and Ross.

Michael's (arts and crafts supplies), PetSmart (pet food and equipment) and Ross (discounted clothes and housewares) are plentiful in the area but newcomers to central Pasco.

The Grove and its developer, ECHO Real Estate Services, are engaged in a three-way race with the Shops at Wiregrass and Cypress Creek Town Center to see which can land tenants for their mall-scale projects.

The biggest competitor is Cypress Creek, a 1.3-million-square-foot open-air mall planned for State Road 56 and I-75. AMC Theaters is its only publicly announced tenant so far.

The Shops at Wiregrass, a 750,000-square-foot outdoor "lifestyle center" at SR 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, opened with JCPenney last month. But other tenants won't emerge until further land is rezoned in about a year.

Wednesday's five-tenant announcement confirms the Grove's early lead. The stores are the first of what could be 90 tenants. ECHO said it's pursuing strip center-type big box stores, rather than mall-type tenants.

"We are very excited to bring these retailers to the residents of Wesley Chapel," ECHO vice president Aaron Savin said in a news release. "Clearly this is a fast-growing affluent area of Tampa Bay and Pasco County."

The five stores haven't signed contracts with ECHO but "letters of intent." Letters of intent signify a serious desire to do business but can't be enforced like contracts.

Best Buy, the consumer electronics and appliance chain, already operates in west Pasco, Brandon and Citrus Park. The Grove store would be its first in central and east Pasco.

Dick's is a Pittsburgh sporting goods chain. It has about 239 stores in 34 states.

With the shopping would come entertainment. In June, ECHO announced Cobb Theatres Inc. would open an 18-screen cinema as part of the same $100-million project.

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:21:17]