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Big Apple coming soon to SR 54

So is Canoe Commons, a 3-acre business park.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published December 23, 2006

LAND O'LAKES - Central Pasco folks know it's a food-forsaken stretch along State Road 54 between Interstate 75 and Collier Parkway.

Building after building has sprung up, but there's still barely a bite to eat.

But in about four months, the national chain Big Apple Bagels is arriving to reinforce the few eateries on that drag.

It will join a 3-acre business park still under construction at SR 54 and Canoe Drive, called Canoe Commons.

Apart from Big Apple, other businesses slated for Canoe Commons are Railroad & Industrial Federal Credit Union of Tampa; a medical transcription service; and a travertine floor tile store, said Lynn Smith, the ERA Dennis Realtor selling the park.

The park will eventually be home to eight buildings.

While Big Apple is opening its doors within a few months, Smith said, Railroad & Industrial is moving slower.

"It will be 2008 before we build on it," said the company's chief executive officer, Arthur J. Wood. "We just wanted to get ahead of the escalating price of land."

Railroad & Industrial, founded in 1935, now mainly serves Tampa and Lakeland but wants its business to follow the rooftops northward, Wood said.

His 2,700-square-foot branch is another example of a surge of commercial construction in Pasco, even as the residential market slumps.

Wood said it reflects a trend of commercial construction playing catchup to the last few years of heady home building.

The value of commercial construction in Pasco leaped from $6.7-million last year to $77.5-million so far this year, according to county data.

Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development. He can be reached at 813909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 06:24:46]