Mall's shadow falls on more rural property

Another neighbor of the Cypress Creek Town Center wants to sell.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published July 7, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - Today, Cypress Creek Road still lines a shallow valley of soaring cypresses and sweeping pastures.

But those who live there can smell change in the air.

Just across the creek, bulldozers are flattening the land for a giant mall. Prompted by the approach of Cypress Creek Town Center, neighbors in the area, including James Scarpo, Randy Sherman, Carlyle Wolding and rancher Hank King already have paperwork in motion to develop stores and hundreds of homes on their properties.

Now, another resident here, Scott Calderazzo, is getting ready to sell, too.

Calderazzo wants to rezone his 2.3-acre lot at the corner of Bald Cypress Lane and Cypress Creek Road into a 13,600-square-foot office development, according to county filings.

He's still not sure exactly what kind of offices would emerge, but envisions mostly medical services in a single-story complex.

"I haven't got to that point yet, but I figure it would be a couple of buildings," he said.

He hasn't picked a developer yet, but he has some experience in commercial properties.

Calderazzo and his father, William Calderazzo, are the father-and-son team behind Tampa 23, a property holding company that at one time owned nearly 500,000 square feet of commercial space in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Scott Calderazzo's plan to rezone his home could involve him in a simmering squabble between his neighbor, King, and county officials.

King had opposed a 488-apartment project proposed by his neighbors, Scarpo, Sherman and Wolding.

King has a competing proposal to build 548 apartments and townhomes. He accused county officials of imposing terms on his project that were unfair, compared with the Scarpo project.

The Scarpo apartments won county approval in May, while King is still embroiled in a lawsuit with the county over road improvements that may require county workers to enter his property at the corner of Cypress Creek Road and County Line Road. County officials may now change those road improvement plans.

According to county filings, Pasco would require Calderazzo to share in some of those road improvements.

Calderazzo is agreeable, but doesn't want any part in the fight.

"I think I'm trying to stay as far away from all that as possible," he said, laughing.

The lot on Cypress Creek Road is his home. He bought it in June 2005 for $330,000, according to the property appraiser's records.

Once it sells, he's not sure where he will live.

But he said he may head north, in search of the same bucolic quiet that his Wesley Chapel home was once nestled in.

"Maybe Trilby or Darby," he said. "I want to get to a ranch next."

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 6, 2007, 21:53:10]