Landowners want to make all of SR 56 commercial

The nearly 1-mile corridor between State Road 54 and Interstate 75 will be dotted with businesses if the three have their way.

By JAMES THORNER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

LAND O'LAKES -- Three landowners along the future State Road 56 are seeking permission to commercialize the entire strip of highway from State Road 54 in Land O'Lakes to Interstate 75 in Wesley Chapel.

SR 56, expected to stretch about 3 miles from SR 54 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, isn't scheduled to open until June.

But already property owners, most prominently Tampa developer J. Robert "Hi" Sierra, want Pasco County commissioners to designate much of the corridor a commercial node.

Commercial nodes, enshrined in the county's comprehensive land-use plan, allow land extending about a quarter-mile from major intersections to be more intensely developed.

In the case of SR 56, commercialization normally would be allowed around the SR 54 intersection and the I-75 interchange.

Ben Harrill, the attorney representing the three landowners, said it makes more sense to stretch the nodes until they fill the nearly 1-mile corridor between SR 54 and the interstate.

The land, riddled with swamps and dirt mines, is mostly unsuited to homes, Harrill said. But the corridor, as the first interstate exit north of Tampa, is ideal for commercial development.

"It seems like every interchange close to Hillsborough County is developing rapidly," Harrill said.

Developers have yet to propose any specific commercial uses for the land, Harrill said. But the corridor will probably be developed piecemeal, avoiding the need to apply as a development of regional impact, requiring the scrutiny of state, regional and county agencies.

Another developer has applied for a development of regional impact on SR 56 immediately east of I-75.

Called Cypress Creek, the development would occupy 343 acres south of Wesley Chapel. Plans call for 250 hotel rooms, 336,000 square feet of offices, 840 apartments and 902,000 square feet of commercial space.

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