Pitas Republic opening in New Tampa

The grand opening of Pita's Republic in New Tampa at The Cypress at BBD & County Line Road will be on March 1, 2010.

Hillsborough County starts new blog on Blogspot

Hillsborough County has debuted a new blog on Blogspot (aka Blogger). The county will use this forum to pose questions regarding the budgetary process and seek public input. The blog address is: http://www.hillsboroughfl.blogspot.com/ .

Additionally, the county has a Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/HillsboroughFL

New restaurants coming to The Shoppes at New Tampa

Taste of Boston is planning a Grand Opening in March at The Shoppes at New Tampa on BBD/SR 56  in Wesley Chapel.  Note:   March 28, 2010: The Taste of Boston has opened! Phone # (813) 994-9797.  Also, Asian Buffet has a banner announcing that it is coming to The Shoppes at New Tampa at the former Pizza Mania location.  (I have no opening date) 

Short Sale specialist accused of fraud

The St. Pete Times reports today that a man who presented himself as a short sale specialist drove around Pasco County finding abandoned/vacant homes. He then supposedly changed locks and rented them out saying they were his, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's office. I don't know why this type of activity took so long to detect. Similar planned schemes were reported back in October, 2009! There are a lot of scams and cons going on out there in real estate right now.
Full Story from today's St. Petersburg Times

Short Sales Tips: 5 things you need to know about short sales (Video)

5 things you need to know about short sales (from 10 connects.com)

Five Guys opens in New Tampa

The new Five Guys Burgers & Fries officially opens in New Tampa tomorrow at 11:00 a.m..  Location:  The Cypress (LA Fitness & Sweetbay), 6401 County Line Road, Tampa, FL, 33647  Phone:  (813) 907-6680.

Transportation meeting to be held in New Tampa

The Hillsborough County Commission is seeking public input on transportation projects that would be funded by a potential future one-cent transit sales tax. The Transportation Task Force has been meeting and seeking public input since 2008 to create a list of prioritized projects around the County.

County and Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART), in cooperation with local municipalities, will hold an open house for the first hour to show maps and information on the proposed projects. A video presentation will follow with an additional opportunity to discuss the particular projects in-depth and provide comment.

Where?  Freedom High School cafeteria, (17410 Commerce Park Blvd., Tampa)  
When?  February 18, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Additional info

Grandeur Hair Design Salon opens at The Cypress in New Tampa

The new Grandeur Hair Design Salon located at 6431 County Line Rd, Suite 107, Tampa,  at The Cypress (LA Fitness & Sweetbay) opens tomorrow.  Tomorrow's opening day hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 12 noon to 6 p.m.  Maher Alaghawani is the owner and head stylist.  Salon phone number:  813-994-9455

Expect SR 56 extension from Mansfield to Meadow Pointe Blvd to open in June

So says Assistant County Administrator Parikh according to The Tampa Tribune today.  Additionally, the Trib reports that the builders of the SR 56 extension have requested a one year extension to finish the entire project including the massive intersection at BBD and SR 56.  Full story from the Tampa Tribune

The 3.0 +/- mile extension of SR 56 from BBD to Meadow Pointe Blvd. has been plagued with delays over the years!

Dollar World opens in New Tampa

Dollar World opened this week in the Pebble Creek Collection on Bruce B. Downs in New Tampa.  Phone:  (813) 345-8513.

Pasco tells road contractor to "hit the road"....

And now this.......SR 56 extension road contractor WDG gets the boot from Pasco County:  Link to Tampa Tribune article

SR 56 extension from Mansfield to Meadow Pointe Blvd. delayed AGAIN!

Lately I have been receiving an e-mail every two or three days from the readers of this blog,  inquiring about the status of the opening of SR 56 from Mansfield to Meadow Pointe Blvd.  (There have not been any recent updates on its opening in our local papers.)   Previously promised to open in November/December, then more lately in February, you may have noticed that work seems to have come to a standstill lately.  Well, you are right.  In an e-mail inquiry to the Pasco County Project Manager this morning about the status of the opening of the extension, I received the following response: 

"The project has stopped, the contractor has been removed due to non performance the Bonding Company has begun to coordinate the completion."

.....and this from County Commissioner Mulieri:  "We had to give a 70 day extension."

So there you go folks.  Delayed again!  (Sorry, that's all the info I have at this time.)

Homeowners increasingly opting for strategic defaults

More and more homeowners who find themselves "under water" on their homes (owing significantly more than current value) are choosing to simply walk away from the home (and the mortgage) even when they can afford to continue to make the monthly payments. (Also sometimes referred to as "jingle mail" because the homeowners often simply mail the lender the keys to the home.) See video below:

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Publix in City Plaza at Tampa Palms

All that remains of the Publix at City Plaza is this gaping hole.  When rebuilt, the new and larger Publix will be 54,000 sq. ft and it has a target opening date of September/October 2010.