March 1, 2025 | Brittney J. Miller
SPOTLIGHT
Storyland Studios, an England-based theme park design and experience firm, has unveiled plans to build ”the nation’s largest sports entertainment community development” in central Pasco County.
The 800-acre site in Trinity — more than six times the size of Orlando’s Disney Springs — would feature indoor and outdoor sports stadiums, arenas, complexes, professional fields and recreational spaces. The development would also include hotels, retail centers, an arts and theatre district, restaurants, medical centers and residential units.
The project, simply named “Trinity,” would be the largest community land development project in the U.S., Storyland Studios says, designed to redefine the area as Florida’s “Sports Coast.”
“A story is waiting to be shared here by athletes, coaches, teams and the families that will gather on these acres from across the country,” says Matt Ferguson, Storyland Studios’ Chief Innovation Officer. “Professional, collegiate, amateur and community athletes will have world-class facilities in which to compete, train, work and play here in pursuit of their dreams.”
As of press time, no plans had officially been filed for the project. More than 2,000 people had signed an online petition opposing the development, their appeals including aesthetic and traffic concerns.
HEALTH CARE
➤ Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital will start construction this spring on a $62-million, 28,000-sq.-ft. facility on its downtown St. Petersburg campus, adding six flexible emergency center rooms for pediatric patients.
➤ All Children’s also announced plans for a new 56-bed hospital in Wesley Chapel in Pasco County, where the pediatric population is expected to grow 12% between 2023 and 2032. The campus will include a 16-room emergency center, four imaging rooms and four operating rooms for specialized pediatric care.
➤ Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice opened a $90-million, 30,000-sq.-ft. expansion with 33 exam rooms, four resuscitation suites, upgraded imaging facilities and a third CT scanner.
CLOSINGS
➤ Home shopping brand HSN will close its longtime headquarters in St. Petersburg and consolidate operations at its parent company’s campus near Philadelphia later this year. HSN has operated in Pinellas County since its founding in 1977 and employed as many as 2,500 workers there before it was purchased by competitor QVC in 2017.
DEFENSE
➤ Akima, a Virginia-based billion-dollar defense contractor, has opened a Tampa office to support MacDill Air Force Base.
ENTERTAINMENT
➤ Winter Haven’s Legoland ended its water ski shows in December, discontinuing a tradition dating back to the 1940s when the theme park was known as Cypress Gardens.
DEVELOPMENT
➤ Ace Golf in Riverview will close in May after 22 years, preparing to transform into a development with single-family homes, medical offices and an emergency medical center. ➤ Following the sale of two government-owned properties, downtown Bradenton’s waterfront is slated to receive two multifamily development projects with housing, retail, restaurants and other amenities. ➤ Pasco County commissioners approved the first phase of Wesley Chapel’s incoming Legacy Wiregrass Ranch project, which will create a city downtown with office buildings, a 150-room hotel, retail, shops and restaurants.
ENVIRONMENT
➤ The Polk County Commission voted to buy a 649-acre, $5.19-million property on Lake Wales Ridge for land conservation. ➤ The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a controversial proposal to use a radioactive byproduct of the phosphate industry in a pilot road project on Mosaic Fertilizer property in Polk County.
HOUSING
➤ Washington, D.C.-based Gravel Road Partners will turn Largo’s Oasis at Bayside — a 16-acre, 304-unit apartment complex — into a $59.3-million affordable housing development with 258 homes for low-income residents.
TRANSPORTATION
➤ The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board has approved the next phase of its $1.5-billion, 600,000-sq.-ft. Airside D project at Tampa International Airport, which will serve as a 16-gate international terminal.
INDUSTRY
➤ Amazon has purchased a 143-acre site in Fort Myers for $66.5 million to build a 650,000-sq.-ft. robotics fulfillment center and create more than 1,000 full-time jobs.
Philanthropist and Paychex founder Tom Golisano awarded $85 million in gifts to 41 organizations
across Southwest Florida.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has appointed Bemetra Simmons to its Jacksonville branch board of directors. Simmons is president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership.