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Stores spring up along Cross Creek
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer
CROSS CREEK -- As sprawling subdivisions replaced scrubland in New Tampa, space for shopping centers, eateries and service stores remained limited to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, the area's main corridor. Now, for the first time, clusters of commercial development are cropping up beyond the busy boulevard and next to residential neighborhoods. Developers are looking north to expand -- beyond the city-annexed, master-planned communities of Tampa Palms and Hunter's Green. While county planners say Cross Creek Boulevard is far from becoming the next Bruce B. Downs, untapped parcels soon will sprout storefronts in select areas. "Some of the roadways are opening up now," said Craig Mahlman, manager of development services with Hillsborough County Planning and Growth Management. With suburbs becoming established in Cross Creek, Misty Creek, Arbor Greene and beyond "there's the support now for some of the commercial development," he said. The move to veer off of the area's main artery comes as massive developments are anticipated in Live Oak and the K-Bar property. Homes continue to go up in Heritage Isles and Cory Lake Isles as well. But as traffic and bulldozers replace open space, some homeowners who moved farther north to enjoy a more rural side of New Tampa say they are paying the price for convenience. "It's one of those things where it's nice to have stuff nearby, but you don't want to have a lot of commercial development by your house," said Aaron Granger, who lives in Arbor Greene. Nonetheless, two shopping centers and a professional center are planned for Cross Creek Boulevard, an arterial road bordered by a half-dozen subdivisions, two schools, a church, a library and a fire station. Cross Creek Village, a 63,000 square-foot retail center anchored by Publix and with an AmSouth bank, is planned next to the new Heritage Elementary School at Cross Creek and Morris Bridge Road. Construction has begun across from Benito Middle School on the Cross Creek Centre, a 33,000-square foot project, expected to open in mid-February. The center will serve immediate neighbors Misty Creek, Cross Creek and Hunter's Green with restaurants, an animal hospital, coffee shop and more. And near Cory Lake Isles homeowners, are seeing signs for the Cory Lake Isles Professional Center, whose tenant will include a dentist, doctor's office and a mortgage company. For Granger and his wife, it was always a case of buyer beware. "If you go down Cross Creek where there's conservation land, you can see signs for commercial development," said Aaron Granger. "These signs were there when we moved in, so we knew it was coming." But these days, some homeowners almost dread the sight of the vacant land that used to look so attractive. The response seems to be "let's put something on it," said Sharon Covert, who traded in a condominium in Tampa Palms for a home in Heritage Isles last June. "We're not happy about it," she said. "We hope it doesn't turn into another Dale Mabry."
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