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Tampa Premium Outlets said to be on schedule for Oct. 29 grand opening

 
A worker attaches the marquee on a store at the Tampa Premium Outlets on Thursday. The mall’s grand opening will be Oct. 29. [Photo Luis Santana | Times]
A worker attaches the marquee on a store at the Tampa Premium Outlets on Thursday. The mall’s grand opening will be Oct. 29. [Photo Luis Santana | Times]
Published Oct. 9, 2015

WESLEY CHAPEL — Dust rose from a stone saw by the food court.

On the opposite side of the lagoon, two men banging mallets assembled a darkly stained deck.

A panorama of activity was visible from atop a small bridge that spanned the unfilled lagoon at the center of the mall. Neon-clad workers, who stood out against the pastel-colored Key West-themed storefronts, were putting the finishing touches on the exterior of Tampa Premium Outlets.

Set to open Oct. 29, the 441,000-square-foot mall along State Road 56 between Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Interstate 75 is more than 90 percent done and everything is on schedule, according to operations director Dallas Stevens. Soon the more than 110 retailers will begin setting up their stores in time for the grand opening, which will feature former Real Housewives of New York participant Bethenny Frankel.

More than 300 palm trees will provide patrons with shade while they shop. All the storefronts open to the outside, as opposed to indoor Tampa shopping centers WestShore Plaza and International Plaza. One advantage: The mall is dog-friendly.

Other amenities include Adirondack chairs and a lounge with televisions and places to charge phones. There's also a playground and free Wi-Fi.

"Every center within Simon (Property Group, the mall's owner and operator) is very much a community gathering place," general manager Stacey Nance said. "I think it's going to be a nice, warm, friendly shopping experience."

The mall's opening has created substantial buzz. An August job fair drew more people than expected for the 800 or so retail and managerial positions at the mall. Local officials are excited, too.

"It's an opportunity for us to showcase Pasco County,'' Commissioner Mike Moore said before the event. "It will bring people in regionally and even international visitors.''

But with new visitors, there are public concerns about added congestion, particularly because eastbound motorists must pass by the mall to reach the I-75 ramps. Rush-hour backups, sometimes more than a mile long, are common even though developers previously widened state roads 54 and 56 between U.S. 41 and the mall.

While shoppers await the choices and the outlet pricing, county officials await the tax windfall for their next budgets after the mall is added to the property tax rolls.

The Simon-owned 124-store Ellenton Premium Outlets mall in Manatee County, for instance, has a taxable value of $110 million and generated more than $1.7 million in property taxes last year. Just down the street in Wesley Chapel, the 31 parcels making up the Shops at Wiregrass are appraised at $106 million, according to the Pasco Property Appraiser's Office.

"It'll help our tax base quite a bit,'' Moore said. "I'm excited about it, of course I am.''

Contact Josh Solomon at (813) 909-4613 or jsolomon@tampabay.com. Follow @josh_solomon15.