North Manatee gets ready for its boom
Developer Alan Zirkelbach says the area is "the center of everything."
By TOM ARTHUR
Herald Tribune
NORTH MANATEE -- All of the talk about developing thousands of acres of pasture and woods in far northern Manatee County is starting to become a reality.
Site preparation on a 230-acre development off Moccasin Wallow Road is nearly completed, and site work on a 1,000-acre development nearby is expected to begin within eight months. Together, they will transform an area where wild hogs have long outnumbered people.
"I never imagined it would become what it is today," said developer Alan Zirkelbach, who grew up in Palmetto.
Zirkelbach Construction Inc. is finishing the site preparation at the Woods of Moccasin Wallow, a mixed-use development that borders Interstate 75 to the east and Moccasin Wallow Road to the north.Zirkelbach remembers the weekends he spent as a youth camping and hunting on the site where workers are now turning the earth in preparation for homes, retail space and warehouses.
He said the location, where Interstate 275 meets I-75, is ideal for the mixed uses planned for the site."I like to call it the center of everything," he said. "It's close to Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa and St. Petersburg"
The project is one of Zirkelbach's most ambitious, incorporating 147 homes priced at about $300,000, with about 600,000 square feet of warehouse space and 200,000 square feet of retail space. On a recent tour of the property, Zirkelbach pointed to woods bordering the acreage where homes will be built, and thick stands of foliage that will obscure the homes from the warehouses that will border the interstate. He said the contours of the acreage being developed were shaped in part by existing pastureland, an effort to preserve the woods.But make no mistake, it won't be long before the changing landscape is visible to travelers along Moccasin Wallow Road and the interstate.
Retail establishments attached to the project will front Moccasin Wallow Road. Expect to see restaurants, banks and a grocery store. Zirkelbach said national chains are being lined up, but he would not be specific because leases have not been signed.
Homes will be built a half-mile off Moccasin Wallow Road, and will line an 18-acre lake that will be nearly 20 feet deep in places. The homes will be built by Denver-based Richmond American. The project is one of a handful planned for an area bordered by U.S. 41 to the west, Hillsborough County to the north, Interstate 75 to the east and east and Interstate 275 to the south.
The projects could bring 7,300 homes to the area.In July, work is expected to begin on the largest of the projects, the 2,500-home Artisan Lakes, a Taylor Woodrow project that will include land for an elementary school, a fire station and a park. That project, first approved in 1992, also is expected to include a retail component similar to that being built across the street at the Woods of Moccasin Wallow.
To accommodate the growth, Moccasin Wallow Road will be widened to four lanes, and a new north-south road, Gateway Boulevard, will connect Moccasin Wallow to Buckeye Road to the north.
The first homes at Artisan Lakes are expected to be completed by late 2008, and the businesses are expected to be open by early 2009. Five other housing developments within a few miles of Moccasin Wallow Road have already been approved or are pending county approval.
The housing market's slowdown in recent months does not concern Zirkelbach, who has projects in the works from Tampa to Naples.He considers Southwest Florida to be fairly bubble-proof. Especially his project at Moccasin Wallow, where he plans to build a new headquarters building on three acres." It's hard to find another location with 100,000 cars going by every day," he said, pointing toward the busy interstate traffic visible in the distance.
Developer Alan Zirkelbach says the area is "the center of everything."
By TOM ARTHUR
Herald Tribune
NORTH MANATEE -- All of the talk about developing thousands of acres of pasture and woods in far northern Manatee County is starting to become a reality.
Site preparation on a 230-acre development off Moccasin Wallow Road is nearly completed, and site work on a 1,000-acre development nearby is expected to begin within eight months. Together, they will transform an area where wild hogs have long outnumbered people.
"I never imagined it would become what it is today," said developer Alan Zirkelbach, who grew up in Palmetto.
Zirkelbach Construction Inc. is finishing the site preparation at the Woods of Moccasin Wallow, a mixed-use development that borders Interstate 75 to the east and Moccasin Wallow Road to the north.Zirkelbach remembers the weekends he spent as a youth camping and hunting on the site where workers are now turning the earth in preparation for homes, retail space and warehouses.
He said the location, where Interstate 275 meets I-75, is ideal for the mixed uses planned for the site."I like to call it the center of everything," he said. "It's close to Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa and St. Petersburg"
The project is one of Zirkelbach's most ambitious, incorporating 147 homes priced at about $300,000, with about 600,000 square feet of warehouse space and 200,000 square feet of retail space. On a recent tour of the property, Zirkelbach pointed to woods bordering the acreage where homes will be built, and thick stands of foliage that will obscure the homes from the warehouses that will border the interstate. He said the contours of the acreage being developed were shaped in part by existing pastureland, an effort to preserve the woods.But make no mistake, it won't be long before the changing landscape is visible to travelers along Moccasin Wallow Road and the interstate.
Retail establishments attached to the project will front Moccasin Wallow Road. Expect to see restaurants, banks and a grocery store. Zirkelbach said national chains are being lined up, but he would not be specific because leases have not been signed.
Homes will be built a half-mile off Moccasin Wallow Road, and will line an 18-acre lake that will be nearly 20 feet deep in places. The homes will be built by Denver-based Richmond American. The project is one of a handful planned for an area bordered by U.S. 41 to the west, Hillsborough County to the north, Interstate 75 to the east and east and Interstate 275 to the south.
The projects could bring 7,300 homes to the area.In July, work is expected to begin on the largest of the projects, the 2,500-home Artisan Lakes, a Taylor Woodrow project that will include land for an elementary school, a fire station and a park. That project, first approved in 1992, also is expected to include a retail component similar to that being built across the street at the Woods of Moccasin Wallow.
To accommodate the growth, Moccasin Wallow Road will be widened to four lanes, and a new north-south road, Gateway Boulevard, will connect Moccasin Wallow to Buckeye Road to the north.
The first homes at Artisan Lakes are expected to be completed by late 2008, and the businesses are expected to be open by early 2009. Five other housing developments within a few miles of Moccasin Wallow Road have already been approved or are pending county approval.
The housing market's slowdown in recent months does not concern Zirkelbach, who has projects in the works from Tampa to Naples.He considers Southwest Florida to be fairly bubble-proof. Especially his project at Moccasin Wallow, where he plans to build a new headquarters building on three acres." It's hard to find another location with 100,000 cars going by every day," he said, pointing toward the busy interstate traffic visible in the distance.
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