A 59-acre stretch of pasture at the southwest corner of State Road 56 and Mansfield Boulevard is on track to become one of Wesley Chapel's largest commercial developments, with more than 30 retail and restaurant spaces planned in the first phase alone.
Regency Centers of Tampa filed site plans with Pasco County on Friday, June 19, for three parcels within the Wiregrass Ranch Master Planned Unit Development, according to Neighborhood News. The applicant listed on the permit documents is Seth Lane, vice president of Regency Centers.
The development appears headed for a Fresh Market anchor. The proposed grocery space measures 26,187 square feet, nearly matching the boutique chain's typical 25,000-square-foot store format, and Regency Centers has extensive experience developing Fresh Market-anchored shopping centers. The Fresh Market has not officially announced a Wesley Chapel location, and county permits do not name the tenant.
What the plans show
The three parcels submitted so far cover about 14.6 acres of the 59-acre site:
Parcel D (7.65 acres) is the primary retail center. Plans call for the anchor grocery store plus 28 retail and restaurant suites ranging from 1,220 to 4,230 square feet, totaling 54,985 square feet of retail space and 17,390 square feet of restaurant space.
Parcel B (4.10 acres) includes two sit-down restaurants (5,750 and 8,000 square feet) and one 3,075-square-foot fast-food restaurant with a drive-through.
Parcel A (2.88 acres) includes one 8,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant and one 3,000-square-foot restaurant or office building.
Seven additional outparcels representing about 27.28 buildable acres remain undeveloped, leaving room for more restaurants, retail, offices and other commercial uses as the project builds out.
How it compares to The Shops at Wiregrass
When fully built, the project will span 10 separate parcels across its 59 acres. The Shops at Wiregrass, by comparison, is a 67-acre open-air lifestyle center with 760,379 square feet of gross leasable area, according to a CBRE property brochure. That makes this new project close in footprint to Wesley Chapel's largest existing retail destination.
The site sits diagonally across SR-56 from the Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital complex and between Pasco-Hernando State College and the highway. The parcel was zoned for commercial use in 2007.
Who's behind it
Scott Sheridan, longtime chief operating officer of Locust Branch LLC, the development arm of the Wiregrass Ranch MPUD, first discussed the project publicly at a community presentation in April 2026. When contacted by Neighborhood News for its July 26 report, Sheridan "declined to discuss additional details for this article beyond acknowledging that plans had recently been submitted to the county."
The Fresh Market is an upscale, European-style grocery chain with four existing Tampa Bay area locations. The closest to Wesley Chapel is near North Dale Mabry Highway and West Fletcher Avenue in Carrollwood.
What's next
No construction timeline or opening date has been announced. The project must complete Pasco County's site plan review before construction can begin. Site plans also call for modifications to the SR-56 median and the Lajuana Boulevard signalized intersection, with a future reverse-frontage road connection planned. No additional tenants beyond the grocery anchor have been publicly identified. Residents can monitor the project's progress through Pasco County's development services portal.
