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Developers Halt Cypress Creek Mall Construction

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 2, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL -- The developers of Cypress Creek Town Center have stopped construction of the regional mall until they can resolve permitting issues with federal regulators.

Cleveland-based Richard E. Jacobs Group told commercial real estate brokers two weeks ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was forcing Jacobs Group to stop work on its regional mall until the developer can resolve the drainage problems that flooded Cypress Creek with mud in January, said Michelle Seifert, an associate vice president at Grubb & Ellis/Commercial Florida.

Seifert represents several retailers that have signed on to the Jacobs Group project. She declined to name her clients, but noted that the delays are causing problems for at least one of her smaller clients.

"The major tenants out there will probably not be open before this holiday season," Seifert said.

Jacobs Group officials couldn't be reached for comment this afternoon.

The halt to construction is the latest roadblock in Jacobs Group's attempt to build a 1.3-million-square-foot regional shopping mall at Interstate 75 and State Road 56 in Pasco County.

In February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended the permit that let Jacobs Group fill 54 acres of wetlands on its property. The suspension barred any work on the land where those wetlands used to be – including land in the path of the mall's planned main entrance south of the S.R. 56-County Road 54 junction.

The corps suspended the development permit after a storm in January caused a retention pond on the mall site to overflow and pollute neighboring Cypress Creek with mud. It was the second such violation for the developer. A similar event happened in the fall.

Jacobs Group also faces a federal lawsuit by the Sierra Club, which is attempting to overturn the permit corps officials issued last summer.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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