Bern's farm to become Wawa, soccer field

TAMPA — The former Bern's Steak House 8-acre organic farm is being redeveloped into a new Wawa convenience store and a professional soccer team practice field.

Last year, Bern's Steak House said it planned to stop farming the plot at 5702 W. Waters Ave., Tampa, which provided produce for the well-known Tampa restaurant, and instead planned to farm a smaller lot nearby.

In October, the Laxer family sold a 0.9-acre portion of the farm to Tampa-based developer RMC Property Group for $1.45 million. Construction work has since started on that portion of the site for the new convenience store, says Cory Hopkins, who works in development for RMC Property Group.

“We are looking at completion there within the year,” he says.

Hopkins couldn't confirm the size of the store, but Wawa stores range from 4,000 square fee to 6,000 square feet and house six to eight fuel pumps.

At the same time, the Laxer family is developing the remainder of the Waters Avenue and Benjamin Road property and more into a 10.5-acre practice field for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. David Laxer is one of the owners of the sports team. In early 2009, the Laxer family shelved plans for a 5,000-seat soccer stadium on the property. The private practice field is scheduled for completion in a little more than a month.

Clearwater-based Clark Hunt Construction Inc. is currently performing the site work for Wawa project and is developing the soccer training facility.

Tampa has been a strong growth target for the Wawa convenience store chain. On March 6, Wawa Inc. opened its fifth store in the Tampa Bay market, at 4026 U.S. 19, New Port Richey, a mere five weeks after it opened its first store in the market. Wawa has more than 600 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.