PEDC’s John Walsh was on hand last Tuesday to update New Port Richey’s city council on the possible redevelopment of HCA’s former Community Hospital site in New Port Richey’s “Marine” district.

“We are currently meeting with representatives from HCA about redevelopment of that site,” Mr. Walsh said, “We are focusing as much as we can on that 28 acre site in the context of the entire Marine District.”

“City Manager Debbie Manns has joined the group and has really been productive with our meetings with the County and the HCA group,” he said. He went on to say that he believes real progress has been made because “They [HCA] started referring to it as the ‘West Campus.'”

Mr. Walsh also said that he believes the downtown New Port Richey efforts towards a stakeholders group and business incubator are going well. “We have had 75 different attendees from different businesses attend classes that we’ve had since our start in June.”