Fifteen Years and Counting: The Raymond James Campus Wesley Chapel Was Promised

Still Waiting: The Raymond James Office Campus That Wesley Chapel Has Never Seen Built

A 65-acre site near State Road 56 has sat largely undeveloped since the project was first announced in 2011. Here’s the full story.

It was supposed to bring hundreds of high-paying jobs to southern Pasco County and signal Wesley Chapel’s arrival as more than just a bedroom community. Nearly 15 years later, the long-promised Raymond James Financial office campus near State Road 56 and Mansfield Boulevard has yet to produce a single building.

How It All Started

In September 2011, the Pasco County Commission voted unanimously to approve a package of financial incentives worth an estimated $15 million in combined county and state funding. The goal was to convince Raymond James Financial, the major financial services firm headquartered in St. Petersburg, to build a satellite office campus in the Wiregrass Ranch area of Wesley Chapel.

The site sat at the intersection of State Road 56 and Mansfield Boulevard, directly east of the Shops at Wiregrass and across from the Pasco-Hernando State College Porter Campus. According to Pasco County records, the incentive deal included tax rebates, impact fee waivers, and millions of dollars in road construction funding—including work on what would become Wiregrass Ranch Boulevard connecting State Road 54 and State Road 56.

Raymond James, in return, agreed to build two 100,000-square-foot office towers on 65 acres of land owned by the Porter family, the longtime stewards of the Wiregrass Ranch property. The company committed to creating 750 jobs in Pasco County by 2024, with 100 of those positions expected to arrive by 2014. At the time, a tentative construction start of 2012 was floated, with the first building projected to open in 2013.

The Incentive Breakdown

The public investment committed to the project came from multiple sources at both the county and state level.

An economic analysis prepared for the Pasco Economic Development Council projected that the campus would generate roughly $40 million in local property tax revenue and $135 million in taxable sales over 17 years. The broader economic ripple was estimated at around 1,200 jobs and $600 million in total wages when accounting for indirect employment.

The First Round of Delays

Construction did not begin in 2012. Or 2013. Or 2014.

Although Pasco County approved an expanded version of the campus plans in 2013—growing the concept to six four-story buildings and up to one million square feet of office space—Raymond James never broke ground. The company had signed a letter of intent with the Porter family but had not yet closed on the land purchase.

By late 2014, the delays became public. According to reporting at the time, Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly acknowledged that the company was pushing back its Pasco County expansion by as much as five years. The firm did not need the additional space yet, Reilly indicated, though he maintained that the company still planned to close on the property eventually.

That announcement stung the local business community, coming on the heels of another blow: T. Rowe Price, a separate financial firm that had also been courted to set up operations in Pasco County, decided not to move forward with its own plans in the area.

Five Years to Close on the Land

Wiregrass Ranch developer J.D. Porter spent years publicly reassuring the community that Raymond James would follow through. At a March 2016 public meeting, Porter addressed the growing skepticism directly, telling attendees that the land deal would close.

It did—but not until September 2016, a full five years after the original announcement. According to publicly available property records, Raymond James paid roughly $1.7 million for the 65 acres, a price of approximately $26,153 per acre. That was well below market value for the Wiregrass area, a pricing decision by the Porter family intended to help secure the deal.

A key detail accompanied the closing. Just two days before the sale was finalized, according to reports at the time, Pasco County amended its economic development agreement with Raymond James and Wiregrass Ranch Inc. The amendment removed any construction deadline from the deal. With that change, the company was no longer bound by any timetable to actually build on the property.

Signs of Life in 2019

The project showed its most tangible signs of progress in late 2019. According to reports from area media outlets, Raymond James filed a preliminary site plan with Pasco County and requested a meeting with county planners. The updated proposal reportedly called for five office buildings and two parking garages spread across the 65-acre property.

The scope had evolved from the original two-tower concept, but the vision remained significant—a major corporate campus along one of Wesley Chapel’s most visible corridors. Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore told media at the time that he expected to see activity on the site within weeks.

Then 2020 arrived. The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed how companies across the country thought about office space, remote work, and real estate footprints. No further public movement on the Wesley Chapel campus was reported.

Meanwhile, Raymond James Expanded Elsewhere

While the Wesley Chapel site remained dormant, Raymond James continued growing at its existing headquarters. According to publicly available information, the company acquired three additional buildings at its Carillon Office Park campus in St. Petersburg, expanding its presence there to approximately 1.2 million square feet and adding roughly 650 jobs.

CEO Paul Reilly has also acknowledged publicly that the company’s acquisition of brokerage firm Morgan Keegan provided Raymond James with a second operations center in Memphis, Tennessee—reducing the operational need that originally drove the search for a Pasco County satellite campus.

According to reporting from area business publications, Reilly has described the Wiregrass Ranch property as a long-term growth opportunity, noting that Pasco County offers access to a different employee base. But he has not committed to a construction start date, indicating the company is still evaluating the right time to develop the site.

The Most Recent Update—And Another Missed Target

The last substantial public update came in May 2023, when Wiregrass Ranch developer J.D. Porter told area media that Raymond James had already invested several million dollars in preliminary site preparation on the property. Porter indicated at the time that actual vertical construction—meaning buildings rising above ground level—could begin within a matter of months.

That timeline came and went. According to publicly available information reviewed by Wesley Chapel Community, no vertical construction has begun on the site as of April 2026.

Where Does This Leave Wesley Chapel?

Raymond James still owns the 65-acre parcel. There has been no public indication that the company plans to sell the land or walk away from the project entirely. But there has also been no confirmed date for when building will begin, no public announcement of a revised plan, and no visible construction activity on the property.

The landscape around the site, however, has changed dramatically. When the deal was first struck in 2011, much of the Wiregrass Ranch area was still open land. Today, the campus site is surrounded by development on nearly every side—the Shops at Wiregrass, Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter Campus, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant, the Audi of Wesley Chapel dealership, and a growing number of residential, medical, and retail projects. A new Orlando Health hospital is also taking shape in the Wiregrass area.

The 65 acres at State Road 56 and Mansfield Boulevard remain one of the largest undeveloped parcels in the heart of Wesley Chapel’s most active growth corridor. Whether Raymond James ultimately builds the office campus it first envisioned more than a decade ago—or the site takes a different direction—remains an open question that Wesley Chapel residents have been asking for a very long time.

No additional details were immediately available from Raymond James Financial or Pasco County officials at the time of publication.

For more local news and Wesley Chapel development updates, visit www.wesleychapelcommunity.com and follow Wesley Chapel Community on Facebook, X, and Instagram.