For 54 years, the largest retailer in Pinellas Park sold, almost exclusively, used and “well-loved” items, along with overstock and remaindered inventory.
The sprawling Wagon Wheel Flea Market closed in March 2020, due to the onset of COVID-19, and never reopened. With its large food court and Karaoke entertainers, it had been a popular weekend destination for families, who roamed and shopped.
Since then, thousands of residents and visitors who made the Saturday-Sunday pilgrimage, and legions of longtime vendors, have driven past the vacant buildings and overgrown grassy parking lots and wondered what in the world was happening with those 50 acres on Park Boulevard.
The answer has finally arrived.
Belleair Development Group is under contract to purchase the property, which totals 150 mostly undeveloped acres (including wetlands). It’s owned by the family of the late Hardy Huntley, who began the flea market in 1966 and over time bought up some of the real estate to the north.
“With 150 acres, you’ve got a lot of options,” said Christian Yepes, who co-owns the Pinellas Park development company with his father, Carlos.
“There are a lot of different ways you can lay the site out. So we’re exploring what the right mix is, what the right ratios are, what the right uses are that complement each other and what would be the best fit for that type of property.
“We’ve got a lot of different options on the table. We’re considering all avenues. We definitely are not considering data centers.”
There are personal factors involved.
“I have fond memories of taking my kids there when they were younger, visiting the flea market as a customer and as a member of the community,” Yepes said. “I live and work very close by, and I drive by the site at least once a day.
“I’ve had a lot of thoughts and dreams about what could go on this site, as I’m sure a lot of people have.”
Belleair owns The Shoppes at Park Place, at Park Boulevard and U.S. 19.
There’s no timeline for anything yet, Yepes added. “We’re looking at all the potential options from a density standpoint, from a parking standpoint, from a traffic standpoint. We’re meeting with our traffic engineers and doing the analysis. Meeting with the Geotech engineers, looking at what kind of slope conditions we have to work with.”
Technically, the acreage is in unincorporated Pinellas County.
The developers are also working with the city of Pinellas Park, Pinellas County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
“We’re making sure we turn over every stone and do our due diligence. We’re starting the annexation process, and working through the appropriate zoning categories to make sure that everything is compliant and conducive to developing the property in the manner that it’s supposed to be developed,” Yepes said.
A persistent rumor, on social media, contends that portions of the site were once used as a landfill, or dumpsite, and are therefore not suitable for development.
This information has not been officially verified. Yepes has heard the rumor.
“We’re exploring that now,” he said. “We know that some construction debris was buried onsite at one point. We’re looking into the extent of it. All I can say is that we’re quite literally digging in to figure out what’s there and what’s not there.”
Hardy Huntley, who died in 2013, opened the Wagon Wheel as a roadside fix-it stand on four acres in 1966. This became “Trade Days,” with vendors paying $2 to rent tables while Huntley and his family sold food and soft drinks.
According to a 2020 story in TBN Weekly, “The land also was used as a dump for appliances, wood, tree stumps and everything else except actual garbage.”
“There was a lot of dirt that got moved around that site over the years,” said Yepes, “if you look at the historical aerials. To my knowledge, the only buildings that were developed were in the front, plus all of the covered flea market spaces.”
The Hardy family acquired the nearby Mustang Flea Market, so-called because it had originated on the grounds of Pinellas Park’s long-closed Mustang Drive-in, bringing the Wagon Wheel’s vendor total to more than 1,500, including fruit, vegetable and plant sellers.
The precise future of the property remains unknown. “We’re still figuring out the whole picture now, as we go along,” Yepes explained. “We’re still piecing it all together.
“Our primary objective right now is to get to due diligence, figure out what we have to work with, then start putting the puzzle pieces together to figure out what project makes the most sense.”
