From Big Macs to big retreat: Caspers plan 550-acre Pasco, Hernando luxury resort

The family that helped build a fast-food empire across Florida is betting its next big venture on a slower pace of life.

Blake Casper and sister Allison Casper Adams, the third generation behind Tampa-based Caspers Company, unveiled plans Wednesday for Clay Hill, a sprawling luxury resort and residential community planned across 550 acres in Pasco and Hernando counties.

The proposed retreat would include a 130-room resort, an equestrian center, a working farm, four food and beverage concepts, a chapel and about 50 estate homes. The siblings have yet to close on the property but, if all goes to plan, Clay Hill’s address will be 18424 Clay Hill Road, northeast of Dade City in Pasco County.

According to Pasco County Property Appraiser records, the land is currently owned by Evans Properties, Inc. — a family-owned agricultural and land-management company founded in 1951 and headquartered in Vero Beach. The Evans family owns and operates large land holdings throughout Florida, focusing primarily on citrus growing, cattle ranching and real estate development.

The venture is one of the Caspers’ most ambitious projects since the family left the McDonald’s business in 2022 and turned its attention more fully toward hotels, restaurants and experience-driven hospitality.

Clay Hill would span about 330 acres in Pasco County and 220 acres in Hernando County. Its developers say much of the land’s rolling terrain, oak trees and open space would remain intact, creating a secluded destination built around wellness, outdoor recreation and equestrian culture.

At the property’s highest point, atop the eponymous Clay Hill, the Caspers envision a main resort building called the Manor House. It would serve as a gathering place for hotel guests, homeowners and resort “members,” with amenities including tennis and pickleball courts, meditation and yoga areas, a sauna and cold plunge tank.

Plans also call for pedestrian, bicycle and horseback-riding trails, as well as bike and kayak rentals. A chapel overlooking the 130-acre Dowling Lake would host gatherings and private events.

The working farm would supply ingredients for some of the property’s restaurants and connect guests and residents with the land, the company says in a release. Programming would include outdoor painting, creative workshops, community discussions, weddings, corporate gatherings and wellness retreats.

The concept draws inspiration from high-end destination resorts such as Canyon Ranch in Malibu, Blackberry Mountain in Tennessee and Soho Farmhouse in England, while blending in the equestrian traditions of Argentina and Uruguay.

Still, the Caspers say Clay Hill would be tailored to northeast Pasco’s rural identity. The proposal calls for limiting vehicle traffic within the development, with some roads used primarily for emergency access. The company also said the project would not require Pasco or Hernando counties to extend central water or sewer service to the site.

“Thoughtfully planned to preserve scenic views, agricultural uses and the rural identity of the surrounding communities, Clay Hill will preserve a large percentage of the original property as natural acreage while celebrating the area’s rural character and natural landscape,” the company says in the release.

Image courtesy of Piper & Co.

Those details could prove important as the proposal moves through public review. Northeast Pasco has long been shaped by tension between development pressure and efforts to protect farmland, open space and rural communities. Pasco County adopted a special planning framework for the area nearly two decades ago, called the Northeast Pasco County Rural Special Area Plan, that emphasizes low-density development, scenic landscapes and the preservation of rural character.

The project remains in the planning stages. The company did not disclose an estimated construction cost, development timeline, room rates or prices for the estate homes. It also did not specify what zoning changes or other government approvals may be required in the two counties.

The Caspers said they plan to hold community town halls as the proposal advances.

Clay Hill’s residential section would contain no more than 50 homes on lots of roughly 1 to 2 acres. Homeowners would automatically become members of the resort community and receive access to its hospitality and recreational amenities.

The development team said the homes would use natural materials and architecture intended to blend into the surrounding landscape, instead of resembling a conventional suburban subdivision.

For the Casper family, the project represents another step in a business transformation decades in the making.

The family’s Tampa history began in 1958, when Fritz Casper opened the city’s first McDonald’s on South Dale Mabry Highway. Over three generations, Caspers Company grew into Florida’s largest McDonald’s franchisee, eventually operating about 60 restaurants stretching from Tampa Bay to Jacksonville and Tallahassee.

Blake Casper, Casper Adams and her husband, Robby Adams, sold the restaurants to McDonald’s corporate in 2022, ending the family’s 64-year run with the fast-food chain.

By then, the Caspers had already begun building a hospitality portfolio centered on design, food and social experiences. Their Oxford Commons company operates Oxford Exchange, The Stovall House private club, The Library restaurant and Mad Dogs & Englishmen, among other concepts.

The family also owns The Current Hotel, a 180-room waterfront hotel on Tampa’s Rocky Point, which it acquired in 2022 and later added to the Oxford Commons portfolio.

In 2024, Caspers Company acquired Wright’s Gourmet House, the South Tampa institution known for its towering sandwiches and cakes. The company has since announced plans to expand the longtime restaurant with locations in Brandon and the Wiregrass Ranch area of Wesley Chapel.

Clay Hill would take that hospitality strategy well beyond the urban restaurants and social clubs that have defined the Caspers’ recent growth. It would combine a resort, residences, agriculture and recreation on a scale the family has not previously attempted.

The company says the development is expected to create jobs, draw visitors and add to the tax bases of Pasco and Hernando counties. How large that economic impact may be — and how the resort will fit into an area prized for its quiet roads and open land — depends on details still to come.