NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — If you’ve taken a drive around New Port Richey recently, you may have noticed something new.

It’s a brand new welcome sign greeting visitors to the city as they enter from US-19. 

What You Need To Know

  • A new welcome sign greets visitors to New Port Richey

  • The sign is part of an ongoing project to rejuvenate the city, inspiring more revitalization around the city

  • Redevelopment around New Port Richey has come a long way, a stark contrast, City Manager Debbie Manns says, from 10 years ago

It’s part of an ongoing project to rejuvenate the city — a project that is inspiring more revitalization around the city.

“I think of opportunity and all of the things that are just yet to come,” said Debbie Manns, City Manager for the City of New Port Richey.

Taking a look around downtown New Port Richey, you’ll see a variety of businesses. A sign of not only a healthy city, but one that is actually thriving.

“Cities with downtowns, these days, are the envy of every other community,” she said. “For us to have a beautiful, walkable community with a river that runs through it, a park in the downtown — we certainly have the assets that any other community would envy.”

It’s a stark contrast, as Manns says, from 10 years ago. A time where properties stood vacant with boarded-up windows.

“One of the first things that the city council tasked me with was to work with them and help advance the city. The clearest strategy, to some success, was to energize and mobilize the downtown area,” said Manns.

Plenty of projects have come along to transform downtown and more are on the way. One area that will be transformed is Railroad Square. The project, Mann said, is slated to start in the next two months.

“It’s not particularly well designed and most are very confused by the design. As you can see, people park on the sidewalk as these vehicles all are, and that only leaves the roadway for pedestrians,” she said.

The $3.3 million project will expand all the way down to Grand Boulevard.

“We’ll be bumping out these sidewalks so that the businesses that exist here can go ahead and take advantage of some additional public space and provide for outdoor seating for their patrons,” Manns said.

It’s not just population density, Manns said, that will help the city continue to thrive. But also the thousands of drivers traveling along US-19 who decide to stop and visit.

“They can make a choice to make a quick turn and be in a historic downtown in seconds,” she said.

Enjoying what the city has developed both today and tomorrow.

Construction of the new welcome sign is almost complete. Manns said a few other additions will be made to the sign, including a digital board that will notify visitors of upcoming events. The sign is expected to be done in May.