WESLEY CHAPEL - What's green, white, black and open 24 hours?

The new Starbucks at State Road 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, that's what.

The wavy-haired siren - that's the crowned woman on its logo - opens a new outlet Feb. 23 at the Shoppes at New Tampa, said a Starbucks spokesperson.

The building, part of a strip center at the mall, is already mostly completed. The iconic sign is up. The drive-through lane is marked.

It's not the only new deal coming to central Pasco.

Today, a new Hampton Inn & Suites opens at Cypress Creek Retail Center, northeast of SR 56 and Interstate 75.

It's the first hotel to open on the heavily trafficked east-west stretch from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to the Suncoast Parkway.

Other businesses may be hunkering down, but apparently not the hospitality industry.

"We're opening into the peak season," said general manager Doug Ritchie. "The indicators we're seeing for the hotel business is that it's not doing badly at all. There must be still enough business to keep the market afloat."

County bed tax revenues confirm Ritchie's optimism.

For the quarter from October through December last year, Pasco County collected $150,991, streaking ahead of the $144,498 in the same period the year before. December 2007 - a peak season indicator - also holds the distinction as the second best month for bed tax collection in a decade: Pasco County took in $56,101, trailing only December 2005, when it collected $57,163.

Each of the new Hampton Inn's 94 rooms features high-definition, flat-screen TVs, including 29 suites that provide extra goodies like a wet bar, sofa-bed and - in some cases - a whirlpool tub.

A little farther east, in the heart of Meadow Pointe, a new CVS store is on the way. County planners are poised to sign off on construction plans for the 17,000-square-foot store at Mansfield Boulevard and County Line Road.

"Hopefully construction starts within a month," said the project's engineer, David Fuxan. He estimated it would take less than a year to complete the store.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4613.

Bed tax revenue

$150,991 collected by county in last quarter of 2007

$144,498 collected in same period of 2006