The sprawling 156-acre property that once hosted the legendary Wagon Wheel Flea Market in Pinellas Park is now under contract with a developer exploring plans for apartments and commercial space, more than six years after the market's gates closed for good. Belleair Development Group has agreed to purchase the land at 7801 Park Boulevard North, though the company says it is still early in the process of deciding exactly what gets built there.
Developer Confirms Deal, But Final Plans Remain Undecided
Belleair Development Group is under contract to purchase approximately 156 acres at 7801 Park Boulevard North, according to St Pete Rising. The company is exploring mixed-use development options that could include residential and commercial uses, though those uses have not been finalized. Christian Yepes, who co-owns Belleair Development Group alongside his father, Carlos Yepes, said the company is conducting due diligence and exploring mixed-use options for the site, and separately said the company is grateful for the opportunity to develop the landmark property.
The property has been in the hands of the Huntley family, who founded the Wagon Wheel Flea Market with Hardy Huntley's wife, Janet, in the 1960s. On August 31, the property owners authorized Belleair Development to pursue government approvals for a mixed-use project, an authorization that includes seeking site plan approvals, rezoning, land-use changes, development agreements, annexation, and environmental and geotechnical studies. Belleair is working with the City of Pinellas Park to annex the property, which currently sits in unincorporated Pinellas County and includes undeveloped land, wooded areas, and lakes.
Regulatory Steps Already in Motion
On November 5, the Southwest Florida Water Management District received an application for a formal wetlands and surface waters determination covering the site. The company says it remains focused on due diligence and determining the appropriate development for the site.
Carlos Yepes, identified in a July interview as the company's owner, has spoken publicly about the pace of permitting in the region. In that same interview, reported by Capital Analytics Associates, he said even a small remodeling project can take six months to permit on an existing building, while a new building can take nine months to a year. He also described Belleair's existing retail portfolio as running at full occupancy, a comment about the company's own holdings rather than the broader market.
Half a Century of History at the Site
The Wagon Wheel Flea Market began in 1966 as a roadside stand selling secondhand merchandise, founded by Hardy Huntley, a former used-car salesman, and his wife, Janet. The market grew into one of the busiest in Florida, eventually expanding to include more than 2,000 vendor booths and absorbing vendors from the nearby former Mustang Drive-In Flea Market. It reopened the day after a devastating fire in 1986 and kept going for decades afterward. Hardy Huntley died at age 77 in 2013.
Wagon Wheel and Mustang operated together at the Park Boulevard site for more than five decades before shutting down in 2020. The market temporarily closed in March 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Huntley family announced a permanent closure three months later. At the time, according to the Tampa Bay Times, the pandemic forced the closure and the owners said it would not reopen.
Where Wagon Wheel's Old Vendors Landed
The closure scattered Wagon Wheel's vendor community across the region. The Pinellas Farmers and Flea Market began operating in Largo in 2021 and now runs weekends at Win! Derby, 10490 Gandy Boulevard in St. Petersburg. More recently, a new Farmers and Flea Bazaar at Derby Lane began hosting some former Wagon Wheel vendors and customers starting in November 2025, according to WUSF. That bazaar, held at the former greyhound track still home to a poker room and gaming facility, draws roughly 150 vendors including farmers and food trucks, with an estimated 500 to 1,000 attendees on a given day.
Belleair's Broader Footprint in Pinellas Park
Belleair Development Group was founded in 1997 by Carlos Yepes, and Christian Yepes joined the company in late 2007. Per the company's own account, Belleair has completed more than 400 commercial and residential projects throughout Florida and already owns the Shoppes at Park Place in Pinellas Park. The firm has pursued other projects in the same city before: the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2020 that Belleair planned to transform two mobile home parks in Pinellas Park into apartments, and the same report noted the company has had projects planned in St. Petersburg and Largo as well. More recently, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that Belleair Development Group plans apartments in Pinellas Park, though that report did not include further project specifics.
For now, the Wagon Wheel site's future hinges on a process that is still unfolding on multiple fronts at once: a pending land purchase, an annexation push with the city, and a freshly filed wetlands review with state water managers. Whatever rises on the old flea market grounds, it will arrive years after the market that made the Park Boulevard address a Pinellas County institution went quiet for good.
