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PO Box 1212 Tampa, FL 33601 Pinellas Updated November 2005
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RETURN TO NEWS INDEX
Developers set a southern course
APOLLO BEACH - For years, planners have predicted that south Hillsborough County's farms and cozy neighborhoods would give way to Tampa Bay's next housing explosion.
In the first months of 2005, speculation has changed from when to how fast?
"As of this year, the market has fully arrived," said Rick Harcrow, vice president of the GL Homes division that picked south Hillsborough for its first venture on Florida's west coast. "What was emerging is now coming out of the ground."
Nearly 10,000 homes could start rising in south Hillsborough in the next two to three years - and that's just the big projects. The number easily could double as thousands more homes go in along U.S. 41 and U.S. 301 into Ruskin. The region's waterfront access and reasonable commutes to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota are selling points for builders and home buyers. But only recently has the market boiled over.
A sign of the times: Newland Communities, developer of FishHawk Ranch and MiraBay, recently snapped up 2,200 acres off Interstate 75 for Waterset, a community that could bring about 5,000 homes between Big Bend Road to 19th Street in Ruskin.
Waterset won't access Tampa Bay. Property on the water is so hot that Newland has plans to dredge canals right across the greens on Apollo Beach's 160-acre golf course. The developer has optioned the land to realize its dreams of a second phase to MiraBay, a gold mine of coastal-style homes on man-made canals.
Builders large and small are lining up to break ground on Hillsborough's last urban frontier. This summer, GL Homes will break ground on Valencia Lakes, where 2,800 homes will rise at U.S. 301 and County Road 674. Like Newland's property to the west, the county approved a city-sized subdivision here during the 1980s.
But south Hillsborough's market slumbered as development went east and north - until the region's real estate engine recently changed gears.
"It's going to happen soon," John Healey, the county planner who monitors projects large enough to affect the entire region.
These days, Beazer Homes looks around its neighborhood on U.S. 301 and sees a "who's who" of developers ready or starting to build: KB Home, Transeastern Homes, Lennar.
The attraction? For starters, development has no better place to go. Nowhere else in Hillsborough still offers large tracts to develop. Much of the open land on maps is off-limits. To control sprawl, the county won't provide infrastructure for growth far beyond established areas.
South Hillsborough's bedroom burbs can pitch to commuters easy access to Tampa, St. Petersburg and booming Manatee County. The drive to work from south Hillsborough is shorter than from many places in Pasco County and the North Suncoast, where growth also is headed.
"A lot of families have two-income producers. One of them might work in St. Petersburg and the other might work in Tampa," said Ron Weaver, attorney for Beazer Homes. "That's the ideal location for them."
Beazer hopes to break ground by year's end on the 2,050-home community called Belmont, off U.S. 301 south of Big Bend Road. Prices are not certain, but Beazer hopes to start in the mid $100,000s.
Like other developers along U.S. 301, Beazer couldn't move ahead until striking an agreement this spring with the county to fund the road's widening. Developers will share the cost of expanding the artery. In return, the county will issue home permits.
Now another big-name developer is looking to dominate the market.
Recently, the region's largest pockets of developable land were snapped up by the company behind FishHawk Ranch, the Lithia community topping Hillsborough's growth charts in recent years.
Newland spent a year negotiating the rights to property off Interstate 75, east of U.S. 41, for Waterset, which is expected to bring about 5,000 homes. The community will come online as FishHawk Ranch builds out around 5,000 homes in two years.
The acquisition gives Newland, which also developed MiraBay and Covington Park, a virtual empire in Apollo Beach. Waterset is poised to take all the land south of 1,200-home Covington Park, down to 19th Street. Waterset combines two long dormant major developments approved in the 1980s, Southbend and Wolf Creek Branch.
With Waterset, Newland envisions prominent lakes and water elements, playing off the proximity to Tampa Bay. Walking paths will traverse the community. Single-family homes and townhomes will include a social center and limited commercial space.
"What about the property makes it unique and special?" said Don Whyte, president of Newland's operation in the Southeast. "We try to capitalize on it."
Nothing is written in stone yet. County planners don't have plans for the full development. But Newland has purchased some of the land and is negotiating to buy the rest.
Waterset is likely to produce a more affordable range than MiraBay, a few miles south on U.S. 41. MiraBay's homes, expected to sell from the $200,000s to $500,000s, have climbed to $5-million.
Newland expects to finish building MiraBay's 1,750 homes in 2007, two years ahead of schedule. To extend MiraBay's footprint, Newland recently snagged development rights to an adjacent golf course designed by the renowned Robert Trent Jones Sr., which it would convert to waterfront land by digging canals.
"Waterfront properties are worth more," said Whyte.
South Hillsborough's development potential is showing up in gradually rising sales prices.
Between 1999 and 2004, average closing prices for homes built here ticked up about $60,000 to $192,316, according to Rose Residential Reports, which monitors Tampa Bay's market. Hillsborough's average price reached $246,167 for a new house last year.
Increasing home prices are among the signs that have GL Homes enthused about the future of Valencia Lakes, formerly known as DG Farms. At 1,300 acres, it ranks among the region's largest planned developments. Homes at Valencia Lakes are expected to sell from the $200,000s to the $400,000s, with an anticipated buildout between 2008 and 2010.
GL Homes expects to break ground this summer on the community, geared to 55-plus adults seeking active lifestyles. Valencia Lakes includes two clubhouses and an athletic center.
"The horse is out of the barn," said Harcrow of GL Homes.
Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com.
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