UP|Tampa

Tampa History Museum

restdevgroup — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:31:18 +0000

That will be a building master peice and a welcome addition to the Tampa Bay water line. I nice peice to the puzzle indeed.

New Condo/Retail tower in Down Town - Element

tombarnes — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:48:03 +0000

Thanks. I would like to see more participation in the Tampa forum. Any thoughts?

New Condo/Retail tower in Down Town - Element

hjack — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:53:07 +0000

tombarnes, on Oct 26 2008, 04:35 PM, said:

How is this project coming along? I'd love to see more participation in this forum.

Wow. Looks like it's just you and me buddy. I'll try to get a pic up tomorrow.

hjack

New Condo/Retail tower in Down Town - Element

tombarnes — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:35:53 +0000

How is this project coming along? I'd love to see more participation in this forum.

School Districts

hjack — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:10:35 +0000

Plant High School has been rated (at least it had a few years ago) as THE BEST public high school in Florida. It is in South Tampa. Several of my physician colleagues live in South Tampa (a more expensive area of Tampa due to the downtown and waterfront) so that their kids can go to school there. For private schools Berkley Prep is the best in town and one of the highest ranked private schools in the state. Most of my colleagues send their kids there. It is a bit north west of South Tampa (an area called Town and Country) Many people will live in South Tampa but send there kids to school there (10 to 25 min drive in traffic depending on where in South Tampa you live) rather than live in Town and Country. T & C is a lower income community and not highly regarded, but there are some real gem neighbourhoods there that are well kept secrets (Waterfront/non-gated: Dana Shores, Bay Crest // Waterfront/gated: Pelican Island, Sweetwater, Bayfront, Palm Bay) Also right beside Town and Country is an excellent large, non-waterfront, relatively affordable, suburban community named West Chase. It is made up of multiple gated and non-gated sections. (Warning:some of the planned communities there are so Nazi that they have made the national news. To be fair though, I have heard horror stories from several different planned communities in Tampa...) There are some excellent public schools in North Tampa as well, particularly in an area called Tampa Palms. North Tampa generally gives you more bang for your buck than $outh Tampa, but the downside is the traffic if you have to work downtown. I will tell you that I know several people who have moved from North Tampa to South Tampa and Sweetwater just so their kids would be closer to Berkley. In fact, there are Berkly Prep grads who move BACK from out of state to Tampa just so there kids can attend school there. (Warning; this school is not for rebels.)
Good luck.

Demolition by Neglect?

tombarnes — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:57:07 +0000

Tampa Moves to Prevent Demolition by Neglect

The coty opf Tampa is making it harder for owners of dilapidated historic buildings to allow them to sit until they fall apart. The city has moved to create incentives forrenovation in addition to punitive measures. The carrot may prove more useful than the stick. Time will tell whether r not this approach works. It seem like a good idea to me.

TampaBay.com

School Districts

TampaTKE — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:12:37 +0000

There are strong areas in the district.

I would recommend looking into the Palm Harbor area. Palm Harbor University (It is a High School) is probably the best public high school in the entire Tampa Bay region.

Also, I recommend looking into the town of Seminole. You can check FL school grades on the Web. I don't remember the site, but you can use a search engine to find it easily.

School Districts

FloridaFuture — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:22:07 +0000

Pinellas county schools aren't nearly as good as Hillsborough. Northwest Hillsborough/Southwest Pasco county have good middle and high schools. I'm currently attending Sickles high school in Hillsborough and it along with Martinez Middle are some of the best in the state.

To raise kids I'd stay close to Citrus Park area. There is a mall and movies right there and is very close to Sickles and maybe half an hour to get to Largo, 10-15 minutes to Westshore, and about 25-30 minutes to downtown Tampa.

WCI Files Chapter 11

hjack — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:27:46 +0000

Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/aug/05/bz...-11/?news-money Actually a Realtor told me about this yesterday. Unfortunately, they invested in a 1.5 mil home at The Westshore Yacht Club, and now are planning on "giving it away" because it won't sell. While some of WCI's other overpriced Florida developments may have had a chance of surviving if the market didn't correct itself, I never thought that their price structure would work in Tampa. According to a friend "living" there (temporarily renting while their house is built), there are many vacancies and many renters. And those renters are not coming close to covering the monthly mortgage payments for the speculators. My friend told me that one of the homes by him that is going into foreclosure is a 1 mil failed flip bought by a cop living in north Tampa. How a cop is given a 1 mil mortgage for an investment home is beyond me and an obvious clue that the mortgage lending practices were well out of whack. In fact, though I haven't verified it for myself, the Realtor told me that Tampa is #1 in the country for foreclosures. Ugggh.

School Districts

tombarnes — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:42:29 +0000

I wish I had a few suggestions for you. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the area falls short in the matter of schools. I will post something if I am able to uncover any information.

School Districts

Dreamer1q — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:39:15 +0000

Hello everyone, I have used these forums to watch my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan for many years now. But I seldom post.

I am finding out now that I am being relocated by my employer to the Tampa/Largo area. I have NO knowledge of the area other than I honeymooned there about 7 years ago and loved it. Currently my school district is rated 3rd in the entire state of Michigan, so I have high standards for public school. I dont know if I should ask which schools to look into, or which schools NOT to look into. But any input that you could offer me would be really great.

On the same hand, any ideas on which areas are more suited to family life and raising teenage kids (12, and 13) would be much appreicated also.

Seaport Channelside

hjack — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:42:45 +0000

I drive by these apartments on my way to work everyday. Personally, from Channelside Dr, they look like soon to be slums. I haven't rented an apt for a while but $1100/month for a 1 BR there seems a bit unrealistic.

hjack

Proscenium, Sarasota

tombarnes — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:05:09 +0000

I think it will be fine. The building seems to fit with its surroundings and does not fall into the traditionalist trap that might possibly have been encouraged by the affiliation. As for the Indigo, I have heard good things about it. Isn't it a renovation of an older property?

Seaport Channelside

Tallaman — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:52:11 +0000

Hopefully, it'll serve to get some warm bodies into the area. How's the project looking now?

Tampa History Museum

Tallaman — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:50:30 +0000

That's poetically correct to have the Columbia, so much a part of Bay area history, in the museum. The building's looking great. Another piece to the puzzle.

Proscenium, Sarasota

tombarnes — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:28:33 +0000

The hotel isn't bad looking, but the Waldorf=Astoria designation does not seem to fit correctly with the project. Perhaps it's just my preconception of what one should be like. Has anyone else got the same feeling about this?

Proscenium, Sarasota

FloridaFuture — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:19:35 +0000

Loads of info and such at the projects' website:

http://www.theproscenium.com/overview.html

Tampa History Museum

FloridaFuture — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:18:36 +0000

It will feature a Columbia restaraunt (oldest in Florida) also here is a link to a webcam:

http://www.tampabayhc.com/

Tampa History Museum

tombarnes — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:27:23 +0000

Any more news on this project?

Proscenium, Sarasota

FloridaFuture — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:46:31 +0000

I've seen renderings in the past. It is a great looking project.