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November 14, 2003
Source: St. Petersburg Times
By: Ron Matus
South of Gandy Boulevard, the builders keep coming.
A North Carolina developer is proposing to build 139 townhouses on a 13.8-acre strip between Manhattan Avenue and West Shore Boulevard.
Phillips Development initially planned to build 240 apartments but shifted gears after hearing opposition from neighbors closest to the site, said Don Phillips, the company's president.
On Monday night, Gandy Civic Association members said they didn't want to see rows of townhouses, either.
But Phillips said only about 30 single-family houses could be built on the site - not enough to compensate a developer's cost for the land, which easily topped $1-million, he said.
"The price of the property is what's driving the use," he said.
The Phillips proposal is one of the biggest to hit the Gandy/Sun Bay South neighborhood in years, second only to a WCI Communities plan to build hundreds of homes on the Westinghouse site on West Shore Boulevard.
Phillips will go before the City Council in December to request a zoning change to increase the number of units that can be built on each acre.
The company is also moving to build 200 apartments in nearby Port Tampa, on the site of the Westshore Mobile Home Park. Residents there have until February to move out.
"We've had our peace and quiet so long," Gandy/Sun Bay South resident Vivian Hart said after Phillips' presentation. "Now everybody wants us."
Izae Jou Liao and Yen Feng Liao bought the land in 1980 for $80,000, and now it's valued at $260,000, according to county property records. But other developers have offered the Liaos $1-million, Phillips said, and he's under contract to pay "well north of that."
The land is tucked between Wallace Avenue and the railroad tracks, near Billy Ray's fruit stand.
Association members worried how the surge in new residents would affect traffic and stormwater. "We're getting more and more density, and more gridlock," said Larry Hundley, a 40-year resident.
Phillips' response: His proposal is the lesser of many evils.
Change is coming, and townhomes are better than apartments, he said. The ones his company wants to build will be about 2,000 square feet and sell for $175,000 to $200,000.
Don't forget the benefits of growth either, he added.
Rising property values.
