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Wrecking ball replaces remodeling
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer LAND O'LAKES -- Larry and Holly Dunleavy loved their large lot on Lake Padgett, one of the biggest water skiing lakes in the Tampa Bay area. What they didn't love so much was their 1,900-square-foot house, which, like many homes in their Lake Padgett Estates neighborhood, was built in the 1970s. Dark, low-slung and nearly windowless, the house deprived the Dunleavys of views of the milelong lake. Add to that the rust-colored shag carpeting and dingy paneling and the family was screaming for a change. "We'd come to a fork in the road. We could move or we could remodel," Larry Dunleavy said. What they settled on was much more drastic than that: They leveled the house in a day, cleared the debris and built what by central Pasco County standards is a mansion. "Now almost every room has a lake view," Dunleavy said, gesturing toward a towering family room wall dominated by two arched windows. It probably had to happen: Land on Lake Padgett has appreciated to the point where it pays to rip down an old house rather than buy an existing house on another lot. The Dunleavys aren't alone. Their friend on Lake Padgett Drive, Craig Anderson, did the same wreck-and-erect job on his lot. At least one undeveloped lot on the lake recently fetched $150,000. That's about the same price the Dunleavys paid for their entire property, house and all, in 1992. "People love lakes, and they're not making any more of them," said central Pasco Realtor Russell Adams. "People were going toward new developments and all of a sudden they found out what a gem Lake Padgett was as a community." Lake Padgett is definitely a jewel for the Dunleavys, who moved to Land O'Lakes in 1992 when Larry Dunleavy took a job as a professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Florida. "We moved to Florida with the idea of living on a lake," he said. "One of my two passions in life is water skiing." The lot on two-thirds of an acre was perfection itself for a lake lover, possessing a 190-foot shoreline set on a cove. But the house left much to be desired: The couple's three young kids (they've since had a fourth) were crammed in one of the home's three bedrooms. Two years ago, the Dunleavys were a signature away from commissioning a massive addition to expand the old house from 1,900 square feet to 4,000. But they got cold feet at the realization the remodeled home would be an unsatisfying mishmash of old and new. The decision emerged to raze the old house and build anew. The couple found a home plan on the Internet that suited their needs and paid $900 for the architectural drawings. After the old house was stripped of fixtures, air conditioner and ceiling fans, a man driving a track hoe went to work with his mechanical claw. Neighbors gathered to watch the demolition. "In less than an hour the house was gone," Holly Dunleavy said. The couple bought a temporary home in the Stagecoach community on State Road 54. They figured it was cheaper to own than to rent. In 10 months their new, custom-built, two-story stucco house rose beside the lake. Valued at $450,000, it has a four-car garage, five bedrooms and 41/2 baths. It is close to 4,000 square feet. Two balconies with sunset views over the lake adorn the upper story, one attached to the Dunleavys' master bedroom, the other to their boys' bedroom. Both Larry and Holly have home offices. A kids' play room became, with the addition of a pool table, a retreat for adults. Adams attributed the popularity of Lake Padgett Estates to people seeking roomy lots, a rarity among new communities where houses are often crammed 10 feet apart. "They have a palatial place there," he said. "In any one of the new communities they would have had someone on top of them on both sides." The Dunleavys agreed. One of the reasons they didn't sell their original home and move to a newer lakeside community was the spacious, laid-back feel of Lake Padgett Estates: no gates, less onerous deed restrictions, established families. "We've never had second thoughts," Larry Dunleavy said from his dining room as the children romped around the high-ceiling family room in the distance. "This was our chance to build our dream home when the kids were young."
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