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Builders zero in on vacant, ''leftover'' parcels around Dunedin with a trend toward townhomes.
By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2003
DUNEDIN -- The city that has seen redevelopment of its downtown businesses explode is about to experience a boom of another kind.
In the coming months, site plans for nearly a dozen multimillion dollar residential developments of single-family homes, apartments and townhomes could be approved, bringing in more than 250 new units and millions of dollars in additional tax money.
"What some of this is is the redevelopment of leftover smaller parcels," said Kevin Campbell, the city's director of community services. "This is land that has been left vacant over the years and the townhouse market is very strong right now."
City commissioners recently approved applications for some of those projects. One is a developer's plan to build 14 townhomes on 1.7 acres along Skinner Boulevard and 23 townhomes on an adjacent 2.4 acres for the Wellington Place townhomes.
"We had always wanted to put townhomes on the smaller piece and an office building on the larger piece," said Bob Ironsmith, Dunedin's economic development director. "But we felt there was a bigger demand for townhomes downtown."
Enter Tom George, president of Prelude Construction.
George is the developer working on Wellington Place, moderate, two-and-three-bedroom townhomes expected to be priced between $167,000 and $200,000.
"We wanted to do something that we could be really proud of," said George, who grew up in Dunedin. "The ultimate goal in building this is to get people back to the (downtown) community and away from the subdivisions."
The project is expected to cost about $4.3-million to build.
At the same meeting, city leaders approved the annexation, rezoning and site plan approval of 1.7 acres on the east side of New York Avenue near Beltrees Street to develop an 18-unit apartment complex.
"It's straightforward," said Campbell. "We see it as 18 units on an oddly shaped piece of property."
The development, according to Campbell, is in the early design stages and is expected to be nine structures housing two units each.
"On the surface they look like duplexes," he said. "But we haven't seen any detailed construction plans yet."
"We should know more about this within the next month, maybe sooner," he added.
Rottlund Homes of Florida broke ground on the Townhomes at Weathersfield about a month ago and since then crews have been pouring concrete foundations for the 53, two-bedroom homes.
Situated just east of Keene Road on Virginia Avenue, the townhomes are priced from $180,000 to $200,000.
Officials with Rottlund Homes would not discuss what it will cost to build the project.
"We're targeting Dunedin just because of the market," said John Lintz, Rottlund's sales and marketing manger. "It's close to the Gulf of Mexico, close to schools and shopping. It's just a great area."
Rottlund Homes also is to build 57 high-end, single-family homes and 88 townhomes for Clearwater developer Jason Lesser.
The single-family homes, which will be an extension of the existing Highland Woods subdivision, will range from 2,700 square feet to 3,500 square feet and sell for as much as $400,000.
Plans for the luxury townhomes, slated to be named Covered Bridge, call for about 2,000 square feet of living space and will be priced in the $200,000 range.
The entire development, which includes a three-story, 41,000-square-foot office structure, is expected to cost $30-million to build.
-- Leon M. Tucker can be reached at (727) 445-4167 or tucker@sptimes.com .