Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER, Times Staff WriterA City Council member says Grand Hampton, with its live oaks and preservation land, is more like "the way things used to be in New Tampa."
GRAND HAMPTON - Developers of Heritage Isles, Cory Lake Isles, Live Oak and other recent New Tampa residential projects should take note.
City Council member Shawn Harrison is mighty impressed with the new kid in town - Jacksonville developer LandMar Group, which is making its first foray into the Tampa Bay area with 1,600 homes slated to open by May.
The project is called Grand Hampton, and it "represents a return to the way things used to be in New Tampa," Harrison said during a Wednesday groundbreaking at the project's construction site just south of the Pasco County line.
Lauding the project as "properly done," Harrison said LandMar has gone out of its way to protect much of the environment on its 648 acres about a mile east of Interstate 75, including 95 live oak trees.
"We've lost sight of that over the last few years," Harrison said.
That was nice to hear for LandMar officials. As part of a lawsuit settlement with the Sierra Club, LandMar dropped plans for a golf course, set aside more than 37 acres of protected wetlands and gave the city almost $430,000, which it used to purchase more conservation lands in Tampa Palms.
"We're taking everything up a notch," said James Harvey, regional manager of LandMar's division on Florida's west coast. "People who have lived in New Tampa for six to seven years are ready for something better. We're treating this like a country club community without the golf course."
There will be, however, a 6,000-foot putting green, a six-lane lap pool, lagoon pool, heated spa, fitness center, four tennis courts, a grassy athletic field and a basketball court all located at a 8,300-square-foot clubhouse.
A canopied road will lead to the clubhouse. About 95 live oak trees will provide the shade for the road. During the next six months, they will be uprooted, placed in a nursery, and then replanted by the time the project is ready to sell homes.
Homes will range between the $100,000 to the $700,000 range, Harvey said. About 70 percent of the buyers, Harvey estimates, will come from the New Tampa area.
"People like to buy new homes," he said.
Homes should be complete by July or August of next year. Harvey said LandMar expects to finish the project within four years.
-Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 269-5312 or mvansickler@sptimes.com