To make room for parking, Sun City Center is offering two homes for free, moving costs not included.
By LETITIA STEIN
Published May 7, 2004
SUN CITY CENTER - Free House. You Pay to Move, read the twin signs on Cherry Hills Drive.
Dozens of passersby have scratched their heads then taken the obvious next step - calling the number listed below to learn more.
Turns out, the deal is good enough to be true.
The Sun City Center Community Association recently purchased the pair of two-bedroom homes at 1004 and 1006 Cherry Hills Drive. The community needs the land to make way for a road into a new parking lot behind the community center.
"We didn't want to tear them down,"said Walt Cawein, association president, who decided to see if somebody could use the homes built in 1962. So the community association placed the sign outside the house and took out an advertisement in a local newspaper.
Phones started ringing immediately.
More than two dozen people have toured 1004 Cherry Hills Drive, the first home offered. Last week, the community added the second listing.
"I was not expecting such a response," Cawein said. "It was a whim, more than anything."
The association paid about $87,000 for each property intending to clear the land and create a road into the community center parking lot. Market values for the properties are listed in the mid $70,000s on the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's database.
The upgrades to the facilities at the central campus are being made to keep pace with growth in the community. Thus the demand for more parking, Cawein said.
The association would like to close the deal to move the houses in June or July and have the lots cleared by September.
So far, the leading contender to receive the homes is the Mary and Martha House Inc. in Ruskin, which helps women and children dealing with domestic abuse and homelessness. But the charity has a number of funding hurdles to clear, so the community association is still showing the house to other interested parties.
Mary and Marth House leaders estimate they will have to raise $44,000 per home to move the buildings about 10 miles. That would not include costs such as permitting, land preparation and a host of assorted expenses.
"I do want them," said executive director Priscilla Mixon, who admitted that the challenges were daunting. "They will be used to house women with their children while they get an education, so they can learn to be self-sufficient."
Currently, she said the nonprofit can provide housing for about eight families. The Sun City Center homes would allow them to shelter at least four more.
Moving the homes won't be easy. The community association has compiled a list of house and building movers that could handle the task, which would involve picking up the home, foundation and all, and loading it onto on steel beams. Movers may have to cut one home in half to access to the lots and accommodate the width of the roads around the homes.
If the Mary Martha House fails to meet the mid summer deadline, the association should have no trouble finding other takers for the pair of 1,430-square-foot homes. Candidates include blue-collar workers from Wimauma and Balm who have stopped by to see the homes, as well as a few companies with commercial interest in reselling them, said Angelo Sica, association manager in Sun City Center.
Among the interested parties is Kevin Ball, owner and president of KSB Consultant Inc., who recently toured both homes with an eye to resell them on lots in Wimauma.
Ball nodded approvingly at the the large master bedroom with a fireplace at 1004 Cherry Hills Drive, whose main bathroom with pink plaid wallpaper is typical of older homes in Sun City Center. The open floor plan at 1006 Cherry Hills Drive let in abundant sunshine, although the bedrooms were smaller.
Sica explained the terms of the deal: The new homeowner would have to clear and level the lots, and the association would not be held responsible for damage during the move.
"I guess anything can happen," Sica said. "This is a first for me."
