Buyers already have reserved several of the residences, priced from the mid $400,000s to more than $600,000, which eventually will be joined by retail spaces.
By NORA KOCH
Published August 5, 2004
TARPON SPRINGS - On a vacant lot where resort hotel dreams once dwelled, developers are now poised to break ground on a ritzy townhome community overlooking the Anclote River.
Tuesday night the Tarpon Springs City Commission unanimously approved a site plan for the Anclote River Crossings, a 36-unit development on Live Oak Street east of the Sponge Docks, that will eventually include commercial space.
With inhome elevators, granite countertops, master balconies and rooftop terraces, two-car garages and 14 riverfront boat slips, the most elaborate homes in Anclote River Crossings are being designed for buyers with upscale tastes.
And they have prices to match. Preconstruction prices range from $449,500 for townhomes on a landscaped retention lake to $624,500 for riverfront terrace homes. If developers get their asking price on every unit, sales will exceed $18.4-million.
Before the five-member board voted, Commissioner Jim Archer jokingly asked: "When do the presales start?"
Already buyers have reserved seven units, said Tim Steele, president of Greater Bay Construction Company, which is building the project.
"There are a lot of local people that want riverfront property," Steele said. And homes also have been reserved for people from as far away as Canada, he said.
Now that the commission has approved the plan for the 6.33-acre property, the project will head to the permitting stage. Steele said he hopes to apply for permits in the next week. If the permitting goes smoothly, he estimated he'll begin construction in four to six weeks.
Construction is slated to last 10 to 12 months.
Tarpon Springs would get an estimated $200,000 in annual property tax revenues and fees generated by the development.
But the new townhomes would boost Tarpon Springs far beyond the increased tax base, said Mayor Beverley Billiris.
"It is an asset to have such a prestigious development in our community," Billiris said. "Aesthetically it will be beautiful."
A few years ago city leaders envisioned a hotel and resort on the property, Billiris said, but the idea sank because no developer wanted to do the project.
"But the condos will be more of a permanent base for the community," Billiris said.
Once the residential part is completed, Steele said the company will develop the mixed-use portion of the property. The townhomes will sit on 2.4 acres of the site, leaving 3.9 acres for future commercial development, according to the site plans.
Already he's heard from at least one bank interested in the site. But Steele said it is too early in the process to predict what retail might show up on the property.
"We're going to let the market dictate that," he said.
The project will be set back 30 feet from the shoreline and 15 feet from wetlands, according to a city site plan review. The developer also will be required to complete a study of the project's impact on wildlife before permits will be given.
