A couple had two Davis Islands homes razed to make room for a showplace. But now the land has been sold and the plans canceled.
By SHERRI DAY
Published August 28, 2004
TAMPA - What do you get when you mix two waterfront lots, two mansions worth a combined $5.9-million, a bulldozer and one design-happy couple?
On Davis Islands, a real estate sale.
In a new twist to what was one of the most talked-about real estate deals in South Tampa last year, 58 Bahama Circle is back up for sale, minus the mansions razed to make way for two lovebirds.
Now the neighborhood is left to wonder what became of the 7,000-square-foot house manufacturing mogul Mitchell P. Rales and his girlfriend Rebecca Black planned to build. Or, for that matter, what became of the Maryland pair who, little more than a year ago, were engaged to be married.
Neither Rales nor Black, whose family moved to Tampa when she was a toddler, returned repeated calls for comment. The couple's real estate agent, Toni Everett, also declined to speak about the property or its former owners. So did their New York architect Charles Gwathmey.
Four weeks ago, Rales sold the vacant lots to the highest bidder, Mark Weldon, a Tampa furniture importer. Weldon saw an investment opportunity.
Weldon never met Rales. Instead, he worked his way into a deal. From the moment Rales bought the property, Weldon expressed interest in buying it. He mentioned his desire in social circles. Finally, Rales got the word and took the bait.
"His people got in touch with some other folks that knew me, and we put it together," said Weldon, who just built a 5,100-square-foot house on land abutting Rales' lots.
Weldon said he paid Rales $6.2-million for the 1.3-acre property.
Almost immediately, Weldon planted three for-sale signs along the perimeter of the property's wrought-iron gates. He divided the lots into three waterfront plots and waited for the calls to come.
The asking price? $2.4-million each.
So far, he's sold one lot and is in contract on another. Weldon said he expects the third plot to sell quickly. With almost no advertising, he fields at least one call a day from prospective buyers, many of whom don't live in Tampa and have never seen the property.
"I've got a backlog of people who are interested," said Weldon, who described his buyers as businessmen and doctors. "We don't need to list property like this. It sells itself."
Word of the couple's sale has been the talk of Davis Islands real estate watchers. Among the most interested is D.V. Preiser, the interior designer responsible for outfitting the larger of the two demolished mansions.
The $4.2-million Italian villa, Preiser said, was possibly his greatest work.
Its amenities included seven bedrooms, 24-karat gold faucets, a boat slip and a mahogany English pub.
"It was really a showplace," Preiser said.
Preiser estimated it cost about $20,000 to raze the houses. But before the demolition, scavenger hunters descended. Preiser bought an iron balustrade and sold it to a client. Another Preiser client snared a fountain imported from England. But the 8,500-bottle wine cellar, with custom-made cabinets, and the swimming pool, with a $40,000 underwater sound system, both went the way of the wrecking ball, Preiser said.
Now, it seems, the demolition was all for naught.
"I think it's a waste," Preiser said. "It's disgusting that somebody would do something like that to such a wonderful space. It was not a tear-down. It's all gone."
