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Homes

Happier than ducks in water

This boat-loving couple found the perfect place to roost along a lagoon in scenic MiraBay.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published January 21, 2005

APOLLO BEACH - Susan and David Schleif live and breathe their neighborhood.

So much so that the 60-something retirees appear in a promotional brochure for their 750-acre waterfront community in southeastern Hillsborough County. The two of them paddle their kayak in seemingly restful blue waters beneath an even more restful Florida sky.

The rub is that the photograph was shot during last summer's spate of hurricanes. Their kayak was tied to a dock with waves crashing, Susan says.

The couple live in a planned community called MiraBay, a distinctly coastal kind of place with streets lined with pastel-colored, old-Florida style homes and pain-free access to all kinds of boating.

The views, of course, are low-key and beautiful: a wash of water and sky and, in the distance, the 1,200-acre Wolf Branch Creek Preserve.

Both ardent boaters, the Schleifs own a little pleasure fleet - a tandem kayak, 29-foot cabin cruiser and a water scooter. The water scooter is a new toy, fast and a bit too tippy for Susan's taste. When she and David flipped recently while out for a spin, she found another ride home - from a neighbor.

"She's probably the only person in MiraBay who's thumbed a ride from a passing boat," says David jokingly.

Pretty intense for two people who spent years living in Peoria, Ill. David worked for Caterpillar; Susan was an editor at Sew News magazine.

More recently, they were living in Clearwater and about to retire from their sewing machine and fabric store business when they read about the yet-to-be-built community.

Fed up with the perpetual clog of traffic on U.S. 19, they wanted to live in an area where they could get to the grocery store in a matter of minutes.

And live on the water.

"We had been looking up and down the Florida coast for a place to move to," recalls Susan, who grew up in Miami but had many relatives in Tampa.

Her mother graduated from Plant High School, and her cousin once worked as the general manager of Busch Gardens.

"I used to come to Tampa on vacation when I was growing up in the early '50s and loved the whole area," she says.

The couple looked seriously at waterfront lots in Pinellas County but found the hefty price tags discouraging. They also had little interest in the area's myriad golf communities. Neither one of them plays, and they both craved boats rather than golf carts.

They read about MiraBay in the newspaper, went to look and fell hard, paying $5,000 to reserve a home site before pricing had been completed.

They picked a 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom, 21/2-bath David Weekly home on a pie-shaped lot with 140 feet of frontage on a lagoon. The house has an airy kitchen with an island and space for Susan (an excellent cook who has edited two cookbooks) to hang her copper pots.

They moved in a year ago.

With six children ages 26 to 44 and 13 grandchildren, some of whom live out of state, they know they picked a good spot for visitors. David takes his sons on fishing expeditions into the gulf. Susan recently spent an afternoon at the MiraBay pool careening down the 110-foot water slide with one of her grandsons.

Developed by the national company Newland Communities, which also developed Fishhawk Ranch in southeastern Hillsborough County, the community is also home to the Coastal Living magazine "idea house," open through March.

The house, designed by Cooper Johnson Smith Architects of Tampa, incorporates the latest in building products and interior design ideas.

When MiraBay reaches completion in five years, it will incorporate 1,750 residences priced from about $250,000 to more than $3-million.

What she likes best, Susan says, is the healthy mix of ages living in the neighborhood. It's not just a place tailored to retirees or young families. It caters to everyone.

Susan, who has worked as a part-time greeter in waterfront model homes, gets so excited she offers to drive a visitor around and show off the amenities. Two years ago, MiraBay won the Community Design Award of Recognition from the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission.

From a scenic, cupola-crowned clubhouse patio decorated in rattan, Susan points to a dock for checking out kayaks and Sunfish. There's the quaint fishing store with its look of Maine meets West Coast Florida. A walk-in, beach-style pool and fancifully decorated grill (with words such as "relax," "believe," and "play" painted on the walls) appeal to all ages.

A health club and spa offers everything from French manicures to massages to Pilates classes. Susan pauses to admire fabrics and furniture selections. Her home is decorated in a Tommy Bahama style, with palm tree rugs, tropical upholstery in the den and sage green ultrasuede on the dining room chairs.

The Schleifs so love their waterfront view that they're expanding their patio into a tasteful outdoor living room, with a fireplace and expanded seating for their big family.

They also like the view for another reason: David, an amateur wildlife photographer and birdwatcher, spends a lot of time outdoors, observing roseate spoonbills, eagles, egrets and other wildlife.

When other waterfront peninsular lots became available, they camped out all night to grab a good one. Actually, their son offered to do it.

"He said it reminded him of what he had to go through to get FSU football tickets," Susan recalls.

Now they're building a two-story waterfront house with bilevel, Charleston-inspired verandas and great sunset views.

It was supposed to be an investment.

Though they built a one-story home as insurance in case of future health problems, they're tempted to move into the new house and sell the old one.

"The problem is we love both of them," Susan said, sighing one day as she drove around MiraBay. "We just can't decide."

[Last modified January 20, 2005, 08:52:11]