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Homes

Home is opulence, no apologies

A wine-loving bachelor with a big heart and wallet builds a lavish beach mansion after a fire.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published January 28, 2005

BEL MAR SHORES - Mike Kwasin built his dream house in a spot most people in Tampa would covet.

If only they knew it existed.

Kwasin's 14,000-square-foot mansion with a barrel-tile roof the color of the Aegean Sea and sultry statue of a toga-clad goddess dangling wine grapes sits on 200 feet of sandy white beach overlooking Tampa Bay.

"It's one of only nine houses in all of Tampa that have a beach," explains Kwasin of his Beach Drive address. "This two-block stretch is one of the most desirable streets in the city."

With the prime western view he can gorge on Florida sunsets.

From the 1,000-square-foot great room he can also entertain the hundreds of guests who flock to his wine-tasting fundraisers. He generates thousands of dollars for a wide swath of causes from Moffitt Cancer Center to Metropolitan Ministries. His neighbors, a coterie of doctors, lawyers and businessmen, pick the charities.

Guests pay $30 per person to nosh on duck breast appetizers, sip from a selection of 62 wines and mingle outdoors by the waterfront fireplace.

"I love it here," says Kwasin, 61, who owns the Fine Wine and Spirits Warehouse on Gandy Boulevard in Tampa. "I love to get up in the morning and come home at night. I have a hard time justifying going out in the evenings."

Who wouldn't?

Kwasin spent the past five years building the house after his previous home on the property - where he had lived since 1989 - was destroyed by a fire that almost took his life. The new house, which cost $700,000 to build, exceeds fire codes with its steel beam walls.

The first-floor living level is 19 feet above sea level, inspiring views that stop guests in their tracks.

"I designed the whole house myself, down to the square inch, even the kitchen," he said. "I wanted to make it so comfortable that no matter where you are, you don't feel closed in. I wanted the house to be warm and inviting and to flow."

Kwasin can hardly conceal his passion for the place as he takes a visitor on a guided tour. With help from Ybor City architect Jerry Curtis, he designed a house nothing short of a pleasure palace.

"It's conspicuous consumption personified," he says, throwing his hands in the air. "It's a bit ostentatious. I admit it."

For example, he designed a first-floor powder room solely for his female party guests. It includes a private phone and marble dressing table stocked with Christian Dior perfume, jars of hand lotion and vials of mascara.

He installed 15 showerheads in his own shower "with low ones so she doesn't have to get her hair wet," he explains matter-of-factly.

And the spiral metal staircase that leads from the master bedroom to the pool? It isn't a fire escape at all, he jokes, but an efficient means of continuing a late-night swimming rendezvous in his bedroom.

Kwasin, who is single, divorced and not above cleaning his own house and windows himself, is the first to tell you he doesn't give a hoot what people think: "I'll wear a pink sweat shirt in a heartbeat," he says. "I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I'm my own person."

An amateur race car driver who competes in timed auto-cross Porsche events in Sebring, Kwasin wanted a garage big enough to hold 12 to 14 cars (he owns three Porsches, including a cocoa-brown 1969 Targa 912).

He also loves to cook and made sure his new kitchen suited his needs.

It features 185 square feet of granite, a 60-inch Viking six-burner gas stove with griddle and grill; a copper, custom-made Abaca hood system; and two state-of-the-art French ovens, including a Miele steam oven and a Gaggenau that comes with its own bread-baking stone.

"This kitchen cost about 100 grand - it's just sick," he says with a laugh.

Though it's laid out galley style, caterers can work efficiently while as many as 15 party guests mingle in the wide aisle.

A walk-in wine cellar is kept at a constant 58 degrees, currently stows 2,000 bottles and is wired to alert the burglar alarm company when the temperature fluctuates.

The house holds myriad other surprises: Kwasin salvaged the honey-colored, inch-thick tongue-and-groove maple floors from a gymnasium at a St. Petersburg high school.

His penchant for Victorian furniture is apparent in the living room where a sewing machine - once belonging to his grandfather, a tailor in Philadelphia - is displayed along with ornate antique sofas and chairs.

Kwasin, who grew up in Pensacola, migrated to Tampa after graduating from Saint Leo University in Pasco County. He has been in the wine business for 30 years, a passion that he slowly pared down from four stores to one.

"I was always running and didn't have a life," he says. "I literally work more hours now than I used to, but it's a lot more fun."

Definitely.

When he's not attending other wine charity events or hosting his own, he's usually fishing off his private dock out back. The area is known among boaters as "water ski alley" because a barrier sandbar keeps the water smooth as glass.

Last week, Kwasin cooked up a couple of flounder he caught for dinner. He no doubt dined with a view and a sense of satisfaction: dream house accomplished.

"The water is mystifying, the sunsets incredible," he says without apology. "I'm a happy guy."

Kwasin will host a wine and cheese tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10 to benefit tsunami relief efforts. For information, call the Fine Wine and Spirits Warehouse at (813) 837-8941CQ.

[Last modified January 27, 2005, 09:33:08]