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Developers want to move mansion

If the plans are approved, Safety Harbor's Tucker Mansion may have to make way for 23 townhouses.

SAFETY HARBOR - Back when it was built in 1923, the stately manse with the four white pillars was called Virginia Manor.

Designed by its original owner, Virginia Hernandes Bailey Tucker, to resemble a Southern plantation her family owned, it had elegant French doors and a grand dining room that could seat 18 guests.

It had a winding staircase and brass chandeliers, and the lawn was shaded by papaya and mango trees.

It was the pride of Safety Harbor.

Now it's just in the way.

Developers want to move the 12-room home, now called the Tucker Mansion, from the center of its 2.9-acre property to the west side to make way for 23 "city houses," described by developers as "super luxurious townhouses."

The three-story townhouses would be built in the same graceful, old-fashioned Southern style as the Tucker Mansion, named after the original owner.

Called a neotraditional design, it attempts to meld the old style with the modern.

The townhouses would have elevators, high ceilings, front porches, balconies and 21/2-car garages. The smaller homes would be about 2,645 square feet; the larger ones would be about 3,000 square feet.

Amenities would include walking paths and gazebos.

The 42-foot-tall townhouses would face Old Tampa Bay, where the water, the sailboats and wading birds would be visible from the upper balconies.

The cost? Upwards of a half-million dollars each.

"I'm trying to do something really nice, not just jam stuff in there," said Jan Kahler, president of Kahler and Co. Real Estate Investments, which has partnered with Bay4 Capital LLC to develop the property. The two companies have submitted an application to the city for site plan approval.

For months, groups of downtown residents have been fighting the development of townhouses and condo towers, which they say are changing the atmosphere of Safety Harbor.

City Commissioner Andy Steingold hears about it at almost every commission meeting and is sensitive to the residents' feelings.

"I'm all for development, but I'm not sure 23 townhouses is what neighbors envision for that property," he said. "And with the new library, spa and Harbour Pointe, you're creating a huge parking problem within the next five years."

If the City Commission approves the project, developers would have an enormous task on their hands: moving the 5,160-square-foot Tucker Mansion.

It won't be cheap.

Kahler said it would cost upwards of $200,000 just to move it a couple of hundred feet.

City Commissioner Keith Zayac said he'd "rather see it moved than torn down."

Currently, the house serves as offices for Bay4 Capital LLC. The information technology leasing company is part of General Electric's Commercial Finance unit. Employees work at desks in the parlor and attic.

"We plan to keep it an office and face it toward Philippe Parkway," Kahler said.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com