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Luxury, loads of traffic

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published May 5, 2006

I felt like I was on vacation as I stood on the floating dock, listening to the band playing calypso as the sun set in a sky of soft pink.

But there I was in Tampa. South of Gandy Boulevard, in fact.

A couple hundred people gathered last week for the opening of Westshore Yacht Club's 149-slip marina. The Yacht Club is one of the big residential developments headed for West Shore Boulevard, south of Gandy.

If you haven't been down that way lately, it's pretty incredible what's happening. You can check out the view from Rattlefish Raw Bar and Grill. What was once a remote industrial site has become a budding waterfront community with stellar views of Old Tampa Bay.

Directly north of Westshore Yacht Club is New Port Tampa Bay, an even larger planned community known for bizarre ads and billboards of a woman underwater. Site work on the project was to start this week.

The new developments come with big aspirations and big price tags, especially for an area that until recently wasn't all that desirable. Westshore Yacht Club's 535 single-family homes, townhouses and three condominium towers start at $500,000, and I dare to wonder about maintenance costs. Units at New Port start at $550,000.

The plans are impressive and unique to the rest of South Tampa with amenities galore. Though still early in the construction phase, Westshore has tall palm trees lining fancy boulevards and a guarded front entrance that exudes, "Yes, you have arrived.'' Drawings for New Port show waterfront cafes, shops and parks, a boardwalk and fountains.

Both developments tout themselves as destinations. Once you arrive, you'll never have to leave.

Smart marketing, because the traffic may be so bad you won't be able to leave.

That's the simmering volcano for all of these projects and a big deterrent to moving there, in my mind.

Traffic in the area stinks. It took me nearly 25 minutes to get from downtown Tampa to the marina event during Friday evening rush hour. Cars backed up at every light along Gandy, and the less-than-lovely scenery did nothing to pass the time.

Granted, people in the suburbs might take a 25-minute ride in stride, but no one pays top dollar for South Tampa real estate expecting a long commute.

City traffic counts give West Shore Boulevard, between Gandy and Bay Avenue, a fat F. As in flunk, fail. And that was based on February 2005 numbers. Imagine the impact of several thousand additional cars.

Locals have been fighting against development for years to no avail. They worry about traffic from West Shore Boulevard spilling onto neighborhood streets and firetrucks not being able to access the area during an emergency. And what happens when Pinellas County issues a hurricane evacuation and the whole world tries to leave on the Gandy Bridge?

"It's scary,'' says Al Steenson.

Steenson and his group from the Gandy Civic Association have met with anyone and everyone willing to listen to their traffic concerns. They've won some concessions here and there, but the reality remains.

"What happens when all those people move in?'' he asks. "What are you going to do? Those people don't have but one way out.''

Developers have tried to appease residents by saying they will benefit from the area's increased property values, which is true. But many old-timers don't want to leave. They can't. They paid off their mortgages and live cheaply. They have no incentive to go anywhere else.

So they'll sit and wait for the masses.

A few residents started moving into the Westshore Yacht Club last December. The first 15-story tower, the Castillo, will open in about a year.

New Port will follow behind, with the first residents moving in by late 2008.

Brian and Pam Lubliner are counting the days. The couple bought a three-bedroom condo in Westshore's Castillo a year ago and hope to move in within a year or so.

They bought for the waterfront location and the amenities, from the pool to the restaurants and the fitness center.

The traffic? Not a big concern.

They live in Brandon.

THE LAST DROP: Emerge Tampa, a networking group for young professionals, hosts its third annual Emergence party from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Channelside courtyard with food, a cash bar and live music. Hear about the vision for Tampa in 2011 and give input on the Riverwalk, the new Tampa Museum of Art and other initiatives. For details, go to www.emergetampa.com.

Susan Thurston can be reached at thurston@sptimes.com or 226-3394.

[Last modified May 5, 2006, 08:49:33]