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Pasture makes way for people

Apartments will rise on the old Hutchison homestead.

By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2007

SEMINOLE

Big Daddy, the black bull, and his cow harem - apparently the last bovine herd in Seminole - are now gone.

The pasture that was their home will soon sprout a 240-unit apartment complex that will be built by the Sweet Grass Co., a developer from Minnesota with a local office in Apollo Beach.

"They're putting in the infrastructure," said Mark Ely, Seminole's development director. "They're hoping to have all that done by Christmas."

But when the buildings will start going up, or be finished, or even what they'll look like is unknown. Construction documents have not been turned over to the city.

Company representative Rob Hartman said the project should be completed by March 2009.

He declined to talk about the value of the project, but said the company is completing a $35-million condo project in Apollo Beach.

The apartments will have an affordable housing component for "service" people (such as police officers and teachers) who will be providing the services that sold them on Seminole.

Hartman said Sweet Grass picked the area because of the location of the property and the amenities offered by Seminole.

The 12-building complex will be constructed on about 22.3 acres at the far east end of 70th Avenue N behind the Home Depot on Park Boulevard. The land, which the company bought for $13-million in October 2005, fronts on Long Bayou.

The land was once a cow farm and was known as the Hutchison homestead. It had been in the Hutchison family "forever," Ely said. It was apparently the last cow farm in the city, he said.

Sweet Grass has kept the two ponds on the property, Ely said. They'll add a pool, workout center, mail kiosk and two parking spaces per unit. The complex will be called the Pointe at Still Water.

Of the 240 units, 25 percent will be 857-square-foot, one-bedroom apartments. Half of the apartments will be two bedrooms with 1,007 square feet. The remaining 25 percent will be three-bedroom units with 1,347 square feet.

Hartman said that he expects the rents to range from about $1,100 to $1,600 a month.

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 23:33:06]