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Tampa
Bay's 10 most expensive homes sold in 2012
By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, January 6, 2013
Deep-pocketed executives, a semiretired wrestler and
professional athletes past and present plunked down millions for the Tampa Bay
area's 10 most expensive homes sold in 2012.
In a year of good news for the average homeowner, with
mid-level local home sales prices rising to $133,000, these mansions and manors
embodied Tampa Bay's top 1 percent.
Selling for $3 million or more, these estates on Tampa's
Davis Islands, the Belleair coast and other luxury locales sold for a combined
$38.5 million. That's enough to buy the average local home 289 times over.
But why settle for the ordinary when you can live in a home
with its own tanning salon or private gym? Or when you can buy a $3.4 million
mansion, just to tear it down?
Here are the 10 priciest homes sold last year, based on
property records and sales data from the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing
Service.
$6.2 million
Sold April 13 to Michael Galinski
17,145 sq. ft.; 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 3 half bathrooms
Belleair, Willadel Drive: Topping the list is
wrestler-turned-restaurateur Hulk Hogan's former mansion on the Intracoastal
Waterway, famous in its own right as the backdrop for reality show Hogan
Knows Best. If you think a $6.2 million price tag is stunning, consider
that Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, had this manse on the market for
five years, starting at $25 million. Galinski, CEO of America II Electronics, a
St. Petersburg global distributor of semiconductor components, paid cash for
the gated mansion, crafted after a European country manor and built on a
sweeping waterfront bluff. Hogan downgraded a week later into a mansion a third
the size. (More on that later.)
Amenities: Tanning salon,
four-room guest house, two-room "play house," swimming pool with
waterfalls, two docks
$5.2 million
Sold Oct. 22 to Richard and Anna Steeves
8,595 sq. ft.; 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms
Davis Islands, Tampa, Baltic Circle: In 2010, Joel Cantor,
the developer of St. Petersburg's Signature Place condo tower, built this Key
West-style mansion on a ritzy Davis Islands coastline, opening it to a
fundraiser for first lady Michelle Obama and renting it to New York Yankees
player Alex Rodriguez and visitors to the Republican National Convention. Then,
in October, he sold it to the chief executive of a medical giant based in
Britain. Was Cantor already bored with its custom-made outdoor kitchen, power
window treatments or Honduran-wood entry doors? No, he said. He just wanted to
spend more time at his Colorado mountain hideaway.
Amenities:
"Infinity-edge" pool, full office wing, entry chandelier on a $55,000
power lift
$3.8 million
Sold Sept. 28 to Michael and Lori Kosloske
9,786 sq. ft.; 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 1 half bathroom
Tampa, Villarreal De Avila: This Mediterranean-style
mansion was built in 1999 on nearly 3 acres of lakefront at Avila, one of
Tampa's poshest country clubs. Its ornate three-floor foyer opens into nearly
10,000 square feet of palatial living, with upstairs lofts, oversized closets
and a lanai summer kitchen. The buyers are the founder and a chief officer of
Health Insurance Innovations, a Tampa provider of Web-based individual health
insurance plans that went public in December with plans to raise up to $86
million.
Amenities: Multitiered luxury
home theater, wood-paneled library with fireplace, guest cabana
$3.5 million
Sold June 11 to Yosef Rotman
7,501 sq. ft.; 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 1 half bathroom
Belleair Bluffs, Harbor View Lane: This English
country-style manse, with an eye toward the Belleair Causeway, sold for $1
million less than it was listed for in 2010. But don't doubt its extravagance.
About 3,500 square feet of marble buffers the vanishing-edge pool, spa and
fountains. The two-floor open living room is lined with granite and hardwood.
And a gourmet kitchen boasts three pantries, a refreshment bar and a kitchen
office. For those who opt for function over form, there are special filtration
systems for the water and air, a lightning-protection system and a 100-kilowatt
generator keeping the lights on in case the power goes out.
Amenities: Lightning-protection
system, rose garden, backup generator
$3.4 million
Sold June 28 to Vincent Jackson
9,533 sq. ft.; 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms
Tampa, Exmoor Street, Palma Ceia Golf
and Country Club: Tampa
Bay Buccaneers receiver Vincent Jackson bought this 1924 estate off the greens
of the Palma Ceia golf course a few months after the 29-year-old signed a
five-year, $55 million deal. With it, he got a spacious playroom with multiple
closets, custom stonework and woodwork, and a four-car garage.
Amenities: Caterer's kitchen,
housewide intercom system, four-car garage
$3.4 million
Sold May 10 to Hillswater Holdings LLC
Basics: 6,763 sq. ft.; 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 2 half
bathrooms
Tampa, The Riviera Street, Beach Park: Named Villa
Terracina after an Italian resort, this 1925 home fronts an inlet of Old
Tampa Bay just south of WestShore Plaza. But it's hard to know who is enjoying
its stone fountains and towered master suite: The company that bought it was
incorporated by registering agents in Miami, and its only officer is a
management firm in the capital of the British Virgin Islands.
Amenities: Restaurant-style
kitchen, boathouse, great room with century-old ceiling beams
$3.4 million
Sold Dec. 13 to James and Teresa Gail Norman
5,676 sq. ft.; 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 half bathroom
Davis Islands, Tampa, Ladoga Avenue: This 1954 home sits
on 27,000 square feet in Davis Islands, with a back yard, gazebo and pool on
the Currituck Channel. But the couple who bought it, a Tampa General Hospital
senior surgeon and his wife, plan to rip the home down and build anew. The home
was last sold in 1974 to Tampa eye surgeon Dr. Raymond Agia and his wife,
Susan, for only $93,500. For those keeping track at home, that's 36 times
smaller than the latest sale.
Amenities: Guest house with rec
room, 9- to 16-foot ceilings, half a football field of open bayfront
$3.3 million
Sold Oct. 26 to Brad and Monica Culpepper
6,109 sq. ft.; 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 1 half bathroom
Davis Islands, Tampa, Bahama Circle: The last of three
Davis Islands digs to pad out our list, this 2004 home was bought by
Buccaneer-turned-personal injury attorney Brad Culpepper and his wife, Monica,
who competed last year on Survivor: One World. Out front, a
remote-controlled gate opens into a porte cochere and grand marble foyer. Out
back, a pool deck and balconies overlook Hillsborough Bay.
Amenities: Master's retreat
with waterfront balcony, private boat lift, full gym
$3.3 million
Sold April 20 to Terry and Jennifer Bollea
5,400 sq. ft.; 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms
Clearwater Beach, Eldorado Avenue: Remember the Hulk,
from home No. 1? This estate just south of Clearwater Beach's millionaire
enclave of Mandalay Point is where he landed. Terry Bollea and his wife,
Jennifer, may have moved from the largest home on this list to the smallest,
but the place is still massive. The 1,000-square-foot "master
retreat" boasts a gulffront terrace, luxury bathroom and morning bar, and
the home is awash in granite, marble, cherry wood and Brazilian teak. Not bad
for a downsize.
Amenities: 900-bottle wine
cellar, elevator, 1,500 square feet of gulffront balconies and lanai
$3 million
Sold Aug. 30 to James and Johari Rollins
6,500 sq. ft.; 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 1 half bathroom
Culbreath Isles, Tampa, Saint Croix
Drive: This
South Tampa mansion was bought by James "Jimmy" Rollins, shortstop
for the Philadelphia Phillies, which plays spring training games across the bay
in Clearwater. Built in 2008, with 22-foot ceilings downstairs and 11-foot
ceilings upstairs, it also features a library, a bayfront pool and, as a sales
listing said, "all the over 3 million dollar bells and whistles."
Amenities: Butler's pantry with
wet bar, two-floor formal living room, 22-foot ceilings
Drew Harwell can be reached at (727) 893-8252 or
dharwell@tampabay.com.
[Last modified: Jan
05, 2013 03:31 AM]
Copyright
2013 Tampa Bay Times
In Print: Sunday, January 6, 2013
Copyright
2013 Tampa Bay Times
Too Few Homes
By Drew Harwell, Times
Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, August 17, 2012
…”In a housing market notorious for foreclosures and walk-aways, a surprising new truth has emerged: Too few desirable homes are for sale.
In June, Tampa Bay had a five month's supply of houses, townhouses and condos for sale, meaning it would take about five months to sell it all if nothing else came on the market.
In Hillsborough County, where supply topped two years in 2008, the number of for-sale homes has plunged to about three months, half the size of a healthy market.
Inventories across the country, steadily sliding since 2007, are now at a six-year low, National Association of Realtors data shows.
Supplies are particularly tight for low-cost homes and in high-demand neighborhoods.
Low inventory can lead to a seller's market, including higher prices. After years of sinking values, that's good news for sellers, some of whom have seen bidding wars…”
To read the article in its entirety, please visit http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/tampa-bay-housing-inventory-hitting-new-lows/1246229
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