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Old 09-10-2019, 06:14 AM
 
30,146 posts, read 20,868,388 times
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No coconut palms in Brooksville jill.
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Old 09-10-2019, 07:30 PM
 
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We have a permanent campsite in a nice resort, about ten minutes out into the sticks, outside of Brooksville. As a northern resident, one thing that shocks me is how expensive real estate has gotten in that neighborhood. I looked on zillow recently, and anything within a 2-3 mile radius from our place was dumpy old ranchers on very little ground, or extremely expensive properties with some acreage, a barn, fencing and various sized versions of a trophy house. My barber there is a hardcore local, who told me that there also much unseen, and that a short flight over my neighborhood would reveal 4-5 properties with full sized horse racing tracks, hidden off the road. B-ville might seem to be hicksville, but there are folks from the horsey crowd who have some pretty impressive investments out in the sticks, and there is more money floating around there than you might imagine.
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Old 09-11-2019, 09:12 AM
 
529 posts, read 1,161,918 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wharton View Post
We have a permanent campsite in a nice resort, about ten minutes out into the sticks, outside of Brooksville. As a northern resident, one thing that shocks me is how expensive real estate has gotten in that neighborhood. I looked on zillow recently, and anything within a 2-3 mile radius from our place was dumpy old ranchers on very little ground, or extremely expensive properties with some acreage, a barn, fencing and various sized versions of a trophy house. My barber there is a hardcore local, who told me that there also much unseen, and that a short flight over my neighborhood would reveal 4-5 properties with full sized horse racing tracks, hidden off the road. B-ville might seem to be hicksville, but there are folks from the horsey crowd who have some pretty impressive investments out in the sticks, and there is more money floating around there than you might imagine.
I’m sure you are right, but it is well-hidden and the downtown area definitely does not reflect much of their input. Fairs and festivals are few, younger residents who would enliven the area generally aren’t choosing Brooksville, and not much has changed since I lived there in the late 60’s/early 70’s. There are definitely better options out there. “I think I’ll do a day-trip to Brooksville and visit (shops/stores/flea market/restaurant/theatre/park” said no one, ever.

Dax
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Old 09-16-2019, 04:32 AM
 
Location: Greater Orlampa CSA
5,005 posts, read 5,589,370 times
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Originally Posted by Dax13 View Post
I’m sure you are right, but it is well-hidden and the downtown area definitely does not reflect much of their input. Fairs and festivals are few, younger residents who would enliven the area generally aren’t choosing Brooksville, and not much has changed since I lived there in the late 60’s/early 70’s. There are definitely better options out there. “I think I’ll do a day-trip to Brooksville and visit (shops/stores/flea market/restaurant/theatre/park” said no one, ever.

Dax
Hahaha! Well, I am a Millennial in a unique and adventurous category, but I actually did just that around the holidays last year. Primarily, the goal of collecting county seats within Florida, esp. those that make up the Greater Tampa Bay area. Brooksville does have a cute little main street area, nice little diners, etc. that we stopped at, beautiful courthouse. It has a feel of a "removed from things" Old South town. However, I see your point in that I certainly wouldn't consider it "happening" by any stretch (but then, I'm not sure that I'd even consider Bradenton to necessarily be "happening" either depending on scale, but definitely far more happening than Brooksville is. My primary decision in heading towards Brooksville was to see a random flea market (Howard's) that my wife went to when she was a kid, and to do some hiking, namely at Withlacoochee State Forest (hunting season, so we didn't actually do the trail), and Homosassa Springs Park.

Just to give you some idea of distances there:
Brooksville is only 52 minutes removed from Downtown Tampa, just over the 47 minutes Bradenton is from there. But the difference being, Bradenton is also only 29 minutes removed from St. Petersburg and 24 minutes removed from Sarasota, which, with respect given to Tampa in other ways, are probably the two primary nodes for culture/event type things in the Tampa Bay area. Brooksville really doesn't have anything close to it like that, which I guess is part of the idea and the appeal to those that choose to live up there.. that removed feel. For instance, Brooksville is 1 hr 7 minutes from St. Pete, and 1 hr 38 minutes from Sarasota. Put in direct numerical terms, Hernando County has 186,000 people living there. Manatee County has 386K, and Sarasota County 419K. In fact, the numbers cited on Metro area size are underexaggerated, not over. This census count (not even being completed yet), the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota area has grown by 16.38% to a present population of 1,044,060 (not even accounting for how connected it is to additional population in Tampa Bay). That is larger than Omaha, Little Rock, Columbia, SC, and a rate of percentage growth outpacing Nashville, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix.

If current trends hold, Bradenton-Sarasota, by itself, will have more people than Buffalo, Memphis, and Hartford by 2030. And, I believe that much of that growth will occur in Manatee County, which has grown from 322K to 386K so far this census, an insane (for American standards) growth rate of 20% this census with 3 whole years yet to play out and tens of thousands of homes slated for development in the northern portion of the county. Sarasota has grown by a comparatively modest 46K, lending me to believe that as the area in the north county with easy access to Tampa and St. Pete continues to develop, Manatee County will surpass Sarasota County in population within the next decade as well.

All that nerding out over demographics to say-Bradenton you might find too busy and impersonal for your tastes-not meaning that to offend anyone-but it certainly does not have "small town charm/feel" at least IMO, though I will say I do like that sections of downtown are being more developed, that is the antithesis of that though. However, I also agree with other posters saying Brooksville may be a bit too removed and quiet for what you are looking for. Here are some places in this area I would suggest looking: Safety Harbor, Dunedin, Dade City, Lakeland (not a small city by any stretch but probably more of a homey/town feel than Bradenton has at this point), and though it's in Orlando, Mount Dora for sure.

However, one additional thing to consider is how important being close to the water is for you. Unfortunately, any place that really has "Old Florida" feel, at least in the peninsular part of the state I would say, is that they will be relatively inland perhaps more than you are looking for. From Brooksville or Dade City, it would take over an hour to get to the gulf. From DT Bradenton, there is bus/trolley service there, and you can drive there in less than 20 minutes if there is no traffic.
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Old 09-17-2019, 06:54 AM
 
599 posts, read 490,545 times
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Originally Posted by Dax13 View Post
I’m sure you are right, but it is well-hidden and the downtown area definitely does not reflect much of their input. Fairs and festivals are few, younger residents who would enliven the area generally aren’t choosing Brooksville, and not much has changed since I lived there in the late 60’s/early 70’s. There are definitely better options out there. “I think I’ll do a day-trip to Brooksville and visit (shops/stores/flea market/restaurant/theatre/park” said no one, ever.

Dax
Thanks for your response. I got a bit of a chuckle out of it. I'm sure whatever Brooksville has that passes for a tourism board wouldn't be thrilled with your assessment, but it's spot on. I occasionally have this oddly cynical movie fantasy in my head as I drive through the heart of Brooksville. Like I am trapped on a set, in a strange fiction movie where you are walking down the sidewalk and all the locals believe that it's 1965. You can't figure out if you are back from the future, or if all the residents really think it's fifty years ago?

The only reason we spend our winters there is that we wanted a guaranteed place to park our motorhome, in a nice park. The exponential rise of the number of recently retired baby boomers has resulted in extreme pressure on any campground or resort that caters to snowbirds, on all the west coast, from Cedar Key to Alligator Alley. Rates have risen dramatically in the last few years, and parks out in the boonies, that were 70-80% full, 6-7 years ago, are now 100% booked a year ahead. It's so bad that somebody recently opened a nice RV resort in Chiefland. I don't know if you have had the pleasure, but Chiefland is a pretty rough place in the middle of absolutely nothing, and has almost nothing to offer. It's 125 miles north of Tampa, where civilization ends as you travel north on 19, toward the great bend. It makes Brooksville look like big city, cosmopolitan living.

There are countless options to find nice parks from the Tampa, all the way down the west coast. They usually suffer from two drawbacks, that being 4X the cost, and 4X the traffic of our location. If Cortez Blvd. hadn't developed into a continuous strip of every retail chain, restaurant chain, car parts, theaters, hospitals, etc. from B-Ville to rt 19, and Spring Hill and Wesley Chapel were not so close, I can't imagine we would still be there.
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Old 09-17-2019, 07:38 AM
 
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You might even want to check out Homosassa springs and Crystal river areas . These areas will have 1/5th the population of bradenton not so much of the big city rat race feel brooksville would be inbetween but more bedroom comunity to tampa now thanks to the 589 toll road. Crystal river and homosassa are great area for retirees thats still have a smaller town feel yet with plenty to do and your dollar will go farther .
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Old 09-17-2019, 09:32 AM
 
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I can't see anything good to compare The City of Bradenton, with Brooksville. They are entirely different in too many ways to get into.
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Old 09-21-2019, 07:02 AM
 
Location: Greater Orlampa CSA
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Given how remote feeling Brooksville is as written about here... It's surprising, and one does wonder how long that will last over time as the area continues to grow and develop, as parts of that section are surprisingly close to Tampa. From that section of 589 in between Weeki Wachee and Brooksville over to Lykes Gaslight Park which I consider to be effectively the "middle" of downtown, it's about 45 minutes driving without traffic. I know these are different beasts, but sections like that of Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, are effectively developed suburb extensions at this point, and with projects like this coming off the ground, I can't imagine it will take forever for this section to be the same either. It may be about 40 miles outside of the city, but Woodlands (Houston) and Buford (Atlanta) are a pretty good distance outside the city center too.

Just take a look at this: Lagoon development coming to Wimauma - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
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Old 09-21-2019, 08:25 AM
 
599 posts, read 490,545 times
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Originally Posted by cavsfan137 View Post
Given how remote feeling Brooksville is as written about here... It's surprising, and one does wonder how long that will last over time as the area continues to grow and develop, as parts of that section are surprisingly close to Tampa. From that section of 589 in between Weeki Wachee and Brooksville over to Lykes Gaslight Park which I consider to be effectively the "middle" of downtown, it's about 45 minutes driving without traffic. I know these are different beasts, but sections like that of Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, are effectively developed suburb extensions at this point, and with projects like this coming off the ground, I can't imagine it will take forever for this section to be the same either. It may be about 40 miles outside of the city, but Woodlands (Houston) and Buford (Atlanta) are a pretty good distance outside the city center too.

Just take a look at this: Lagoon development coming to Wimauma - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Having spent the last six years snowbirding in the rural area southwest of Brooksville, and a few minutes west of I-75, I have thought about this a lot. Growth is rapidly heading north on 75. Wesley Chapel is a very different place than when we first explored the area. I was also blown away by what happened north of Tampa in the Trinity area. We have several friends who moved to a new 55+ luxury apartment complex in Trinity. We had a several year gap between trips south on 41, then west on 54 toward Tarpon Springs. Our last few trips have been pretty eye opening. The growth starting a few miles north of Land O' Lakes, through Odessa to Trinity, is pretty mind blowing. Given that growth in the region seemed to be encouraged regardless of it's long term implications, I can't imagine how far the outer ring of Tampa suburbs will push in another decade, or what a traffic snarled, low quality of life mess, places like Trinity and Wesley Chapel will become?
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Old 09-21-2019, 08:28 AM
 
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Common sense suggests that with Florida's growth Brooksville will eventually 'change' - every place has changed, and certainly the small city of Bradenton has changed significantly even over the past 5 years, and has changed dramatically over the past 20.
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