historic st pete & tampa neighborhoods? (Seminole, Five Points: foreclosure, high crime, loan)

[tampaguy03]

Originally Posted by bale002

Thanks tampaguy3, yes, this helps: I'll know where to go to check it out when I visit. I hope my wife likes it: I want to get the heck out of southern Florida.

The only places that fit a street-life description in southeast Florida is a section of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, and that's usually on the weekend and during the snowbird season, the same goes for Cityplace in West Palm Beach, Mizner Park in Boca Raton, and Las Olas in Ft. Lauderdale, then there's a section or two of Coconut Grove and Miracle Mile (actually probably a half-mile) in Coral Gables, all nice places, but ridiculously overpriced, at least for this small businessman.

You guys sound like a pleasant bunch, and I appreciate it.

Funny, ive been to all those places(lived in Lauderdale for two years), and the places that you mention that come to mind here in the Bay area are International Plaza's Bay Street, Channelside, Centro Ybor, and Bay Walk in St. Pete.
The streets and areas I mentioned in my previous post are alot smaller(except Howard Avenue) in scale compared to the streets you mentioned(Las Olas, Miracle Mile), but it seems thats what you are looking for, they are more neighborhoodish with Mom and Pop restaurants and shops.

Take your wife for a drive along Bayshore Blvd, north from Gandy Blvd to downtown.

[tampaguy03]

Originally Posted by vilehelm

Where exactly is Old Northeast?

Old Northeast is the section just North of 5th Avenue and South of 22nd Avenue, from 4th Street East to the Bay.

[SunKrist]

Originally Posted by tampaguy03

Old Northeast is the section just North of 5th Avenue and South of 22nd Avenue, from 4th Street East to the Bay.

That's about right, except Old Northeast ends where "New" Northeast begins, on the east side of 1st Street, and it extends to slightly west of 4th Street and north of 22nd Avenue. So, the boundaries are pretty much between 5th Avenue to 38th Avenue and 1st Street to 9th Street.

[vilehelm]

Ok, so above 38 is considered "New Northeast" definitely not many old bungalow houses in that area.

Thanks.

[SunKrist]

This is roughly the area of Old Northeast:




This is Northeast (it actually extends further to 62nd Avenue and north), and no, there aren't very many old bungalows here:




This is roughly the areas of Woodlawn and Kenwood, which extends slightly south of 5th Avenue. There are a lot of older and bungalow style houses in this area:

[vilehelm]

Ahh, thank you very much.

I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a map of St. Pete. They even have the zipcodes and the smaller neighborhood areas marked off. Very helpful.

We'll be down looking at houses this weekend.

[SunKrist]

Originally Posted by vilehelm

Ahh, thank you very much.

I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a map of St. Pete. They even have the zipcodes and the smaller neighborhood areas marked off. Very helpful.

We'll be down looking at houses this weekend.

You're welcome. I'm sure that map will prove to be extremely helpful. Thankfully the street layout here is pretty easily navigated.

Good luck with your visit. I hope you get all the information you need

[kduszak]

South Tampa is much more "authentic" and "cultural" than Beach Place (chain restaurants and stores), etc in S Florida. Lots of family owned restaurants - Italian, Thai, Mexican, American, etc. If you want chains, there are plenty, but in S Tampa you have your choice of everything!

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by jkcmom

I am just starting my research on Tampa St Pete. We are thinking of relocating there. We are currently in S. Florida. We like a historic "in-town" neighborhood. So far, I'm leaning towards St. Pete. We have 3 boys, who attend Catholic school. We will rent a house/condo/townhouse first. Of course we like a safe area, but being close to downtown. (or actually IN downtown) Older buildings/houses appeal to us. Or new construction with character, and no ranch type homes. What neighborhoods do you recommend we look in for each city?

Hello JKC and thank you for considering us. Tampa and St. Petersburg is brimming full of history. First off, St. Petersburg has many historic areas and one of which I like is the Kenwood area. This area has gone through a bit of a restoration phase, as it was previously crack houses and crime ridden in the 70s and 80s. The neighborhood is dotted with cute, prestine bungalow houses from the 1920s, has a thriving park, and is very close to Downtown St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg Pier, BayWalk, and Sunken Gardens. You are extremely close to Madeira Beach, Treasure Island, and St. Pete Beach also. If you are looking for a diverse neighborhood, then this will be the ticket for you. You are right near St. Petersburg High School, which Governor Charlie Crist attended and the brick streets adds that feel of history.

In Tampa, there are many neighborhoods also. SoHo/Hyde Park are nice, Palma Ceia, South of Gandy (where I live and sort of partial to) is great also. Ybor City has a lot of history too, but I am not so sure that it is great to live in. It would be a fun place to take the family during the daytime hours though. It used to be where the majority of our Cubans and Latin Americans lived.

[vilehelm]

My wife and I did our first drive through St. Pete. (and her first drive through Tampa Bay area period).

First impressions of St. Pete, everything is a little more cramped and smaller scale than I expected. I knew that it would be tight but wow those pics on realtor.com are a little decieving.

Now I'm used to small scale houses, I live in 920 sq.ft. cottage in Atlanta, so I know when I look at a house if it really is the square footage they say it is and I gotta say ... some of these guys need to check their rulers. Maybe they are counting Linai areas, garages ... pools and carports. :P

The "new northeast" is not all that charming and the pricing for those houses seem a bit off. Basically we looked through Edgemoor, Meadowlawn etc. and a couple others and decided unless we found an incredible bargain, and then talked them down, we would pass on everything up north. I know this will sound a little silly since I barely know anyting about the neighborhood but I just can't see those house moving until the market up there drops everthing a good 20% more.

After that we headed south, had a quick bite to eat at The Limey (nice place for a beer, so-so pub food ... mosquitos!) and then went all the way down to Central and started working our way up, kinda zigzagging around. I wanted to see the Shuffleboard Club (I liked it!). We were both pretty pleased with "Old Northeast", I had a hard time figuring out where Kenwood was and I didn't have my notes with me.

While I think the prices in that area could stand to drop a little bit, the area struck me as one that could actually have some value as an investment, as opposed to New Northeast. Yes it's crampt but no more so than New Northeast.

There are some pretty sweet houses in Old Northeast, the 20's bungalows and even some 50's and 60's slick brick/cinder buidlings. You have to be into that sort of thing to really appreciate it but it can be very cool.

...

In Tampa we're curious about the Seminole Heights and Riverside Heights area, mostly from an investment point of view. Is it as tight there as it is in St. Pete? Anyone?

...

Will keep ya'll updated on the search. My wife and I are not 100% sold on anything yet and may just drop back 10 and rent.