How far is New Port Richey to Tampa Area? (Clearwater: rentals, homeowners insurance)

[Graceful2]

Can someone tell me how far New Port Richey is to Tampa area and what the area is like? I'm considering relocating from New Jersey.

[deckardc]

New Port Richey is about 40 miles from Tampa. It's a fairly nice area with a small town feel. There are no beaches in that area, the nearest beach is about 20 miles south at Honeymoon Island off of Dunedin. If you are buying there, homeowners insurance is high because Pasco Co. has the double whammy of hurricane risk and sinkhole risk.

[lorriem]

there is is beach in New Port Richey here is the link
Kayak Rentals | Tampa Bay | New Port Richey | Canoe Rentals | Rent a Kayak Florida

Also to get to tampa it takes aout 35 min.

Green Key does have a beach not just boating.

[jessiegirl_98]

I don't have a ton of experience with that area. Stayed there once for an interview, but wasn't too impressed. As to get to Tampa, if you are referring to downtown, it would be over an hour (correct me if I'm wrong)...

[yukon]

35 minutes? Not to downtown. I just did the downtown Tampa to New Port Richey drive today (every Tuesday, actually) and it was not rush hour - takes me an hour and $2 in tolls, going the Suncoast Pkwy to Hwy 54, I turn on Grand. Add about 10 more minutes if you're headed somewhere on Hwy 19 (I turn just west of there). In rush hour, you'd be WITH the traffic - count on an hour or more. The Suncoast changes names to Veterans and that's where it REALLY gets backlogged in the morning.

If you're headed to NORTH Tampa, it won't be quite as bad.

[glastron_79]

anyone familiar enough with NPR to say what kind of residential area is between Congress and Rowan? Run down and bad or decent or??? I've been in or through NPR only a handful of times so I'm clueless. Thanks.

[Graceful2]

Thank-you for your input....ALL very valuable information.

[Eesti]

I moved to Holiday about 1 1/2 years ago from St. Pete because I wanted to buy a house and Pinellas is ridiculous. I got twice the house for the same price.

Holiday, NPR, Port Richey is a little "red necky" compared to St. Pete and there are run down neighborhoods in Pasco as well as pinellas/hillsborough. You can find decent neighborhoods but be careful. I moved to a clean looking neighborhood but it turned out to be full of "slummy" people. It has good people too. A few break-ins , thefts etc.

The school system is a joke but then again, so is Pinellas County. I had an 11th grader there but soon transferred to a semi-private school. Gulf High School is awfull. Teachers simply do not care and you cannot find a High school anywhere that is not overcrowded and under-staffed. Pinellas is the same. All of Florida's schools pretty much suck compared to other states.

I would like to sell but the market is pathetic. I would move to Trinity area or a nicer neighborhood in NPR. The farther away from US19, the better.
Most areas east of Rowan are pretty decent and have larger yards and more of a country feel....not so jam-packed. That is where I am looking at unless I get a huge raise or can sell my house and can get back to St. Pete. Now is definatley a good time to buy! The house I rented in St. Pete appraised at 250k when I left but can now be had for 165k. Timing is everything.

[lorriem]

Originally Posted by yukon

35 minutes? Not to downtown. I just did the downtown Tampa to New Port Richey drive today (every Tuesday, actually) and it was not rush hour - takes me an hour and $2 in tolls, going the Suncoast Pkwy to Hwy 54, I turn on Grand. Add about 10 more minutes if you're headed somewhere on Hwy 19 (I turn just west of there). In rush hour, you'd be WITH the traffic - count on an hour or more. The Suncoast changes names to Veterans and that's where it REALLY gets backlogged in the morning.

If you're headed to NORTH Tampa, it won't be quite as bad.

I take Sun Coast to The international mall (nordstroms) or TPA that takes me 35 min. I take 54 to get to Moffitt and make a right off of 54 (big yellow bedding store on the corner) forget name of that road and then two more roads also forget those rds but that would take me 45 min to get to that cancer hospital. I have never been down town though.

[ntfeldman]

Originally Posted by deckardc

New Port Richey is about 40 miles from Tampa. It's a fairly nice area with a small town feel. There are no beaches in that area, the nearest beach is about 20 miles south at Honeymoon Island off of Dunedin. If you are buying there, homeowners insurance is high because Pasco Co. has the double whammy of hurricane risk and sinkhole risk.

First, NPR is just under 35 miles to downtown Tampa, less than 25 miles if you're going to north Tampa. It really depends on where you want to go in Tampa, it's the larger city.

Second Green Key Beach is a small (shhhh not many people know about it so it's a secret, wonderful place) little public beach with a great children's park and picnic tables etc... in New Port Richey. Or you can go to Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs which is just a little south (15 min.) of New Port Richey and it's a substantial beach/park area with plenty of parking. You do not have to drive to Honeymoon Island - but you should if you're checking out the beaches, it's quite lovely there too and not as crowded as Clearwater Beach.

Yukon's right. If you travel during peak travel times and you are going with traffic (i.e.everyone else), it will take you every minute of an hour or more to get to downtown Tampa using either major N/S highway (75 or Suncoast Pkwy). If however you are going to the airport on a Sunday morning at 9 am, you'll be able to get there in 35 minutes using the suncoast parkway. It really depends on how congested the roads are. If it's raining and/or there's a wreck on the highway, all bets are off.

Homes near Congress and Rowan are typical Florida 2/2 and 3/2 homes - most older (50's and 60's), some on larger lots. Generally you'll find from 1,000 sq.ft. to 2500 sq.ft. but not much bigger in that area. There are no well organized subdivisions there and depending on where you are exactly, you could be in the City of New Port Richey which would pad your tax bill a little. But the NPR downtown area is quaint and the river that runs through downtown and Simms Park are nice. The Libraries are ok too.

To some degree Eesti is right about the schools but such is not totally the case. The older schools in New Port Richey are just that older. There are some lower income areas in NPR also and the families are just not too involved in the lives of the kids. They get into trouble. But the district is doing what it can and they have added an International Baccalaureate program at Gulf High School for bright students and it has a "Bright Future's Scholarship" component to it that is highly worth pursuing. Also, "Trinity" which is not a legally incorporated city (it is legally New Port Richey) is the newer East side of NPR and it has wonderful schools (some even have a bi-lingual program in the elementary grades!) as well as gifted programs and Seven Springs Middle School and Mitchell High School are excellent. River Ridge Middle/High School has it's issues but it also has some wonderful programs and offers a better than average Florida education too.

NPR has it's rough spots to be sure but it also has some lovely new developments - don't throw out the bad with the good. As for the sink hole issue, this is due to the area's limestone in the soil. And although Pasco and Hernando counties as a whole were excluded from automatically including the rider in the homeowners insurance policies against sink holes you can ask that it be added back in without an undue increase in your costs (they are just penalizing the stupid/uninformed I guess - don't get me started on this)

I'm not sure why you're interested in NPR over the many other options in Tampa but it's a nice area in parts and it is continuing to grow. It has far more affordable homes than neighboring cities to the south and will continue to see new development for the next 10 - 15 years.