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September 2007

Lennar in Zephyrhills: 2-BR town home priced from $130's

Posted at 4:10 AM, Sep. 27, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. --- One of the nation's most prolific home builders is selling new, 1,371-square foot town homes in Zephyrhills northeast of Tampa priced from the $130's, according to a company news release.

Lennar's Eiland Park Town Homes is a gated community located near S.R. 54 and Eiland Blvd. with its own swimming pool and cabana, picnic area, gazebo, volleyball court and playground.

Mark Metheny, right, president of Lennar's North Tampa division, says two new new model town homes that open in Nov. feature GE appliances and ceramic tile floors. Two and three-bedroom town homes at Eiland Park come in three floor plans that range in size from 1,371 square feet to 1,531 square feet.

Arguably, Lennar has taken the most aggressive approach to 'affordable' homes among Tampa Bay- area builders. As Dan DeWitt reported in the St. Petersburg Times on Sept. 4, Lennar sold off inventory homes at Hernando Oaks in Brooksville---the community "that pioneered the idea of selling luxury homes in Hernando County" with some double-deep discounts:

The couple ended up paying $110,000 and $115,000 for two houses, each of them selling for more than $60,000 less than the market value, according to the Hernando County Property Appraiser's Office.

Some luxury homes at Hernando Oaks are priced as high as the $400's.

Miami Architect draws big wows at Punta Gorda Fla. affordable housing community

Posted at 4:31 AM, Sep. 7, 2007

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. --- Coconut Grove architect Abe Kadushin will play a starring role at a groundbreaking ceremony this morning in Punta Gorda.

The event marks the start of construction of a $27 million Florida-style Hope VI community with 85 public housing units, 81 low-income, tax-credit apartments, and three market-value apartments. The Gulf Breeze Hope VI community will even include 'green' energy-efficient central-air heating and cooling.

Kadushin will probably keep to the background. It's his work that will star in the showcase ceremony. Kadushin is one of the leading lights of a new generation of architects and designers for whom quality homes for working families---remember those old-fashioned values America used to celebrate?---offer more rewarding challenges than adding more plinths and cornices to one more McMansion.

Call them post-Duanyans.

Steve Reilly, staff writer for the Sun-Herald in Punta Gorda, posted an excellent story yesterday with no pictures but loads of details (and one or two strange assertions that are probably misunderstandings, as likely ours as his):

 

The housing authority will offer one-to-four-bedroom apartments, with the first floor dedicated to the elderly. The public housing units will be scattered throughout the other floors.

The apartments will be available to those who earn up to 60 percent of the local median income. The median income varies from year to year and is set according to the size of the family. The annual median income for a family of four in Charlotte County is $25,400.

Public housing rentals will be based on the individual incomes of the residents. The residents will be expected to contribute 30 percent of their income for the rent. Federal Housing and Urban Development funding pays the rest.

The residents in tax-credit units will be expected to pay their rent; however, the rent wouldn't exceed 2 to 2.5 percent of their incomes. The maximum rent is set by the IRS annually.

The Punta Gorda Housing Authority partnered with lender Primerica and developer Norstar Group, which had the good sense to commission Kadushin for the design.