High Life In Your Back Yard
Tampa Tribune
Published January 26, 2006
By Michael H. Samuels
http://www.tampatrib.com
SUN BAY SOUTH - Glitz and glamour have docked south of Gandy Boulevard.
With more than $40 million worth of yachts anchored nearby, cirque-style performers hanging from the rafters of a mammoth tent and guests dressed to the nines sipping free champagne and liquor, the developer of New Port Tampa Bay held a gala premier in conjunction with the opening of its sales gallery at 4900 S. Bridge St.
The development will include 1,200 town houses and condominiums, a 225-slip marina, a park, shops and three restaurants near the foot of the Gandy Bridge, west of West Shore Boulevard. Prices for the first three residential towers range from $600,000 to $1.6 million.
More than 900 guests, including members of Tampa's A-list, were invited to the Friday night gala. Former Mayor Dick Greco, City Attorney David Smith, South Tampa real estate agent Toni Everett and city Councilman Kevin White mingled around the tent, which featured a woman dressed as a mermaid reclining on a rotating stage surrounded by a bar.
Another woman - wearing a headdress with what appeared to be protruding tentacles - stood in a hole in the middle of a circular table that held champagne glasses.
A long hallway opened onto an expansive outdoor area featuring a band, two bars and a clear view of more than 20 luxury yachts. Guests could board the yachts, some of which were headed to the Miami Boat Show.
"This is a lifestyle that does not exist in Tampa," Ed Oelschlaeger, president of the South Tampa-based developer EcoGroup Inc., told the crowd from a stage overlooking the water. "We are going to bring people back to the bay."
EcoGroup Vice President Don Gunn said the company had produced many similar events, most recently in Naples in November.
"We do them when the occasion warrants," he said. "This is one way to convey what New Port Tampa Bay is all about."
Davis Islands resident Donna Christian attended the gala with her mother, Sandra Wagner. Christian said she had never seen anything like New Port Tampa Bay in Tampa.
"I like it," she said. "It has great access to the Gulf, great deep-water access."
Wagner compared EcoGroup's plans with developments in Cape Coral and Fort Lauderdale, where she also has residences.
"It creates a boating community," she said. "It is a complex within itself."
Warren and Esther Eisenhower sailed their boat from Annapolis, Md., to the Vinoy in St. Petersburg to attend the New Port Tampa Bay event. The retirees are looking to relocate permanently from northern Virginia.
"I've worked hard my whole life," Warren Eisenhower said. "I'm entitled to the best quality of life I can find."
Sabrina Clermont, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty, attended the party with her fiance, Wit Larsen.
Clermont was researching New Port Tampa Bay for potential clients, but Larsen said the more they saw of the project, they more they were contemplating buying there.
"I've never seen Tampa look like this," said Larsen, a Tampa resident for 24 years.
Michael H. Samuels can be reached at msamuels@tampatrib.com.
