A new Florida resort?

By JANET ZINK
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 15, 2002

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES: How fancy is the planned recreation complex for Seven Oaks? This fancy: My daughter Emily, 10, recently stumbled upon an artist's rendering. She immediately wanted to know where this resort was and when we could go there. When I explained that it was part of a neighborhood, not a resort, she asked that we sell our home and move there.

The 1.5-acre complex will feature three swimming pools and a water park, complete with shaded seating, tropical landscaping, water sprayers and a double-loop slide. The main pool is flanked by a junior Olympic-sized pool on one side and a shallow-splash children's water park on the other.

In addition to the pools and clubhouse, the community center will have five tennis courts, soccer and baseball fields, basketball and volleyball courts and a playground. For snacks and drinks, there's the Seven Oaks Cafe.

Seven Oaks is in Wesley Chapel off State Road 56 between Interstate 75 and County Road 581. More than half of 2,000 acres have been set aside for conservation areas and parks with nature trails and exercise paths.

Seven Oaks' single-family and multifamily homes range from the mid $100s to more than $500,000, including homesite.

GREAT WALL OF SOUTHSHORE: MiraBay developers say they've completed construction of the world's largest vinyl seawall along this coastal community on the east side of Tampa Bay.

The 7-mile seawall was designed to prevent erosion, stabilize canal banks and support waterfront homes. It's made of steel-strength ShoreGuard vinyl sheet piling. The 12-foot-long prefabricated sheets interlock before they're driven six feet underground.

The company that makes the sheets, Atlanta-based Materials International, says MiraBay's wall is the largest vinyl-sheet-piling seawall ever constructed.

Wonder if they've given Guinness a call.

BREAKING NEW GROUND: With completion of phase-one land development, new home construction has begun at Wilderness Lake Preserve, an 800-home, master-planned community on 600 acres in Pasco County.

According to Janice Snow, Wilderness Lake Preserve's community relations director, the first phase will provide more than 370 homesites in 11 villages. Nearly 3 in 4 border lakes and heavily wooded conservation areas untouched by development.

Plans call for a second phase with 325 single-family residences and 100 maintenance-free villas.

Also recently completed: Wilderness Lake Preserve's main boulevard off U.S. 41, its landscaping drawn from native, drought-resistant plants and trees.

Residential pricing at Wilderness Lake Preserve will range from the $110s to more than $500,000, including homesite.

David Weekley Homes, Hannah-Bartoletta Homes, M/I Homes, Morrison Homes and Westfield Homes have been selected to build at Wilderness Lake Preserve, and model-home construction is under way. M/I Homes opened its model center recently.

-- Write to Janet Zink in care of the St. Petersburg Times at 1000 N Ashley Drive, Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33602; or by e-mail, janet.zink@gte.net.

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