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Venetian
Isles homes range from the $450's to the $2 millions.
Venetian Isles is an upscale waterfront community
consisting of 518 homes. With deep water canals, the
area is great for power or sail boats of any size.
Venetian Isles is a group of manmade islands located
in Tampa Bay and reached by bridges, via Overlook Drive,
Grand Canal Boulevard and Mermaid Point. The neighborhood
with both young and old, contains professional people,
executives, business owners, military personnel and
retirees. The location is a favorite of those working
in both St. Petersburg and Tampa because of the stress
free drive to most business locations. Bus service
is available to all public schools, with three private
schools within one mile and a nursery/pre-school within
a few blocks. Excellent public bus service is also
available to all locations in the greater Tampa Bay
area.
ARCHITECTURE
Since Venetian Isles is a deed restricted community,
the homes were all built to comply with the following:
minimum size living areas, concrete block construction
with tile roofs, on minimum lot sizes, no fences except
chain link and all homes had to have sodded lawn yards.
Sibley Homes, Tessier Homes and Rutenberg Homes were
the builders of all the homes. The first homes were
sold in 1967 for $28,000 to $40,000, including lot,
dock and fully landscaped yard.
Most lots were sold by 1975, when, by that time, the
homes were built for $50,000 to $60,000, including
lot and dock, landscaping, etc. Because of the rapidly
increasing value of waterfront property during the
1970s and 1980s, most of the homes have or are undergoing
remodeling, or extensive rebuilding, with Mediterranean
style architecture. Home values now range from $170,000
to $1.5 million with many homes in the $225,000 to
$250,000 price range.
HISTORY
Mr. George R. Davis, a major developer on the
Suncoast in the 1950s, was a "spark plug" in
the development of Venetian Isles. Venetian Isles was
billed as the area's largest and most costly waterfront
project in 1958. At one time, Mr. Davis directed the
operations of eight major developments up and down the
Suncoast simultaneously. One of the more significant
events of the Venetian Isles development was obtaining
the deed to the submerged waters of Tampa Bay that would
become 60% of Venetian Isles. In 1959, Florida Governor
Leroy Collins, signed the submerged land rights to
Venetian Isles Development Corporation for $34,412.50.
Due to problems of filling the submerged lands, building
seawalls and bankruptcy proceedings involving the various
developers of Venetian Isles between 1959 and 1963,
actual development of homes did not start until 1968.
In the early 1970s, Sibley Homes took over the remaining
lots from the Robert H. Lee Corporation of South Carolina
and went on to build on all of the lots. He then transferred
the authority and responsibility of maintaining and
enforcing the deed restrictions to the newly formed
Venetian Isles Homeowners Association, Inc. in 1970.
Venetian Isles was developed as a submerged water landfill
project and, as such, was built at an elevation of
approximately 5-7 feet above the natural shoreline.
This natural shoreline is now known as the development
called "Shore Acres" which borders Venetian
Isles on two sides. Venetian Isles residents have been
spared the flooding problems of the past 19 hurricanes
that have hit Florida since 1950. Hurricanes Agnes
in 1972 and Elena in 1985, which caused extensive damage
in Pinellas County, did damage some to outlying homes
in Venetian Isles that face the Skyway Bridge, but
no flooding problems occurred to any of the other homes.
ORGANIZATIONS / PROGRAMS
The Venetian Isles Homeowners Association is very
active in preserving the quality of life and providing
many amenities for the residents such as: a hospitality
committee for new residents, a blood bank for residents,
a beautification committee to preserve and enhance
the entrance and flower bed area, a dredging and seawall
committee to protect the waterways and insure they
are navigable by even the largest of boats, a crime
watch program, a garden club, a bunco "card" club,
a yearly Oktoberfest and the Dolphin Cruising/Sailing
Club. Venetian Island Homeowners Association is chartered
to enhance and preserve the beauty of Venetian Isles
and its property values by enforcing deed restrictions
while providing a pleasant, social life for the residents.
As such, it has a committee to manage and maintain
the deed restrictions, publishes a monthly newsletter
and a yearly directory of all residents. Dues are currently
$30 per year.
NEIGHBORHOOD GRANT PROJECTS
The 1995 Neighborhood grant project involved lighting
for the entrance signs and landscape plantings. Future
projects may include distinctive street signs.
BOUNDARIES
On Tampa Bay between Snell Isle and Shore Acres.
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