Venetian Isles St Petersburg
Amenities/character/etc.
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 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.
Information compliments of www.stpete.org
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