Tampa Bound!?

Question

Hi All,

I accepted a position in Tampa located near the airport (on Cypress).
What is Tampa like? What are the "good" areas to live? Safety, easy access to work (I am concerned about traffic), near amenities, nightlife. Being near the beach would be a bonus, but easy access to work is more important.

The following list is what I found and heard that are good areas:

Tampa Palms/New Tampa
- North Tampa?
Clearwater
- How easy is it to get to the airport from here?
St. Petersburg
Forest Hills/Hillsborough
Temple Terrace
Brandon
New Port Richey
Carrolwood
Hyde Park

I haven't mapped all these out yet.
Hope to get some insight on these areas or areas near my work.

Thank-you for any help.

Answer 1

Welcome to town (soon)
The area around TIA is congested and a lot of construction.
I'll answer your locations as follows:

-Tampa Palms/New Tampa (Nice right near where I live about 30 to 35 miles from Cypress an hour + away with traffic)

- North Tampa? (Same area as Tampa palms)

-Clearwater (your choice of two bridges and both very congested and almost unpassable if there is an accident) Not really recommended from TIA it takes about 45 min to clearwater beach. Altho ther are beaches along the way but not as nice as Clearwater (side note best beach is Ft Desoto)

-St. Petersburg (Nice to visit don't care for it. Have to use one of two bridges and same as living in clearwater. both about 1hr 30min to TIA)

-Forest Hills/Hillsborough (around 20 miles north of TIS and about 30-45 min ride)

-Temple Terrace (East tampa area not highly recommended, the are has not shown any inprovements in the past 10 years. Higher crime, transients, and collage kids. about 40min from TIA)

-Brandon (Aboput the worst as far as traffic and distance. Traffic woes every day about 30 miles but about 45 min to an hour and a half commute.)

-New Port Richey (about 40 miles from TIA, closer to the beach, Growing areas, but the areas deadliest highway US highyway 19 craZZZZZZZZy. and could have to travel thru clearwater to cross a bridge or HWY 92 to TIA about 1-2 hour trip)

-Carrolwood (close to 14 miles about 30 min drive)

-Hyde Park (the closest and nicest area I think. Its older houses but very nice and part of tampas history and the Historical distric, More like northern homes. Close to TIA about 5 to no more than 10 mile and about an 20 min drive and plenty of back streets to take incase of a wreck)

There are plenty of apartments, town homes, condos, and houses for rent and sale in all the areas. The quality of restaurants near TIA is great. And you could spend every weekend for the next 20 years trying to take in all the entertainment in the TAMPA BAY AREA (Tampa, St Pete, and Clearwater) and just a bout 2hrs to Orlando or 4 to Daytona and 8 to the Keys or Panama City.

Attend Guavaween, Gasprilla (day and night parade), and the many festivals around the bay (970am Fla Talk radio good info)
Links to the area below:

Answer 2

The airport is between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Clearwater has it's own airport that it shares with St. petersburg. Temple Terrace is nice...it has some poor part but they are still nice. Brandon, Carrolwood, New Port Richey is further from the airport and the traffic toward the airport is murder. Depending on how long you plan to live in Tampa. I would suggest moving to Ybor City. It's a historical area in the area in the not to far from the airport. It's being renovated and cleaned up. You can look up the city plan that they have for it and see how nice it's going to be. I'm buying 2 houses now that are okay but by then be worth 3-4 times much in 2010. check out this site and it's talks all about Florida...Tampa area included.
www.myflorida.com
Reading the newspaper is good too. www.tbt.com

Answer 3

St Pete and Clearwater are over major bridges, which is terrible for commute.

Cyprees is right on the coastline of South Tampa though, so you don't want to live in North Tampa, unless you want to pay very little on the land and commute like an hour in the morning. New Port Richey and Brandon are totally out of the question for any kind of morning commute to Cypress.

Tample Terrace is a good but semi-expensive area near the univeristy. That would be okay. Hyde Park might be okay too, as would Carrolwood, thugh I don't remember the crime rate of those two areas.

Hillsborough is most of Tampa by definition, so that would be okay.

Answer 4

The only places you've identified that's reasonable distance from the airport and near the beach are Clearwater and St Pete. They're both in Pinellas County, Tampa is in Hillsborough County, so the drive to work would require going across one of the three bridges. I made the drive from Pinellas to Hillsborough everyday for six years without problems, but a lot of locals will try to scare you off. Howard Frankland used to be called Howard Frankenstein, but approximately 10 years ago a second bridge was added so it's one of the safest roads around. The Gandy bride was totally replaced in the last 10 years too, so it's also not a problem anymore.

Tampa Palms, New Tampa, Temple Terrace, and Forest Hills are NE and a bumper to bumper rush hour drive. Temple Terrace and Forest Hills are ok during daytime, but war zones after dark. Brandon is SE and would also be a long drive as would New Port Richey. Carrollwood is North and Hyde Park South, but both are reasonable distance from the airport. Carrollwood is a normal residential area, but Hyde Park is extremely expensive.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Well, If you are near the airport, then wher eyou live is going to be interesting.

Tampa Palms/New Tampa
It will take you about an hour to get tehre in morning commute, or more. My brother lives here and has to drive that long every day. Not worth it in my opinion, however it is nice that ll teh shops are new.

- North Tampa?
Usually thought of as Lutz/ Wesley Chapel area. Probably farther than you want to drive, again about an hour.

Clearwater
- How easy is it to get to the airport from here?
Easy, but you will have to go over the bridges every day, and they get very backed up. Probably about a 45 minute communte. Clearwater is nice, but I think that there are no distinct advantages over Tampa (other than the beach)

St. Petersburg
See above

Forest Hills/
This area has really come up in recent years. Nice area with pretty homes, winding streets, central, and affordable. i like this area. Nearby is the Lake Magdalene area, also nice.

Hillsborough
Hillsborough are is called Seminole Heights. I would only buy in the area West of I275, North of Dr. MLK, East of the Hillsboruogh River, and South of Sligh. THe rest is still very sketchy- I was going to buy here (East of 275, north of Hillsborough) and there were 45 Sexual preditors within a mile.


Temple Terrace
OK area of town, but not close a tall to the airport area.

Brandon
Again, nice area of town, but hell of a commute. Similiar to Carrollwood, but further away. No cheaper, though.

New Port Richey
Way too far from airport, prboably about an hour, and not very nice (well, Trinity area is nice)

Carrolwood
Central area, very established and safe. I would look here. The homes are reasonable (from $225,000- 800,000) and have a good size. Most were built between 1980 & 1995. For $235,000 you can get a nice home 3/2 with garage and about 1,500 sf.

Hyde Park
Very nice area of town, close to airport, but expensive. Historic homes. Nothing for less than $300,000, and that will be a house about 1,500 sf.

Also, check out Westshore area (s. of Westshore Blvd.) this is a really fast growing area, but pricy.

Do not consider- Drew Park, University area, Seminole Heoghts (east of I275), and Town & Country. These area are not safe, and have no real reasons to live there (homes aer cheap, though).

Being near the beach is nice, but really, if you are in Tampa, you are not more than an hour or so away. Nightlife is concentrated in Channelside & Ybor, with a few areas scattered about the rest of the city.

Answer 6

The best place for you to live to go where you are working is Citrus Park or Westchase. They are beautiful neighborhoods in a nice part of town and away from the dangerous areas. They are only about 20 min. from Clearwater Beach. The Veterans Expressway makes them a fast commute to work (10-15 min.)

Carrolwood is nice, although a little farther to work (20-30 min) and further from the beach too (30+ min.). Hyde Park is premo property, very expensive, and quite close to work (10 min.) but is close to some bad parts of town and not too close to the beach (30+ min.) Parts of Lutz (very country-like) and Northdale (boring suburbs) can be okay and accessible for work only if close to the Veterans Expressway (30 min.) both are far from the beach (45 min.)

New Tampa, Tampa Palms, and Temple Terrace would be a hellish commute to work (45+ min.) although a really nice place to live. Takes about 1 hour to get to the beach.

North Tampa and Forest Hills/Hillsborough are quite close to the airport (15-20 min.) and really in a bad part of town. Better bring your gun there to fend off the drug dealers and plan on sending your kids to a private school. For shopping and "nightlife" there are lots of porn shops and strip clubs nearby. Not close to the beach (30-45+ min.)

If you want to spend your life commuting to work then go live in New Port Richey, where you'll never want to leave this beautiful (right on the) beach town because you'll be driving more than an hour to work everyday.

St. Pete and Clearwater are going to be a 45-60 min. commute with highly congested bridges over the bay. Right near the beach.

Brandon is about 30-45 min. kind of a cheap-o section of town with nightmarish traffic after you get off the freeway to get home. Can't get any farther from the beach there (1 hour or so.)

Tampa is a great place to live--lots to do and always growing. Cost of living not too bad. Really, I think Citrus Park or Westchase is perfect for your needs. (I live in New Tampa BTW so this is an unbiased opinion.)

A correction to an earlier comment someone gave, North Tampa is not Tampa Palms/New Tampa. North Tampa refers to the original Nothern part of Tampa before Tampa Palms/New Tampa (farther to the north) were annexed in the 1990s. (old) North Tampa is commonly called Seminole Heights these days--NOT a good area unless you want to buy a crackhouse.

Answer 7

Hello,
Where you live in the Tampa Bay Area all depends on how much you are willing to spend. I would first determine your price range for either Renting or Purchasing and go from there. I would be happy to set up a search for properties in various areas so you can get an idea of price ranges etc. The longer of the commute the less the price in general.
Feel free to visit my website if you'd like to do a search on your own http://www.tampabaydwellings.com/
If you haven't formed a realtionship with a Realtor who knows the area I am happy to help you. I've lived here all my life and can help take the stress out of your relocation.
Rae

Answer 8

I lived in Tampa for several years after taking a job there. West Tampa by West Chase is very nice, New Tampa is nice but alot of traffic to get to work. Clearwater is nice but the traffic stinks. Temple Terrace is crappy. Brandon, Carrolwood, Hyde Park, West Tampa/Oldsmar are nice.

Answer 9

I live in the Carrolwood area about two miles from the intersection of Dale Mabry and Fletcher. It's a pretty decent part of town and that part of Dale Mabry has everything you would ever need (Wal Marts, Targets, groceries, resturaunts, etc.). My biggest piece of advice is stay away from the campus area if you want to like where you live.

Answer 10

Calm down for a sec give Josh freeman two more seasons until you say he isnt a good quarterback and also there management is also kinda high on Josh Johnson (even though I think Jonhson wont be a quality QB) I think it would be a great fit for him in New Orleans where he can be a backup behind Brees and get his head on strait back in his old college town