Tampa/St. Pete questions

[pozey]

Questions for any DISers living in or around the Tampa/St. Pete area or anybody familiar with the area.

I have a possible job offer in St. Pete. We are considering moving. My family consists of me, DW, DS(9 – turning 10 in 2 weeks), DS(7), and DD(2 – turning 3 in 18 days).

We have some ties to Florida – I was born in Okeechobee, I have a brother who lives in Ft. Myers, and DW have relatives that live in the Orlando area. So, we have some familiarity.

My questions are regarding the Tampa/St. Pete area. What are some of the better suburbs? We currently live in a suburb of Tulsa, Ok, in a very nice small town that has 78,000 people. While it isn’t really a “small town” it has small town characteristics.

And how about the daily commute? We wouldn’t really want to drive more than about 30 minutes to and from work. Both of our offices would be in the north St. Pete area.

I’ve heard of Lutz, Westley Chapel, Land O Lakes, Spring Hill, and a few others, but don’t know a great deal about them.

Or are there areas of Tampa and St. Pete that I should consider looking into?

Thanks for the info.

 

[zalansky]

Lutz, Wesley Chapel, Land O Lakes, Spring Hill - those areas, I think, are all more than a 30 minute commute to/from North St. Pete. My DH works in N St Pete and we've looked in Lutz and Land O Lakes and decided against it because on a good day the commute would be at least 50 minutes...and if you were to hit traffic it would be alot longer.

If you've got money to spend, the Citrus Park area in Carrollwood is ideal for a commute to N St. Pete. Citrus Park is booming with young families. But houses go for at least $300 - $400k in that area, for a 4 bedroom in a good community.

I really enjoy living in Tampa. And, we're only one hour from WDW!

 

[Brianne]

Lutz & that area might be a good bet. You might want to consider the Brandon/Riverview area as well though---they're opening up an expressway sometime this summer. It's been delayed a bit over time but they did put some of it into use over Christmas. I'd imagine people are seeing more money moving into the area because they just started construction on the Brandon mall, more than doubling the existing space.

Brandon's in line with what you might be used to, although Riverview is quickly up & coming. DH loves being close to everything---I personally wish we were a bit more off the beaten track but that's because I'm used to tiny towns. Overall though, it's not a bad area to live in.

 

[Southern4sure]

I live in Land O Lakes. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

we live in Brandon, but no way could I commute to St. Pete from here. I work by tampa international airport and the drive would be worse. but I like being by I-75 and I-4, we're not far from anything we want to do.