Jeter's Davis Islands home becomes tourist attraction

A new waterfront mansion on Davis Islands? Yawn.

Another professional athlete moving into the area? No big deal.

But when the home is a 30,875-square-foot concrete monster and the owner is Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, well, now you have a tourist attraction.

"Everybody's watching it," said Angelica Perez, who cleans homes in the area. "Everybody's talking about it. It's like a whole building - for one guy."

Every day, a caravan of onlookers drives past the work site, slowing to see workers hammer away on the giant concrete shell.

The gawkers started to arrive one by one when the project broke ground a year ago. Neighbors now say as many as 30 motorists visit during the busiest hours, usually after work, around sunset.

A company that offers Davis Islands tours on Segway electric scooters often stops at Jeter's home. So too does the owner of a water taxi operation. The Tampa Bay Visitor Information Center gets about four calls a week from people curious about the home. At one point, neighbors reported seeing a tour bus pull up to Jeter's home.

Visitor center manager Jim Boggs admits he went to see the home in May.

When people ask, he shows them photos from newspaper clippings.

"I tell them it's a monstrosity," Boggs said.

The home is especially popular among visitors from New York who see the pilgrimage as a way to honor a player they see as a god among men, tour leaders said.

Even understated Midwesterners, generally inclined against conspicuous consumption, can't help but want to catch a peek and maybe even snap a photo.

"People are really blown away by it," said Geoff Karlavage, who runs Magic Carpet Glide, which gives Segway tours in the area.

Tampa residents have seen their share of bodacious homes, so it takes quite a palace to raise the city's eyebrow.

The home has gained a certain cachet among city building officials, who have reviewed and inspected countless large homes in recent years.

Call up the city building department, give the address and inspectors know right away: "Jeter's home."

Three main factors have made the house a must-see, according to tour guides and neighbors.

The sheer size of the structure is noteworthy. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home is expected to be the largest single-family residence in the county, more than twice the size of Don Wallace's famed Bayshore Boulevard mansion.

Second, it's easily accessible. Jeter didn't build in a secure, gated community or on a huge rural lot, far away from the road. Most Little Leaguers could throw a baseball from the street to his front door.
To deter such activities, the city's variance board agreed to allow Jeter to build a 6-foot fence around his home on Bahama Circle.

Jeter's fame is the other indelible draw. He is a Tampa resident in the offseason who is among today's most well-known athletes. He has dated a long list of Hollywood celebrities, including Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba and, recently, actress Minka Kelly.

"Lately, the home has become one of the biggest requests we get," said Capt. Laurence Salkin, who runs a Tampa water taxi service.

When customers board, Salkin lists waterfront mansions they might want to see, such as those of Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Bryan Glazer on Harbour Island and Tampa Bay Lightning star Vinny Lecavalier, who lives a few doors down from Jeter's new home.

In tempting customers with Jeter's mansion, he pitches it as "the motel that's one man's house."
They almost always bite.

Salkin teases to the main attraction by motoring along the shore of Davis Islands, allowing passengers a unique view of countless waterfront mansions.

Customers are rarely prepared for the spectacle of Jeter's enormous house, Salkin said.

"You have got to be kidding," they tell him. "That's his house?"

Taylor Ward is not thrilled about the new visitors.

"We have a parade of strangers walking through the neighborhood," she said.

Ward and her husband bought their house across the street from Jeter's property a year ago. The day they moved in, contractors installed three portable toilets across from their dining room window.
The gawkers began to arrive almost immediately.

She has watched people park nearby and walk to the construction site. She has seen teenage girls jump out of their cars, tossing their hair to pose for pictures.

One day, she sat down with a piece of paper and noted everyone who drove by to see the house.
In one hour, she had 30 check marks.

Ward no longer lets her children play in the yard. The family let the hedges grow for more privacy.

"It has totally changed the way we live," Ward said. "And I worry it's only going to get worse" once he moves in.

Norma Lurie is enjoying the excitement of her new neighbor.

She bought her home in 1972, two years before Jeter was born.

"He's a celebrity," said Lurie, 80. "Almost everybody knows who Derek Jeter is."

Still, she said it is ridiculous that people take pictures of a work site.

"If it was Joe Smith's house, nobody would care," she said.

Neighbors who hope the gawkers stay away once the house is finished might be out of luck.

Jeter's man-about-town image is at least part of the reason his home is of such interest, tour guides and neighbors said.

Jeter is no recluse. He is regularly spotted at Tampa restaurants, movie theaters and bars during baseball's offseason.

And there's another bad omen for neighbors seeking peace and quiet: an ad for a new home in the area calls it "celebrity row."