Port Richey's Housing Has 'Gone Bust'

PORT RICHEY - Two years ago, this city was bracing for a historic growth spurt.

City officials had signed off on five major housing developments that were expected to more than double Port Richey's small population of 3,200 by 2007.

Combined, the projects were anticipated to add thousands of new residents and expand the property tax base with upscale housing.

In an effort to keep pace with the growth, city officials secured a $3.3 million bond to pay for drilling new wells that would end Port Richey's reliance on its larger next-door neighbor, New Port Richey, for drinkable water.

They reduced Port Richey's property tax rate, banking on an expanded tax base.

They even talked about hiring more police officers to compensate for the influx of new residents and the strains on the small department from more drivers on the roads.

Then the housing market bottomed out.

Developers rolled up their architectural drawings.

And Port Richey's housing boom went bust.

Of the five town home and condo projects, four are stalled and one is still working its way through the approval process, said Ed Winch, the city's building department director.

"It just dried up," he said. "There's no major residential projects going on anywhere."

Cotee River Townhomes, one of the largest developments approved by city officials, broke ground a few years ago with a sales office and plans to build about 180 units on 32 acres along Washington Street, near the New Port Richey border.

The project was being overseen by U.S. Home, a division of Miami-based Lennar Corp., which also had submitted plans for Avila Bay, a cluster of about 124 town homes on 20 undeveloped acres behind the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Old Post Road.

'They're Just Sitting There'

Neither project has moved beyond the permitting stages, Winch said.

"They're just sitting there right now," he said. "The developers keep telling me I'll see something built out there sometime in my lifetime, but I'm not going to live forever."

The sales office at the Cotee River project was recently removed. U.S. Home signs and flags also were taken down.

Officials from Lennar were unable to say when construction could resume.

"We have housing projects under way in hundreds of communities across the state and it's very difficult for us to give up-to-date information on all of them," said Vice President Marshall Ames. "We really just don't drill down to that level of detail."

One of the biggest and oldest projects on the city's books, Banyon Cove on Oyster Bay, had called for more than 720 condominiums at Limit Drive and Oelsner Street.

Years after submitting site plans, however, the development has yet to even break ground.

"It's still just woods out there," Winch said. "I haven't heard from them in a long time."

Developers of another project, Bay Point town homes, had received a green light to build more than 170 units on 20 acres near the corner of Old Post and Ridge roads.

That, too, remains on hold.

The one project that appears to still be in the works is Snug Cove, a condo community of about 110 units in two five-story buildings proposed for a site off Bay Boulevard.

Nita Beckwith, chief executive officer of the Pasco Building Association, said the loss of big-ticket projects is representative of a decline in thestatewide housing market.

"Many developers are holding off until it improves," she said. "I think it's going to start picking up a little bit, but I doubt we'll get back to where we were a few years ago."

New Port Richey Will Survive

For municipalities, the shortfall of new housing means less property tax revenue for the general fund, which pays for fire and police protection and other services.

Mayor Richard Rober said despite the impact of the region's housing downturn on Port Richey, he thinks the city will survive.

"We have to go with what's known, not what's expected," he said. "We have to say, 'This is how many people and properties we have right now' and budget ourselves accordingly."

Bill Bennett, a former vice mayor and local contractor, said while there are a few small projects under way, the overall outlook for the city's housing market is bleak.

"It's gone bust," he said. "And it's probably not going to bounce back for a long time."