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Hotel Class: 
3 Stars - 111 Opinions
111 W Fortune Street, 275N Ex-44 I-4/275S Ex-45A, Tampa, Florida, 33602, United States
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111 Opinions
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Hi
We are in the process of moving to Tampa from the UK, Husband has a new job there so we are relocating, We have three children ages 7,4,19m. I would love any advice from areas to consider living and any general advice anyone can give us especially if you have moved from the uk,
Thank you.
Hi, I haven't moved from the UK, but I have lived in Tampa.
Where you will work obviously will have a big impact on where you will live. If your job is in Tampa, you might consider living in South Tampa, particularly in Plant High School District (around Palma Ciea/Virginia Park are some of the best areas). This is one of the top high schools in the state (but I'm not sure about the elementary schools). The neighborhoods are older and well established, with most houses built in the 1920s through 1950s, and many new houses constructed in the last decade. There are several pockets of good restaurants in this area, particularly Hyde Park/South Howard, which is the trendiest part of Tampa. This area also has low crime, especially if you live a few blocks from the big roads like Gandy, Henderson and Dale Mabry. Housing in this area is probably the most expensive in the Tampa area, because of the area's many positive attributes.
Many people choose in the suburbs around Westchase to the northwest or Brandon to the east. The draw here is larger houses, more land, and lower prices, but the negatives are long commutes and little to do. Furthermore, with the housing market downturn, may of these areas have high rates of foreclosure and empty houses.
Depending on where you will work, the beach towns might be an option. Keep in mind that the commute from Indian Rocks Beach to downtown Tampa will be around 45 minutes, sometimes worse with tourist beach traffic or rush hour.
Areas to generally avoid, particularly since you have young kids, are the Ybor City area and some of the areas around the University of South Florida (Fowler Ave area). These are the highest crime areas of Tampa.
I did move from an Iowa city of less than 50,000 to an east coast metropolitan area of over five million. One thing I strongly recommend is that you NOT buy a home for at least a year. Rent an apartment, YES; buy a home, NO.
Why? Because you can't possibly know where you want to live in a metro area until you actually get to know a metro area.
Maybe you'll find that factor X in deciding where you want to live is more important than factor Y, even though you used to think it was the other way around. Maybe you'll find a factor Z that you didn't know about. You can never know. By renting for a year, you can learn more about the metro area AND how it meshes with your family desires.
I absolutely adore where we now live, which, incredibly, is only a kilometer away from where we rented for a year! However, renting allowed to feel completely confident that our initial, gut choice was a correct one.
We loved that there were lots to do for adults and kids of very different ages, and much less expensive than other FL locations like Orlando and Miami! We found this website useful for finding activities (in Tampa, Clearwater, and St Pete) as it sorts activities by age group: TampaActivityGuide.com gulf beaches, Busch Gardens, FL Aquarium
Why did I move here? With about 4 million people living in Greater Tampa, I figured employment opportunities would be on a par.
Wrong, as a matter of fact construction type workers, blue collar trades are much more valued (and better paid) than white collar, college degree and hi tech employees.
As a matter of fact, if you had a high paying job (over 50K) with a prestigious company, you're untouchable. They don't want to hire anyone who's accustomed to a good salary where you've been treated good and had advanced through promotions/pay raises.
Why? Jealousy among hiring management who have never been to the level you've been?
These employers here are famous for demanding every skill under the sun, then make silly offers like $35K. Overly picky and grossly underpaying. Then you see these same jobs with the same employers being advertised 3 months later, 6 months later as it turns out they've made yet another "bad hiring decesion".
When all you offer is crumbs, then all you attract and retain is rats.
For anyone who's ambitious or ever been successful elsewhere avoid this place like the plague. It will be the worst career move you've ever made! If you need to work to earn a living, just cross this place off of your list!
The University of South Florida Bulls play football at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Bucs. Tickets are pretty cheap, often around $20 for exciting Division IA Big East football against conference rivals like West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse, Connecticut and others.
We saw USF play the University of Pittsburgh on November 20th 2010. The defensive battle was tied 3-3 at the end of the first half and 10-10 at the end of the third quarter, then Pitt wet ahead by seven at the beginning of the final quarter for the win. Pitt's running back Dion Lewis ran for 105 yards as the player of the game. The only other players who really performed on this day were the punters who combined for 9 kicks on this warm fall day.
Fort DeSoto, Fort Brooke, Palmetto Beach, Tampa Heights, Ybor City, West Tampa, and Port Tampa, with the headquarters for the command located at The Tampa Hotel, now known as Plant Hall. 30,000 troops were stationed in Tampa and the surrounding area, and about 15,000 of them were sent to Cuba.
Plant Hall -- The huge 511-room hotel hosted Theodore Roosevelt and other American commanders before the invasion of Cuba in the Spanish American War of 1898. The south wing hosts the Henry B. Plant Museum, which displays various artifacts from the hotel's heyday.
Port Tampa's Spanish-American War Park -- Spanish-American War Memorial Park is a small, generally triangular park in the Port Tampa City area of southern Tampa. The Tampa area was an essential staging area for the troops heading off to Cuba to fight in the Spanish-American War in 1898.
West Tampa's Fort Homer Hesterly -- This towering white, four story building on North Howard Avenue is presently a National Guard Armory. It is also the site where the Rough Riders staged their men and equipment prior to heading off to fight in Cuba. There are plans to move the National Guard unit and completely redevelop this area.
Fort DeSoto Park -- In May of 1898 this park on an island called Mullet Key became an overflow camp for some of those preparing for the invasion of Cuba. In November of the same year construction began on Fort DeSoto, much of which is still in its original condition.
Fort Brooke -- This small fort at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa was constructed in 1824, at the site of the convention center. By the time of the Spanish-American War, the fort had been decommissioned, but the area still served as an encampment for soldiers preparing for the attack on Cuba.
Palmetto Beach -- lies just east of Channelside, across the Ybor Shipping Channel.
Tampa Heights -- This area is just north of modern downtown Tampa.
Ybor City -- The Cuban expatriots and refugees who lived in Ybor City helped ignite the Spanish-American War, and this also became an encampment area and a crossroads of severl other local military camps prior to the Cuban invasion.
This is a cute little town near the beach. I've been here too many times to mention. Has a cute downtown area to walk around. It is quite quaint and I enjoy the stops and restaurants. There are a few other things to do in the area.
Dunedin Fine Arts Center
Exhibitions and related programs at the Dunedin Fine Art Center are sponsored in part by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs through the Florida Arts Council, the Pinellas County Commission through a Pinellas County Arts Council Cultural Development grant and the City of Dunedin.
1143 Michigan Boulevard, Dunedin, Florida 34698
(727) 298-3322 fax (727) 298 3326 email info@dfac.org
http://www.dfac.org/
Dunedin Historic Soceity and Museum
349 Main Street
located in the center of downtown Dunedin next to the Pinellas Trail.
Suggested Donation
Adults $2.00
Children under 12 Free
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Address: 111 W Fortune Street, 275N Ex-44 I-4/275S Ex-45A, Tampa, Florida, 33602, United States
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