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Lifestyle: Style of Housing: |
Real Estate & Homes in Apollo Beach - Florida - Apollo Beach, Florida homes and communities
Apollo BeachIn the land of warm and sun, it’s no wonder one of Florida’s premier townships, Apollo Beach, would be named after a Greek god known for bringing light and warmth to the world each day. Apollo Beach is on the Gulf of Mexico, resting within a cove along a portion of Tampa Bay untouched and left to its own natural beauty. The small city by the sea boasts a beautiful waterfront community and a tropical landscape year-round. The quaint town of just over 8,000 residents is a haven for boating and fishing enthusiasts, with its dozens miles of canals and inlets, and as each season passes, many more waterfront options are being designed to make the little city a near Italian replica of the water city Venice. Perhaps these same navigable canals are the best known characteristic of Apollo Beach. With an average a depth of seven feet in the center, all the canals are connected, merging with Tampa Bay. The canals are lined by magnificent homes with lush tropical foliage and most home sites here have docking facilities for motorboats, yachts, and sailboats on each side of the canal. The city’s streets are lined with tropical trees and shrubbery, and lawns are meticulously manicured. Apollo Beach is located on the eastern side of Tampa Bay in Hillsborough County, Florida. Apollo Beach is a wonderful example of all the best that living or visiting Florida has to offer for business or pleasure. The community has experienced a growth spurt, as has the rest of Florida, with continued development of world class communities, condos and resorts, making for many opportunities to explore, visit or relocate to the land of sun. History of Apollo Beach Apollo Beach is on the site where cattle once grazed, groves produced citrus fruit and swamp lands separated the sea from the shore. In 1923, that land was lined by mangrove swamps -- trees, which dominate wetlands and are tolerant of brackish water and saltier coastal conditions, and they are usually surrounded by a watery wilderness. There are three types of mangrove trees: the red mangrove is quite water tolerant, grows well in the mudflats, and is easily recognized by its arching, stilt-like roots, the black mangrove typically grows at levels covered by high tide, but exposed at low tide, and the white mangrove found farther from the water. At that time, much of the land was estuarial and was low lying and considered uninhabitable. Owned by the Dickman Family, it was Paul Dickman who conceived the idea of a waterfront community. He felt the location was such that it lent itself to the development of a city along U.S. Highway 41 at approximately equal distances between the cities of Tampa and Bradenton -- about 20 miles each way. The Dickmans went to great lengths to design a subdivision with roads, canals, schools, recreation areas, and community services, but the land remained untouched until the early ‘50s when the family turned over the land to New York developers who named the place “Tampa Beach,” believing the association with Tampa would attract more tourists and home buyers. The task of remaking some of nature’s finest land proved too great a task, and in 1956, the east coast developers notified Mr. Dickman that the project could go no further. Finally, in 1958, after a second land sale, development finally got underway with the construction of the first 50 homes along U.S. Highway 41. Climate Apollo Beach is much like the rest of Florida, with a pleasant climate; cool, refreshing bay breezes brought in from the Gulf of Mexico make for many pleasant days and an annual temperature of 70 degrees is tough to beat anywhere else. The annual rainfall brings in about 41 inches, but when showers do make their way to the small coastal town, they retreat just as quickly, passing even more quickly during the summer months when storms are most prominent. Again, though, those rains make for a fine reprieve from the heat of the summer months and usually offer refreshing bouts of natural beauty. Other than a bit of rain, Apollo Beach is appropriately named as a jewel in the land of the shining sun. Real Estate Apollo Beach’s home prices range from about $120,000 and up into the millions of dollars, and like the rest of the region -- the richest in Florida – prices are constantly climbing. All housing types and styles are available including single-family homes, residential, commercial, lots and land, investment properties, waterfront, town homes and condominiums. Waterfront homes are pricier, as should be expected, and offer better returns for the money invested, but the value of all houses here holds strong and the area has become a Mecca for investment property for beginning to professional investors. Apollo Beach is a small community with a quiet lifestyle, but easily convenient to the larger surrounding cities, such as Tampa to the north and Sarasota to the south. Apollo Beach offers several prestigious gated waterfront communities, including: Andalucia, a community of about 225 homes offering tennis courts, a pool, a small beach, a marina and a place for watching dolphins and sunsets. The community is gated 24-hours. Homes start at about $600,000 for 2500 square feet on an interior lake with a few docks available in the Andalucia Yacht Club, which holds boats to 60 feet. Symphony Isles was the first gated community in Apollo Beach with waterfront homes and a few town homes. Bay Vista is located on the open Bay and offers nice views with lots about 50 feet by 175 feet. Mustique Bay is a small community with 3/4 acre home sites on the bay. All lots are individually gated. MiraBay is a coastal community currently in development and will probably be the last new master-planned waterfront community in the area. The salt-water canals lead to a large freshwater lake about 135 acres in size. MiraBay is a gated community with many waterfront homes on 60 foot wide lots with dock on the salt-water canals, somewhat lower on the fresh-water lake that has a lift to the salt-water canals. Most other homes in Apollo Beach are single-story ranch-style homes and range from about 1000 to 2500 square feet and property in the area is difficult, though not impossible to come by and well worth it for those who acquire it. Sights, Sounds; Parks & Recreation At home on the edge of Tampa Bay, an urban luxury land neighboring the rural groves of trees and ranch land, Apollo Beach has nearly something for everyone. The small resort-like town is a fisherman and boater’s paradise, a perfect place for someone who wants to be near a major city, but wants to stay out of the daily grind. It’s surrounded by nature, assessable to everything that makes Florida the land of fun and sun and nothing stands in the way. For fisherman, there are an infinite number of fish to bring in for either the casual or trophy sportsperson. Some examples of the deep sea bounty include grouper, catfish, redfish, snook, tarpon, sword fish, sea trout, even shark, which do come into the Bay every so often, but are most likely found in the intra-coastal waters and the Florida barrier islands about 20 miles, by boat, west of the city out to sea. Being a city among the wild, Apollo Beach is near many local rivers, another great place to fish, and canoe or kayak. Plus, there is also horse back and bike riding, all of which may be rented at one of several locations here. The Little Manatee River State Park has many opportunities, as does the Alafia River, for the outdoor enthusiast. Also, for manatee sight seeing, channels along the Tampa Electric Company power plant are a first choice to see the endangered, but gentle sea cows, as they frolic in the warm waters that cool the plant. There is a manatee viewing area and nature trail here as well. Apollo Beach is also the home of Canaveral National Seashore, a clothing optional resort area. Currently, within the city, there are no prohibitions against open nudity unless it is followed by lewd or lascivious conduct. Also in Apollo Beach there are many fine dining restaurants, shops for and attractions including museums, theaters and entertainment options. World class shopping can be found in the posh stores in Sarasota where charm, comfort, and beauty match the small sun city to the north. There is also the Prime Outlets, offering some of the finest designer names at drastically reduced prices just minutes south along Interstate 75. Plus, by traveling ten short minutes to Brandon, a burgeoning city neighboring Apollo Beach to the north, there are more world class offers at Westfield Brandon where fine jewelry, clothing, boutiques, spas; coffee shops, gift shops and almost any offering can be found at a minutes notice. Golf anyone? Apollo Beach is a community proud to boast the only golf course on the west coast of Florida to be designed by “Robert Trent Jones Sr. -- acclaimed as the most significant golf course architect in history. The Apollo Beach Golf Club was designed with the philosophy that makes the course a true pleasure to play for golfers of all abilities. He believed that a great course should offer a source of pleasure to the greatest number of players possible while at the same time testing their strategy, mind and skill. In all these criteria Apollo Beach delivers and brings the additional bonus of the natural beauty and wild life of Southern Florida to life on a course you will enjoy playing forever,” according to local authorities. Additionally, Hillsborough County is home to such attractions as Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, Lowry Park Zoo and the Florida Aquarium, and within driving distance of Orlando’s Disney World and Universal Studios. The John Ringley estate museum is just thirty minutes south in Sarasota, as are the luxury shops along the beach there. For the sports fanatic, professional offerings include football, baseball and hockey. Arts Transportation The following is a complete list of schools within Apollo Beach and the surrounding communities. The only public school in the city is Apollo Beach Elementary, part of the Hillsborough County School District. Middle and high school students attend local area schools. The following is a complete list of colleges, universities and educational institutions in or near Apollo Beach, Florida: Argosy University, Concorde Career Institute, Faith Theological Seminary and Christian College, Florida College, Florida Metropolitan University, Hillsborough Community College, International Academy of Design and Technology, ITT Technical Institute, Keiser College, Manhattan Beauty School, New College of Florida, Remington College, Ringling School of Art and Design, University of Phoenix, University of South Florida, and University of Tampa. By the Numbers Apollo Beach’s land area is 5.9 square miles, with 3.56 percent of that area being water. The median age of residents is 42.1 years; with a median household income of $50,203, according to 2000 census reports. The economy here is firmly rooted in the service industry, tourism, retail, financial institutions and services, health care, real estate and light manufacturing. Written by Scott E. Rupp exclusively for CoastParadise.com
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