A few of the residents are still around and experienced the drama and politics in the early stages of development in Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club!  Beginning in June of 1993 when the land was purchased by Dr. J. C. Benefield as Colonial Village Mobile Home Park.  In February 1994 Gulfstream Procurements (AKA Dale Whittington) purchased the land from Dr. Benefield and the property was renamed Tampa Bay Golf & Tennis Club, Inc.  At that time the Community Center, the tennis court, the shuffleboard courts and the swimming pool were built.  Old Tampa Bay Drive only went as far as the tennis court.  There was also a nine-hole golf course  (hole number 1 is now number 4).  Dale Whittington purchased the development and began building homes.  The original homes that he sold were frame houses with vinyl siding.   He did not start building concrete block and stucco homes until sometime in 1995.

When the homebuilding cycle began Whittington made a lot of deals with many of the prospective owners.   After he would negotiate new homes by buying their trailer, boat, vehicle or something of value that encouraged the new homeowners to commit to a new home purchase. He built homes for those new residents. The deeds for all of the new homes read as follows:  “Tampa Bay Golf and Tennis Club.”  The residents of the new community formed a CAC (Citizens Advisory Committee), and the CAC expressed its views on a variety of issues that arose.  For example, the CAC was concerned about the organic landfill that developed south of the community along Old Pasco Road.  There was also concern about the status of being a senior (55 plus) community.  In 2015 a new President’s advisory board was formed and it was determined that not enough identification was present at each entrance to protect this status.

In 1998 Dale Whittington sold everything to Transeastern Properties, Inc.  A major investor in Transeastern Properties was Falcone Enterprises.  During these years, new sub-HOA’s were created and developed, and Transeastern built these homes. Lennar Homes (aka U.S. Homes) showed an interest in the community and purchased from Transeastern Properties. As TBGCC began to develop growing pains it was determined the new name for our community would be changed to Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club (TBG&CC), although many deeds still list the “Tennis Club.”  The golf course was expanded into an 18 hole championship course, an Executive Course was added and the Clubhouse was erected.  Those amenities were all owned by Falcone Enterprises.

More of the history will be posted in the near future. For all you Realtors that follow my blogs, this should help clear up some of the rumors and illusions shared by some residents.