My wife and I have grown tired of the frozen tundra that is Denver, and are looking to move back south. One of the places that's caught my eye is Tampa. I grew up in Jacksonville, but only made it down there once. For those of you with lots of experience with Tampa/St. Pete, what are your thoughts on the place? Good place to live? Much to do? Any insights on the job and real estate markets down there? Most importantly, are there any wide open spaces within commuting distance of town?

 

Thanks in advance.

---

I know one thing and one thing only:

 

Gasparilla.

---

My wife and I have grown tired of the frozen tundra that is Denver, and are looking to move back south. One of the places that's caught my eye is Tampa. I grew up in Jacksonville, but only made it down there once. For those of you with lots of experience with Tampa/St. Pete, what are your thoughts on the place? Good place to live? Much to do? Any insights on the job and real estate markets down there? Most importantly, are there any wide open spaces within commuting distance of town?


Thanks in advance.

Tampa is great. Its a quickly growing city. In terms of job opportunity its very high. Cost of living, compared to upstate NY is much much lower. Idk how it compares to Denver.


There is a lot of fun stuff to do. Obviously sports are big there, the beach is close by, people are pretty played back too.


I've been trying to get over there but to be closer to my job I've been in Orlando. Moving to lakeland in two weeks.


But everyone I'm between that I've met from lakeland say they prefer to go tp Tampa as opposed to Orlando. (Mainly to avoid the traffic and tourists.)


Even still, in Tampa you've got Busch gardens and you really aren't that far from the other amusement parks in Orlando either.

---

Coughlin when asked if winning will be a focus: "What the hell else is there? This is nice and dandy, but winning is what all this is about."

If you love to look at all kinds of animals, Tampa's zoo and aquarium are both must-do attractions. If you join one, you get in there free and the other at half price.  It also has a cruise port next to the aquarium. Mom loves art museums, so she took me to several last time we went to the area, but that is just not my thing so I only liked the Dale Chihuly one. I like the airport too - very good signage and less expensive than Jacksonville.

 

But despite all this, I would never think about living there because of named storms from the Gulf of Mexico and the Buccaneers. You would never get the Jaguars on TV and hurricanes hit the city directly.

---

I like Tampa. Ybor City is cool and they have a real casino, if you like that kind of thing. Not a bad place at all the few times I've been.

---

Tampa reminds me of Jacksonville in that its pretty spread out commute wise. It definitely has us beat as far as entertainment/night life goes though.

---

"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

Thanks guys, this helps. Hurricanes don't scare me; I chase tornadoes for fun. The more thoughts, the merrier, so keep 'em coming! I'm trying to get my wife on board with Tampa because, really, our other options don't appeal to me like a return to the Florida coast would.

---

Tampa is a fun town but it only has one season summer.

---

Crazy night life... 2 words- Mons Venus...lol nah that place could get you in trouble with your counter part

---

Very spread out. Some nice areas on the Tampa side of the bay. Nice beaches but most of Pinellas is trashy.

---

;

;

I think of Tampa as Miami's dirty little sister. The people aren't nearly as pretentious as Miami and the nightlife is my favorite in the state. Gotta love a city that has more strip clubs than public libraries ;-).

---

Jaguars Fundamentalist

I think of Tampa as Miami's dirty little sister. The people aren't nearly as pretentious as Miami and the nightlife is my favorite in the state. Gotta love a city that has more strip clubs than public libraries ;-).

 

Only if you like going to strip clubs.

 

I personally would rather go to a library in the day than anywhere at night, but that's just me.

---

What they ought to do is put strip clubs inside of libraries...innovation, plus it'll help subsidize the library.  

---

Well, I live in Tampa. There's plenty to do here, from nightlife, to outdoors, to sports and recreation. Anything specific you're into that I can answer? You mentioned commuting from a remote area, and yes, there's plenty of that. The only problem is you'll be sitting in traffic with all of the other people that share that desire. Typically, the counties north of Hillsborough, (Pasco and Hernando) are where people go to retreat from the city.


For sports, the Bay Area has three major league teams, the Bucs, the Rays and the Lightning. Even though I'm a Jags fan, the Bucs have become my NFC team. I have been a fan of the Rays since their start. I'm not really into hockey, but it's cool to catch a game or two a year.


Busch Gardens is fun. Cool animals and awesome rides, plus you can drink beer all day while you're there. And for Florida residents, buy a ticket once and go back all year for free.


For nightlife, nobody yet in this thread has mentioned the SoHo (South Howard) area. Tough to get parking on a Weekend night, but lots of cool bars and restaurants where you can just go from one to another.


If I think of other stuff, I'll post it. Feel free to ask me any questions.

---

I would suggest St Petersburg. That's my personal preference. But both are nice. The cities basically blend in and form one large urban sprawl. Stay away from US 19 or Dale Mabry. I'd suggest new tampa, lutz, Wesley chapel, Etc if you rather be near/in Tampa

---

I would suggest St Petersburg. That's my personal preference. But both are nice. The cities basically blend in and form one large urban sprawl. Stay away from US 19 or Dale Mabry. I'd suggest new tampa, lutz, Wesley chapel, Etc if you rather be near/in Tampa

New Tampa is very crowded, they should rename it New Brandon. Bruce B. Downs through New Tampa is just like Dale Mabry anymore.

---

What they ought to do is put strip clubs inside of libraries...innovation, plus it'll help subsidize the library.  

 

LOL Then there would not be as many strip clubs.

---

Tampa is a fun town but it only has one season summer.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this?

---

I'm curious as to what you mean by this?

It doesn't really get many seasonal changes...

---

What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

I'm curious as to what you mean by this?

We get some season change in north east Florida but in south west/ central Florida it's just hot year round. I remember Decembers in the low 80's

---