TAMPA, Fla. — New construction homes are hard to find within the City of Tampa, where available lots for building are scarce.
Where they do exist, there are often issues that can make construction challenging.
As part of our ongoing “Price of Paradise” series, we learned about one couple’s new home nightmare, in which buyers were caught in the middle of an impasse between the city and the builder.
Devon and Jenna Pascoe hope they’ll soon be able to move into their new home.
They signed papers to buy it in February 2020, before they were engaged.
“This house is here. This house is livable. And we can’t live there,” Jenna said in mid-April.
“To have our life be put on hold essentially for three years, then almost be there and have that hope taken away from us is very frustrating,” Devon said.
Six new houses on South Sherrill Street, all with committed buyers, sat empty for months after years of wrangling between the builder Maronda Homes and the City of Tampa.
According to the U.S. Census Survey of Construction, the average time from start to finish to build a new home in the South was 5.9 months in 2020.
The first permits for the Maronda project on South Sherrill Street were issued 34 months ago.
Delays followed by more delays
The couple was told in March, after it looked like their home was completed, that the city is holding up the issuance of the certificate of occupancy because of a drainage issue.
Emails dating from 2020 show concerns about potential flooding then.
The Tampa Stormwater Department categorized the lots as “flood prone” due to poor drainage at the time Maronda Homes purchased them.
A 2020 email from a city engineer to the builder said, “The lots need to drain to the street with NO impact to the existing neighbors to the rear.”
Without knowing there were issues, Jenna sold her townhouse at a loss, expecting to move into her new home within months.
It took another year for the builder to get a grading and drainage plan approved and install infrastructure.
“They had to put in the big pipes, make sure the water was flowing correctly,” Jenna said.
The couple rented an apartment for one year, which turned into two.
“That was equity we could have been putting into this home that we essentially gave to somebody else,” Devon said.
Eventually, Jenna and Devon moved in with Jenna’s parents.
“Luckily, we’re able to stay at my in-law’s house, which is down in Parrish. But you know that’s still 50 minutes from here. That’s not where we ideally wanted to live,” Devon said.
“It’s taken a toll on us and our relationship because we’re constantly in a bad mood. We’re frustrated. We’re at each other’s throats,” Jenna said.
Interest rates soar during project
The home began to take shape in 2022.
Devon made regular trips to see the progress, never once seeing standing water.
In the meantime, mortgage interest rates skyrocketed.
“It over doubled our rate, which is hundreds of dollars a month that we’re now gonna have to pay,” Devon said.
And when it looked like everything was finished, the couple was faced with more delays.
“I said, 'What is the projection of the completion date so we can be prepared?' and they said, 'We don’t have any date for you. We have nothing to tell you,'” Jenna said.
An email exchange shows the builder and city squabbled for weeks over drainage.
The builder submitted multiple new documents at the city’s request.
The city’s engineer expressed concerns in the email about neighbors “calling us in a few months saying there is standing water in their yard.”
And the builder’s engineer asked, “How are we supposed to certify lots that we did not design?”
We contacted the city on April 15 to ask about the months-long delays.
A spokesperson told us in an email, “The builder, Maronda, has added sod and landscaping to the easement, and the city is simply asking them to clear it.”
After months of wrangling, issue is finally resolved
By April 18, the city notified Maronda Homes that the issue had been resolved and removed the hold.
“Anybody that would ask me to live or build a new home specifically in the City of Tampa, I would advise against it. There are beautiful places around here that you would probably deal with half of the headache,” Devon said.
That couple’s house passed final inspection late last week and was issued a certificate of occupancy this week.
The Pascoes hope to close on the home in the near future.
We contacted Maronda Homes, but they didn’t return our call or email.
If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com