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The Oaks: A Sturdy Community

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By KENNETH KNIGHT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2008

Updated: 01/31/2008 05:12 pm

TEMPLE CREST - "Welcome To The Oaks" reads the thumbnail sign on the south side of East Busch Boulevard.

With raised lettering etched on a green and gold canvas, the sign marks the entrance to a cozy community of 46 well-kept homes with neat yards and a cul-de-sac.

Not one house is for sale.

The Oaks is a residential oasis from the endless string of tour buses, tractor-trailers and cars streaming by on Busch Boulevard. The deed-restricted community offers the convenience of urban living and the serenity one would expect to find in a more suburban setting.

"We love it, baby. Love it!" longtime resident Natalie Richardson said.

Richardson shares a home at 8739 Busch Oaks St. with husband Charles and adult daughter Cheri Thomas. Their three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is partially obscured by towering plants and trees given to them over the years by neighbors.

The subdivision is on Busch Oaks Street, a short road tucked under a canopy of live oaks between North 50th Street and Hyaleah Road.

"We have the ugly duckling lot," Richardson said with a laugh. "A lot of people didn't want it because it has a retention pond behind it. We bought it and prayed over it, and it's been flourishing ever since."

The entrance to The Oaks is about 10 blocks east of Busch Gardens. The subdivision is lined with three- and four-bedroom houses ranging in value from $150,000 to more than $200,000, Hillsborough County property records show.

New homes sold for between $74,000 and $95,000 in the early 1990s, residents said.

Bordering the community is a hodgepodge of discount chain stores, mom-and-pop shops, fast-food restaurants and other commercial businesses along Busch.

But some residents say they were drawn to The Oaks because of the busy thoroughfare.

"It's all about convenience," said Leroy Edwards of 8745 Busch Oaks St.

Edwards, an electrician, said he likes that Interstates 75 and 4, restaurants, coffeehouses and stores are a short drive away.

The Oaks is the kind of neighborhood Edwards and his wife, Marsha, the outgoing vice president of The Oaks homeowners association, hoped it would become when they purchased a new home there in 1996. The couple and their daughters, Amanda, 15, and Ann Marie, 13, live in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house near the entrance of the subdivision.

"When I bought a house, I wanted to live in Temple Terrace or near Busch Boulevard," Edwards said.

"The main thing I love about it is it's one way in and one way out. Everybody knows each other. It's a small, quiet neighborhood right off Busch Boulevard."

Natalie Richardson, 49, knows almost everyone who goes past her door. She works with the adults on community projects and hands out frozen cup treats to the kids.

"Everybody looks out for each other; we work together," Richardson said.

She owns a catering business with husband Charles, 47, a full-time chef at the Hyatt Regency downtown.

Richardson recalled what The Oaks looked like in 1994, when she and Charles drove from their Carlton Arms apartment to select a homesite.

"It was just a little patch of dirt between apartments and houses," she said. "It was a little wasteland."

Now, the neighborhood is a blend of diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians and Arabs live on the street. Most have lived there since the subdivision opened. Because the community is small, everyone knows one another and gets along well, residents said.

Kelvin Fedrick, a systems analyst who has lived at 8733 Busch Oaks for 11 years, estimated that 90 percent of his neighbors are like him and his wife, Belinda, original home buyers.

They share recipes and plants and plan parties, picnics and association meetings together.

Residents such as retired Tampa city worker Jerome Scott spend a lot of time taking care of their yards. "Everybody tries to keep it up," he said recently as he put away lawn tools.

Not everybody likes all of the attention to detail.

Manshan Chan, 18, who lives with her parents at 8705 Busch Oaks, said that although her neighbors are friendly, she wishes the homeowners association would show more restraint when it comes to handing out fines for property violations.

She said her family has received its share of citations for failing to replace dead grass as quickly as the homeowners group would like. Chan said her family, which manages a Chinese restaurant in the strip center next door, planted grass seed, which takes longer to flourish than does sod.

Angel Escalera and his family at 8737 Busch Oaks have a prickly situation on their hands - and they love it.

They have planted various species of cactuses throughout the yard, including one plant that now dwarfs the house. "The last time I checked, it was 16 feet tall," said Escalera, 36.

Escalera said he planted the first cactus after he and his wife, Vanessa, moved from Puerto Rico and bought the Busch Oaks house in 2001. They have two children, a 15-year-old daughter, Nashua, and 5-year-old son, Angel Jr., who prefers to be called A.J.

Escalera said he likes that The Oaks is quiet and a good place for A.J. and the other neighborhood children to play.

Fedrick and his neighbors attributed the subdivision's stability to its central location, suburban-style setting, friendly environment, stable home values and the large number of original homebuyers who take pride in their property.

"I don't know why anybody would want to leave this place," Fedrick said.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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