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Town Home Meets All Requirements

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

YBOR CITY - To state her mission, Jane English, a former librarian, wrote 10 things she sought in a new home on a gold Post-It.

Roosters (she has a sense of humor about the fowl known to stroll and crow around some urban neighborhoods in Tampa) is followed by roads, movies, restaurants, diversity, friendly, transit, fabric, fresh market and walkable.

She and her husband, Michael, found all the above in Ybor City. They bought a two-story town house with a rooftop terrace across from the Centro Ybor garage last summer after selling their Hyde Park condominium.

For Jane English, 54, the relocation meant her graphic design company moved from their Hyde Park bedroom to a street-front space in their new town house. Since early 2006, Michael English has worked at Wilson Miller, a planning and engineering company located in a former Ybor City cigar company.

When house shopping, Jane English scouted a handful of small loft complexes in Ybor City, but the couple loved the town house's master bedroom balcony and the rooftop, where they just installed wood flooring.

She points out how in one direction she can see ships in the Garrison Channel and then, slightly to the right, the downtown skyline.

On Saturdays, they walk to the farmers' market in Centennial Park.

"I buy our vegetables for the week," she said. "It's great. It keeps me out of the grocery store."

Favorite restaurants are La Creperia Cafe and El Puerto Argentinean Grill, and other amenities are close.

"We walk out the door and in five minutes, we're at the movies," she said.

What about noise from Seventh Avenue clubgoers? English said the parking garage is "an extremely good buffer." Sometimes, a car alarm goes off in the middle of the night.

"But that's part of the urban fabric," she said. "It's not going to be tranquil here all the time. An occasional noise is an easy trade-off."

Janis D. Froelich

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