Fernando Romay moved from Atlanta to Holiday Mobile Home Park in South Tampa on Dec. 1, and his ex-wife, Dalia Valdez, followed soon after with hopes of starting anew.

In March, they received a letter telling them the park had been sold and they would have to move. Valdez blames the park's owner for not telling them the park was on the market - something that has become almost common in recent years.

"We were here stranded with nothing," she said. "How can this be?"

Not including Regency Cove, which residents own and consider a "retirement community," South Tampa had seven mobile home parks as recently as 2004. That number soon will dwindle to two.

As South Tampa's property values boom, the area's mobile home parks tempt developers and sometimes lead owners to sell for large profit. Several hundred residents will be displaced, to be replaced by even more people in town houses and condominiums.

"Mobile home parks are becoming an endangered species in South Tampa," said Warren Weathers, the county's chief deputy property appraiser.

The biggest recent sale came when the 24-acre Holiday Mobile Home Park on Interbay Boulevard garnered $10 million. The property appraiser's office values the land at $6.6 million - nearly double what the site was worth in 2003.

The sale follows a countywide trend, with property values skyrocketing for mobile home parks. But South Tampa's park sales have happened more frequently than elsewhere in the county.

In 2000, the 571 mobile home parks countywide were valued at $322 million. There now are 36 fewer parks, but the combined value of those remaining is $535 million - an increase of about 66 percent.

In South Tampa, parks that haven't changed hands recently include Winward Lakes and Life O'Reilly.

Winward Lakes was worth nearly $3 million in 2003; its value now is about $4.5 million. Life O'Reilly's value has tripled, to about $1 million, since 2003.

Weathers said a developer potentially could pay $10 million to $12 million for Winward Lakes and about $2 million for Life O'Reilly, depending on the market's strength at the time of sale and what the developer plans to build.

Regency Cove's value, meanwhile, has ballooned from $10.8 million in 2003 to $19.4 million.

Traditionally, mobile home parks are placed on inexpensive land, Weathers said. Most of South Tampa's parks were built many years ago near MacDill Air Force Base, before property values started to skyrocket.

"It's nearly the end of an era," Weathers said.

A New Era

City Councilman John Dingfelder said the South Tampa mobile home park sales trend began in 2000, when Sunnydale was sold for $5 million.

Owned by Nelson Steiner and Carl Lindell Jr., Sunnydale was on South Dale Mabry Highway for nearly 50 years. The closure forced many residents - some with homes too old to move - to leave and make way for Alta Key apartment complex.

In 2003, residents of the 113-unit Westshore Mobile Home Park in Port Tampa were told they had six months to leave. Developer Don Phillips bought the park with plans to replace it with about 250 units - primarily condominiums - in a project called Casa Bella on Westshore.

The greater good, Phillips said, is replacing older mobile home parks with more expensive housing that is better designed to handle South Tampa's stormwater concerns.

"Change is a reality of life," Phillips said. "Change is going to take place, and we're either going to have to find ways to adapt to it or it'll run us over."

Sunnydale's closure led to the creation of a state trust fund that helps pay to move people who own their mobile homes when a park shuts down. The law provides up to $6,000 to displaced mobile home owners for relocation.

Those who rent their home and land don't get assistance.

Even with the fund, life still isn't easy for those forced to move from parks.

Fran and Bob Martra lived at Holiday Mobile Home Park for 26 years before the park's sale led them to move to a park near Seffner.

Martra said she had no interest in moving to Life O'Reilly and that she couldn't live at Winward Lakes, a park comparable in size to Holiday, because her mobile home is too old for Winward Lakes' requirements.

Winward Lakes resident Frank Marcia is scared by the trend of park sales but said he doesn't think it will happen at his park for several years.

"The owner is putting a lot into this place, so I don't think we're in danger" of closure, he said of the park, 6220 S. Dale Mabry Highway. "They're showing that they want to keep this exactly how it is."

The park is largely occupied. Marcia, who was drawn to the park in 2003 because of its affordability, pays about $360 a month to rent his lot.

By comparison, residents in Holiday's roughly 200 units pay about $300 a month for their lots. That amounts to $720,000 a year in rent.

In Winward Lakes, residents must be 55 or older. Marcia, president of the park's homeowners association, said he loves living at Winward Lakes but wouldn't blame the owner if the park was sold.

"He's a businessman, and he's in business to make money," Marcia said. "I probably would be a little upset because I don't want to leave here. I like it here. But what are you going to do?"

Regency Cove's History

Regency Cove, owned by residents since 1991, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Residents bought the park just east of the Gandy Bridge for about $12 million because they were tired of poor upkeep and rent increases, resident Ellen Nimon said.

Residents must be at least 55 to live in the park, which has about 410 units. One unit with a waterfront view sold for about $225,000, which includes a share of the park. Some lesser units are worth about $80,000.

Nimon said that in recent years, offers from developers to buy Regency Cove have tapered because residents aren't willing to sell.

The property is valued at $19.4 million, but Nimon estimates the park is worth at least $100 million.

"I like it around here. It's nice and safe," said Betty Scott, a longtime resident who also is confident Regency Cove won't be sold anytime soon. Most residents don't plan to leave.

"I would say usually we leave feet first," Nimon said. "I always say this is God's waiting room."

South Tampa's remaining parks are on or just south of Gandy Boulevard.

Property values remain far lower south of Gandy than homes just north of it, but the average sales price south of Gandy has more than doubled since 2000.In 2005, while the average sale price of a house between Kennedy and Gandy boulevards was $497,880, it was $231,424 south of Gandy.

Don Phillips, the developer, said town house and condominium sales in South Tampa have slowed. As a result, he said, hope shouldn't be lost for the remaining South Tampa mobile home park residents.

He feels Winward Lakes and Life O'Reilly might stay a few more years.

"It's becoming a more normal market," he said. "All the speculators have left."

ABOUT THE PARKS

REGENCY COVE

•4851 Gandy Blvd.

•There are 410 individually owned mobile homes on 45 acres.

•The total assessed value in 2003 for the park was $10.8 million. It is now worth $19.4 million.

WINWARD LAKES

•6220 S. Dale Mabry Highway

•The park is 30.84 acres.

•Its value in 1998 was $2,359,301; that rose to $2,975,600 in 2003 and $4,533,100 in 2006.

LIFE O'REILLY

•3011 Gandy Blvd

•The park is 1.47 acres.

•In 1998, its value was $162,028; that rose to $321,900 in 2003 and $964,733 in 2006.

Source: Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 835-2105 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.