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Tying Up The Loose Ends

Posted Jan 15, 2007 by B.C. MANION The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jan 15, 2007 at 06:06 PM

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There’s a story behind that diamond ring on Cynthia Tate’s finger.

“I lost my ring in the fire. Tom sifted for days with a pizza screen” to find it.

But it was badly damaged, so Tom took it to a jeweler friend for repairs. That proved difficult and the jeweler instead created a new ring using two small stones from the original.

Tom presented it to Cynthia on Sunday night. He said his friend told him not to worry about paying for it just yet; they could work something out.

“I hope you like pizza,” Tom told his buddy.

Quite a laundry list of building materials went into the Tates’ new house.

• 330 cubic yards of fill dirt
• 65 cubic yards of concrete
• 39 pallets of block
• 300 sheets of drywall
• 125 gallons of paint
• 2,500 square feet of wood flooring
• 1,000 square feet of tile.

Crews were busy Monday afternoon cleaning up the staging area and nearby grounds. They’re putting things back to how they were pre-“Extreme Makeover.”

“We’ve cleaned up any of the trash the spectators may have left,” said Lynda Wailes, one of the volunteers from builder WCI Communities, Inc.

Crews were busy raking up mulch put down on airport property during the week, breaking down tents and loading up stuff to get it off the site.

When WCI took on the job of building the house, it sent out an e-mail seeking volunteers to help do odd jobs.

“They actually had too many volunteers,” said Wailes, who works at WCI’s Westshore Yacht Club.

She said she signed up to help right away. “I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

 

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First Came The Cheers Then The Joyous Tears

Posted Jan 15, 2007 by The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jan 15, 2007 at 12:49 AM

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By B.C. MANION
The Tampa Tribune

“Move that bus! Move that bus! Move that bus!” the crowd chanted as Tom and Cynthia Tate and their children waited to see their new “Extreme Makeover” house.

Like a curtain slowly lifted on an exquisite Broadway set, the big bus finally pulled away. Behind it stood a 3,400-square-foot Spanish Eclectic home of white stucco, with a wraparound porch and tropical landscaping.

Every one of the five Tates cried. Just like on the show.

“At one point, Mrs. Tate was down on her knees and Ty [Pennington] helped her up,” said front-row fan Andi Adams, referring to the hunky show designer.

Adams cried, too.

Cynthia Tate, who was alone at home in June when an airplane crashed into the family’s original 1,773-square-foot home, hugged Tom. He picked her up and gave her a twirl. Then both hugged Ty, said Tom Soper, another fan of the ABC show who snared a prime view.

About 2,000 people went to Davis Islands on Sunday to be part of “The Reveal,” the climax of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” when the “desperate and deserving” family gets to see the house custom-built and decorated for them in a week.

Things began about 11 a.m., with a stretch Hummer and the bus practicing their movements. The fans perked up with every celebrity sighting and got a big reward when Pennington ran out and doled out high-fives. Beads, T-shirts and teddy bears tossed into raised hands kept everyone pumped during the wait. They were more than ready to comply when urged to shout, “Move that bus!” at 1:36 p.m.

Jennifer Rodriguez of Gibsonton enjoyed it all. But she wanted more.

“I wish we could be on the other side of that door.”

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Finally ... The End

Posted Jan 14, 2007 by B.C. MANION The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jan 15, 2007 at 06:05 PM

Tim Oak, one of the key players from WCI Communities, Inc. which built the Tate family’s home, says now that the job is done, he’d like to get some sleep.
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He’s been getting by on a few hours every night during the building spree. But it’s not all work that’s the problem.
“You’re too pumped up to sleep.”
It’s been a wild week. Home builders aren’t used to the kind of notoriety they get by building a house for a national television show. “I’m autographing hard hats,” he says.
Donna Schmoll, who lives a few blocks away from the Tates, was among the spectators who dropped by today.
She knows the Tates and she’s thrilled for them but hopes that amidst the hoopla, people won’t forget the pilot who died in the crash. She feels for his family.
“They lost something that can’t get built back.”
All of the Tates’ relatives have been overwhelmed by the project, said Jeanne Tate, Tom’s sister. “Every room you go into, you say, “Wow.” And then you go into the next room and you say ‘Wow,’ again.”

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Working The Crowd

Posted Jan 13, 2007 by B.C. MANION The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jan 14, 2007 at 11:39 AM

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The crowd watching progress at the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” house on Davis Islands has grown so much that people were having to park several blocks away Saturday afternoon and walk to the makeover site.

It is a louder crowd, too.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that there’s a man wearing a WCI Communities, Inc. T-shirt armed with a bullhorn, who is working them up.

“Finish this house! Finish this house! Finish this house,” the man chanted.

He encouraged the crowd to join in and they obliged.

Their enthusiasm is fueled by three pretty women tossing T-shirts and beads to the crowd.

Of course, if you couldn’t catch a T-shirt, you could buy one. There’s a stand nearby selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps and other “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” gear.

While the crowd was having fun near the Tates’ new house, a contingent of U.S.Marcent Marines, Central Command, Special Operations Command and Joint Communications Support Element military personnel prepared to help move in furniture.

The group of about 50 was ready to stay as long as it took to get the job done.

“The Tates’ older son was a Marine so we’re out here to show our support,” said Gunnery Sgt. Christine Brewer.

The work of WCI Communities, Inc. and the assorted subcontractors is nearly over now. The Spanish Eclectic house is white stucco, with sculpted parapets, rough-sawn wood columns and beams, decorative metal railings, balconies and grills. It has a view of the channel and gorgeous landscaping.

When everything is wrapped up on the construction and grounds, WCI will hand over the keys to the designers, who must fill it with furniture, décor and personal belongings and stock it with food before Sunday afternoon when the Tates are expected to return to see their new home.

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Some Roll Out ‘Extreme’ Unwelcome Mat

Posted Jan 13, 2007 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 5, 2007 at 03:33 PM

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By MIKE SALINERO
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - On radio talk shows and computer message boards, a simmering resentment is building over Tom and Cynthia Tate’s good fortune.

People wonder why a family living on affluent Davis Islands needs help from the hit TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

“I don’t understand the charity needed for the Tates,” an e-mailer wrote to a TBO.com message board. “I am sure they can afford to build again.”

Why, they wonder, didn’t the family’s homeowners insurance cover the cost to rebuild?

“I don’t begrudge them a new house, but it seemed like it was their responsibility; they should have been up to date with their insurance,” said another e-mailer.

The resentment stems in part from the sketchy information given about what happened with the insurance, and because Davis Islands residents generally are perceived as wealthy.

The Tate family is out of town while their new home is being built and could not be reached Friday. Tom Tate’s sister-in-law and the TV show’s executive producer say the Tates’ insurance had indeed lapsed, either through an error on the family’s part or on the part of the bank that refinanced their mortgage in 2005.

Despite what most people think, they said, there are people on Davis Islands living paycheck to paycheck.

“People can feel like Joe Shmoe is more deserving than Tom and Cynthia,” said Jeanne Tate, the sister-in-law. “But that doesn’t mean they’re wealthy people. It doesn’t mean they have a pot to crawl into besides the [new] house.”

Plane, But Not Simple

Tom and Cynthia Tate bought their Davis Islands home in 1993 and raised their three children there: Ryan, 21, Tommy, 14, and Loren, 11. Tom works at a Davis Islands restaurant, Tate Brothers Pizza.

Although it has been reported that he owns the pizza shop, Jeanne Tate said the business is owned by his father.

On June 12, a plane careened off the runway at nearby Peter O. Knight Airport and crashed into the Tates’ home. The crash killed the pilot and severely injured the co-pilot. Cynthia Tate was home alone that day, but escaped injury. The family pets died in the crash.

At the time, the four-bedroom, 1,773-square-foot home had a market value of $368,000 and a taxable value of $223,000, according to property records. The family had refinanced in 2005, and mortgage records show they owed $165,000 at the time of the refinancing.

Jeanne Tate said that shortly after the crash, the family received a letter from their property insurer saying their policy had been canceled for nonpayment.

Before the crash, she said, the couple had received a notice from the insurance company saying they owed between $100 and $200. She said they ignored the letter because they thought a year’s worth of premiums had been paid upfront by their bank and the cost would be added to their mortgage payments. That is how they paid insurance under their old mortgage.

Jeanne Tate, who said she is a lawyer, said the couple cannot sue the bank for not notifying them that the insurance needed to be paid. Although banks and mortgage companies insist that the property be insured, that is only to protect their loan, not the homeowners.

The Tates recently reached a settlement with AIG, the company that insured the plane, according to AIG attorney John Murray. The details of the settlement were not disclosed, but Jeanne Tate said the insurer paid to clean up airplane fuel on their property and gave the family a small lump sum to cover some of their belongings lost in the crash.

Now that “Extreme Makeover” is building their home free, the Tates cannot sue AIG for the value of the home, Jeanne Tate said.

“You can’t double-dip; that’s the law,” she said. “If ‘Extreme Makeover’ hadn’t rebuilt the house, the insurance company would have been liable for the fair market value of the house, which was hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what it would cost to rebuild.”

New Law Gives Tates A Break

In addition to a new home, the Tates will be able to take advantage of a law passed last year that will lessen the property tax increase they will face next year.

In the wake of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes, the Florida Legislature passed a law that shelters new homes from valuation increases if the old home was destroyed by a calamity.

The Tates’ former home was protected by the Save Our Homes amendment, which caps homesteaded property tax increases at 3 percent a year. Had a plane not hit their home, and had they torn it down to build a new one, their new house would have been reappraised at current market values.

Under the new law, however, up to 110 percent of the square footage of their old home will stay capped at the lower tax rate in the new home. That means that though the new “Extreme Makeover” home will be 3,400 square feet, only about 1,400 square feet will face the new, higher valuation.

Also, the tax rate on the land itself will stay capped because the Tates plan to continue living there, according to Warren Weathers, Hillsborough County chief deputy property appraiser.

Weathers said a new 3,500-square-foot house on Davis Islands probably would be taxed at $19,000 a year. Because of the breaks the Tates are getting under the calamity law and the capped value on the land, they will pay about $10,000 a year starting in 2008. They were paying $5,500 a year, Weathers said.

Fans of the show have grown to expect heart-wrenching tales about families facing unusual challenges. Compared with some of those families - those with disabilities or with sick children - the plight of the Tate family seems less dire.

Denise Cramsey, the executive producer of “Extreme Makeover,” said the program did an in-depth investigation of the Tates and found that they were needy and deserving of help.

Their story is expected to be broadcast on ABC in March.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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