How St. Petersburg's Old Money Built a Dream Island of Mansions and Then Left It Empty: Snell Isle

In 1934 the finest house on the finest island in St. Petersburg went up for sale — a waterfront Italian villa, statuary shipped from Italy, sixty-five thousand dollars. The man who built it was still alive, and nearly broke. Nine years earlier, people had camped overnight for the chance to buy a piece of Snell Isle, spending two million dollars in about two hours. Most of what they bought was still lying at the bottom of Tampa Bay. The thing that made this island so valuable is the same thing that emptied it — and in September 2024, the water came back to collect. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snell_Isle https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/20... https://www.motherjones.com/politics/...