Tampa Bay Times: Wesley Chapel’s Bridgewater tries a pitching edge to find buyers
By Lisa Buie
October 12, 2014
WESLEY CHAPEL — When Bobby Martin suggested his homeowners association hire a public relations firm to help pull his neighborhood from the pit of plummeting property values, his fellow board members responded with skepticism.”It was initially shot down,” said Martin, a 31-year-old financial planner who moved to the Bridgewater community in 2005. But after listening to his pitch — that the move would put the 760-home Lennar community ahead of others in the competition to rebound from the housing collapse — they embraced the idea.So Martin brought in Jack Glasure, a buddy he met through a networking group, to market Bridgewater to families in hopes of filling the vacant and rental homes with owners. Glasure, a graduate of Saint Leo University, works for French West Vaughan, a North Carolina firm with an office in Ybor City. Its clients include such national brands as Wrangler and Coca-Cola. Closer to home, it represents the troubled BayWalk shopping center in St. Read more: