Lithia/Fishhawk Real Estate

Fish Hawk Ranch Aquatic Center

Fish Hawk, Hillsborough County’s first “green community”, is made up of a variety of smaller communities located in Lithia, Florida. They include Starling at FishHawk, The Preserve, FishHawk Ranch, and FishHawk Trails.

Background:

The area is named after Fish Hawk Creek, a tributary of the Alafia River that connects west of Lithia Springs. It is located about 15 miles east of Tampa in Hillsborough County, Florida.

Two of the communities, FishHawk Trails and FishHawk Ranch, were originally designed as a ranch in the 1990s. Before that, FishHawk Trails was known as a pass through for a CSX Transportation railroad track. In the 1980s, the tracks were removed and the development of the area began.

An undeveloped wildlife habitat became the site of Starling at FishHawk and The Preserve. The developers’ preservation efforts also earned the developments recognition as an official “green community” by The Florida Green Building Coalition. In fact, FishHawk is the largest “green community” in all of Tampa.

Population:

Population growth exploded after the 2000s, with population increasing over 700%, from less than 2,000 people to over 14,000 residents. The median household income also jumped from $66,000 to over $107,000.

Schools:

The Hillsborough County School system manages the public schools. In 2003, the county built FishHawk’s first high school, Newsome High School. FishHawk also has two public middle schools, Barrington Middle School and Randall Middle School. In addition, there are five public elementary schools, Bevis Elementary, FishHawk Creek Elementary, Lithia Springs Elementary, Pinecrest Elementary, and Stowers Elementary.

In addition, FishHawk has two charter schools, Valrico Lake Advantage Academy (elementary) and Bell Creek Academy (middle), as well as two private K-8 schools, Foundation Christian Academy and St. Stephen’s Catholic School.