Up for sale: Davis Islands house ABC rebuilt after fatal plane crash

March 31--TAMPA -- Seven years after Ty Pennington led the chorus of "Move that bus," catapulting a corner house on Davis Islands into the national spotlight, the rebuilt structure is on sale with the owners asking a cool $889,000 for the two-story, four-bedroom home with a view of Hillsborough Bay.

The house has been on the market for a little over a week, said Century 21 real estate agent Gary Garrett, who said there should be no problem selling a house like this.

"It's an excellent time to sell," Garrett said.

No offers have been made yet.

"But we do have an awful lot of people looking at it," he said.

Built in 1983, the home at 629 E. Davis Blvd. was reincarnated after an airplane from the nearby Peter O. Knight Airport slammed into it in June 2006, killing the pilot, severely injuring the copilot and destroying the house.

Owned by Thomas and Cynthia Tate, the house was chosen by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," an ABC television show that gave hapless homeowners new digs for free.

The Tates, through some misfortune and paperwork glitches allowed their homeowners insurance to lapse, so Pennington, the frenetic host of the show, set his sights on making over the plane-damaged Tate house.

Thomas Tate was reluctant to discuss his decision to sell when reached Tuesday afternoon. He wanted to keep the sale out of the news

"Our kids are grown," Tate said, "and we're down sizing."

Though the house came to the Tates free of construction costs, it does cost between $11,700 and $13,700 a year in taxes, according to records at the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office, which assessed the property at $368,039 with a fair market value of $657,844.

On the real estate website Zillow, which factors in comparable nearby sales, the house is valued at $734,000 to $1.2 million.

The rebuilt, 3,477-square-foot, two-story structure has ceramic tile and hardwood floors and is situated on a 78-by-110 foot lot. The project was unveiled in January 2007.

The property comes with one unusual feature: A memorial near the front steps of the house bearing the names of Steve Huisman, 41, of Bradenton, the pilot killed in the crash, and co-pilot Sean Launder of Sarasota, who was severely burned. A National Transportation Safety Board report blamed the crash on pilot error and a problem with propeller controls on the twin-engine Beech aircraft.

The landing gear was not deployed, a witness told the NTSB, when the plane struck a fence on the north side of the airport, then trees, a car and the house..

The property is listed on Century 21's website, which gives details of the home, including the grim history:

"The moment you see this beautiful Davis Islands Mediterranean four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home you will appreciate the architecture, location and lush landscaping. Great views of the airport, walking path and water views of Hillsborough Bay and the channel. Featured on "Extreme Home Makeover" to replace the home destroyed in a freak plane accident."

Other beneficiaries of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" have sold their remade homes, too, including:

--A house near Houston rebuilt in 2010 after damage from Hurricane Ike, sold in 2014 and turned into a drug rehabilitation center. That raised the ire of neighbors in the community. The original family adopted and fostered special-needs children and couldn't afford to keep the sprawling mansion.

--A Tilden Township, Pennsylvania, home put up for sale in 2013, three years after the makeover. The owner, a single mother, said she needed a place closer to work so she could spend more time at home with her young daughter.

--A Savanna, Georgia, home that went on the market in 2012, a year-and-a-half after its makeover. The renovated home helped a family raise a young child with developmental challenges, but the family couldn't afford to keep up the home, assessed at $664,000, and sold it.

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