Demolition of House Bittersweet For Couple

A heavy equipment operator with Falcon Contracting pulls up the foundation during the demolition of a house at 1560 S. Floral Ave. in Bartow on Wednesday.

BARTOW | A wrecking ball has closed a chapter in a dispute that has plagued a Bartow couple and city administrators for nearly a decade.

Crews demolished the brick house at 1560 S. Floral Ave. this week, leaving the city to contend with the empty lot left behind.

But for Mike and Tina Keeley, who called that house home for 12 years, it's a bittersweet moment.

"I really liked that home and it saddens me to see it destroyed," Mike Keeley said. "We raised our children there, for all the years they went to school, and we had so many memories there. It was such a pretty house. It's really sad."

This week's demolition culminates a fight that ultimately led to a Polk County courtroom.

The Keeleys alleged the city altered the stormwater flow in their south Bartow neighborhood and those changes left their house under water during downpours. They sued the city in 2006, prompting the city to mount its own legal fight.

The Keeleys abandoned the 1,935-square-foot house in 2008, and three years later, the city got it in a $200,000 settlement that ended the lawsuit.

David Wright, the city's finance director, said $175,000 of that settlement came out of the city's budget, and Bartow's insurance carrier paid the remaining $25,000.

The Keeleys had bought the Floral Avenue house for $80,000 in 1996, according to county Property Appraiser records.

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Demolition of House Bittersweet For Couple