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When Ruslan Fedotenko played professional hockey for the Tampa Bay Lightning and a host of other teams, he had a knack for scoring goals by positioning himself around the front of the net.
Now retired and living in Tampa, location is important to Fedotenko in another way. He recently co-founded a real estate development firm, Blue Line Residential. (The blue line has a double meaning: the line on the ice in a hockey rink and the lines on architectural blueprints.)
Fedotenko is teaming up with custom homebuilder Paul Wiezorek on Blue Line. The duo’s first development is a luxury waterfront townhome project on Treasure Island in Pinellas County, built on spec. It’s planned as two, three-story units with 3,900 square feet of air-conditioned space; a three-car garage; four bedrooms; four-and-a-half bathrooms; and a game room. Each unit will be listed for $1.75 million.
The site, 255 110th Ave., says Wiezorek, is near John’s Pass inlet and public beach access. “Everyone we’ve talked to in real estate says there is a big appetite for a development like this in that area,” says Wiezorek, who also owns Wiez Design & Construction and has been in homebuilding for some 30 years.
Beyond location, the project has some high-end features, including a gourmet appliance package, hardwood floors and an elevator in each unit. There’s also a dock on the intercoastal waterway, offering one slip per unit.
“This project will be amazing,” says Fedotenko. The Ukrainian-born winger is beloved by Lightning fans for his star performance in Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals, when he scored both goals against the Calgary Flames in a 2-1 win. “I’m really excited about it.”
Fedotenko and Wiezorek met about 12 years ago, when Fedotenko considered having a home built in Tampa for his family. Later, while playing with New York Rangers, Fedotenko considered getting into real estate as a career and buying land up north. But he says he hesitated “to pull the trigger,” while his focus was hockey. Upon returning to Tampa after he retired in 2016, Fedotenko reconnected with Wiezorek. “I was always impressed with his work,” Fedotenko tells Coffee Talk.
Now the duo plans to take Blue Line further than the Treasure Island project — financed by American Momentum Bank. Up next? Another high-end project, this one rental units, in South Tampa. Says Wiezorek: “We plan to focus our development company on A-plus locations we believe are ripe for high-end development.”
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