Thrive
HSN’s Rhonda Shear to open St. Pete multimedia studio
Home Shopping Network (HSN) personality and actress Rhonda Shear recently sold her home in Snell Isle for $6.8 million. However, her longstanding ties to St. Petersburg will continue through a new project.
Shear told the Catalyst that she will soon open a new multimedia studio near the HSN campus, 1 HSN Drive. The building and business, dubbed Shear Media, will accommodate film, television, music and podcast production when it opens in January.
The actress and comedian is known for hosting USA’s Up All Night in the 1990s, and launching Shear Enterprises, a successful women’s intimate apparel manufacturer.
“I’m really excited because there’s no studio like this,” Shear said. “Orlando and Miami have studios, but they’re always crowded and hard to get into. So, I’m very sad about the house, but I am busy with other stuff.”
Shear fondly referred to the home at 2020 Brightwater Blvd. NE as her “Barbie dream house.” The mansion features five bedrooms, six bathrooms with three powder rooms, a chef’s kitchen and an eight-seat movie theater.
The home, built in 1995, includes a private beach, a saltwater pool and a spa with an adjacent kitchen. A deep-water boat slip can hold an 80-foot yacht.
The unnamed buyers, Shear said, want to update the bathrooms but will keep the home intact. “So, I was happy,” she added. “The house is my baby.”
Shear and her husband, Van Fagan, purchased the property in 2011 for $3.2 million. The couple first listed it in 2021 for $9.8 million.
They listed the home again in 2023 for $13 million as local real estate values continued soaring, then reduced it to $11 million in March.
“I think they got a great deal,” Shear said of the buyers. “We were told the house would cost over $10 million to build today. I’m happy for the people because they love the home.”
The home at 2020 Brightwater Blvd. NE.
The couple, childhood sweethearts, have lived in St. Petersburg for over 20 years. Shear, 70, said they watched the downtown skyline’s evolution from the property’s waterfront.
“We used to film a lot of shows there,” she said. “Playboy used it several times for layouts back in the day.”
Shear invented the AHH-Bra and moved to the city after sales “exploded internationally.” She and her husband are now building a more “transitional” home in Tampa about half the size of the 9,722-square-foot Snell Isle residence.
New projects
While Shear remains sentimental over the home and its sale, she still owns a building that houses a boutique on Central Avenue. Her career is also experiencing an unexpected resurgence.
Shear guest starred in several movies and sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s, like Spaceballs, Happy Days and Married… With Children, before launching Shear Enterprises in 2003.
Shear appeared in the indie comedy The Throwback, released earlier this year. She also has a recurring role in The Last Drive-In with Joe Briggs.
Shear noted she secured a part in the Tyler Perry-produced drama All the Queen’s Men (airing on BET+) the same day she closed on her St. Petersburg home. “I’m in two episodes so far, but I could see it turning into more,” she said.
Rhonda Shear and actor Burt Reynolds. Photo: X (formerly Twitter).
Shear has also launched an Up All Night channel on YouTube, with new and old footage from a show she hosted through 450 episodes. “It’s so much fun for me to be able to do this at this time in my life – and actually go for roles that are age-appropriate and get them,” she said.
“I think this frees me up to have some fun,” Shear continued. “It’s like full circle. I’ll be able to travel wherever something is on location but come back to Tampa and St. Pete.
“St. Pete, our business is there. So, it’s always going to be my heart.”
Shear still appears on HSN, and the campus sits across 28th Street from her intimate apparel company. She said the studio space is the same size as the Shear Enterprises building, which, according to Pinellas County property records, would make it nearly 13,000 square feet.
She said Shear Media will feature a full-service kitchen and a small speakeasy behind a hidden wall for people to “go and relax.” It will offer showers and makeup stations, and sets will include carefully curated furniture from the Snell Isle mansion.
“This is the only reason I didn’t sit and cry over the house,” Shear said. “There’s just so much going on right now.”
Shear’s 2017 memoir is titled Up All Night: From Hollywood Bombshell to Lingerie Mogul, Life Lessons from an Accidental Feminist.
