Going Up!

What a difference a year makes. With inventories of home listings at their lowest since the height of the real estate boom in 2005—a 3.9-month supply last summer, according to a report by Michael Saunders & Company—developers are rolling out new projects across the region. Here’s a sampling.

On Golden Gate Point, Aqua (above), a luxury condo project being developed by Michael Adams and Jonathan McCague, was slated to break ground this fall. Eight residences, ranging from 4,800 to 5,800 square feet and priced from $3.95 million to $4.95 million, will have 10- to 12-foot ceilings, up-to-the-minute appointments, and expansive outdoor terraces from which to enjoy 360-degree views of the Ringling Bridge and downtown Sarasota. What sets Aqua apart from everything else on Golden Gate Point, and around the immediate downtown area, for that matter, is its architect, Guy Peterson, who’s known for his award-winning modernist designs.

Just a few walkable blocks south of the shops and restaurants of charming downtown Venice, the maintenance-free townhome community of Island Court (above) is set to rise on Nokomis Avenue. Twenty-six townhomes that each include two bedrooms plus den, two full baths plus powder room, and a two-car garage start at $369,000. They’re being marketed by Michael Saunders & Company.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch—Lakewood Ranch, that is—Country Club East is expanding with a 37-lot neighborhood called Windy Hill. Fifteen of those lots overlook the 10th hole of the Royal Lakes Golf Course. Jimmy Stewart, vice president of sales for LWR Communities, says it’s the first time in two years that golf course-view homes have been available in this popular part of the ranch. The six approved builders are Arthur Rutenberg-Nelson Homes, Cardel Homes, Homes by Towne, John Cannon Homes, John Neal Homes, and Lee Wetherington Homes. (Lakewood Ranch, by the way, was named one of the country’s 50 best master-planned communities in the July/August issue of Where to Retire magazine.)

Modern-Family Friendly

Lennar Homes has introduced a smart concept aimed at boomers who are welcoming back re-turning young-adult children or elderly parents. NextGen—Home Within a Home floor plans fea-ture separate living quarters with their own kitchen, bedroom and bath. Locally, you can check out the concept at the Independence model at Stoneybrook at Venice. It’s priced in the low $300,000s.

Top of the Market

A four-bedroom, four-bath home at 640 Rountree Drive in Longboat Key Estates that sold for $3.3 million was the highest-priced residential sale in Sarasota County in August. Set on a half-acre point with 200 feet of Sarasota Bay frontage, the 4,479-square-foot Tuscan-style home was built in 2003. It has multiple terraces that offer panoramic water views and that bring the total square footage to nearly 7,000 square feet. It last sold in April for $3.5 million.

Hot Water

Four impressive late-summer sales offered proof of the premium homebuyers put on waterfront property.

At $6.8 million, a brand-new Gulf-front home at 6001 Gulf of Mexico Drive was the highest-priced residential sale on Longboat Key in more than two years. The 7,000-square-foot home set on an acre-plus of Gulf frontage had been listed at $7 million. Co-listing agents were the Addy-Wittig Team and Jonathan Abrams of Michael Saunders and Company; Coldwell Banker’s Lynne Koy represented the buyer.

On Lido Beach, a three-bedroom, seventh-floor end unit with wraparound terraces at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Residences sold for $3.35 million, making it the highest-priced sale there since February 2012. The listing agent was Richard Perlman and the selling agents were Denise and Nicole Mei; all are with Michael Saunders and Company.

On nearby Golden Gate Point, the late August sale of a three-bedroom, 3,290-square-foot condo in La Bellasera for $2.35 million was the highest-priced sale in that 28-unit building in 18 months. Located on the seventh floor, it overlooks Bayfront Park. Premier Sotheby’s International Realty broker-associate Barbara Mei represented the buyer.

Neighborhood Watch: Coral Cove

Coral Cove is a beautifully groomed, mainland waterfront community set right on the Intracoastal Waterway. But what really sells Coral Cove, says Michael Saunders & Company realtor Christy Neff, is its private, two-acre neighborhood park and boat launch reserved for the use of homeowners.

Located a mile south of Stickney Point Road across the Intracoastal from south Siesta Key, Coral Cove was developed in the 1950s, and many of those original homes have been torn down to make way for larger residences.

“It’s a nice family neighborhood, very stable,” says Neff. “Most people live here year-round, and they have get-togethers at the park several times a year—lobster night, soup night, children’s birthday parties.” At summer’s end, five homes were on the market—one non-waterfront home listed in the $300,000s, and the other four on either canals or open bay starting at $1.2 million. Coral Cove for the most part escaped the foreclosure wave of the past several years. In 2012, Neff says, a house sold every 26 days. “That’s pretty darn good,” she says.

Number of Coral Cove properties: 204

Number of sales from July 2012-July 2013: 12

Range of sale prices: $168,000 to $2.2 million

Range of square footage: 1,269 to 6,151

For more Sarasota real estate news, click here to read Bob Plunket's Real Estate Junkie blog. 

This article appears in the November 2013 issue of Sarasota magazine. Like what you read here? Subscribe to Sarasota magazine. >>