It’s been a record-breaking kinda summer—beyond temperatures, that is. Those feverish numbers have also made their way to the real estate market. 

In just the past few months, the most expensive vacant lot ever sold on Casey Key got picked up in a $6.5 million cash purchase and the most expensive listing in all of Sarasota County came on the market for $25 million. Now, Manatee County boasts its own noteworthy transaction. We wrote about this home back when it was listed for $12.9 million at the end of last year. It recently sold for $8.55 million—in cash—making it the highest-ever sale of a single-family residence on the Manatee County mainland. (This Anna Maria Island home fetched $16 million, also in cash, earlier this year.)

Featured in Florida Architecture magazine, the home, built in 1991, is the antithesis of the modern, rectangluar giants we've seen going up of late. Indeed, 7000 Riverview Blvd. is all aglow in rare granite, wood mosaic flooring, cypress wood walls and generously beamed 20-foot ceilings. Lots of glass frames a fairytale landscape design by Jim Talley, which includes koi ponds, footbridges, waterfalls, walking paths and tropical gardens.

The seller, Sandra Robinson, purchased the property in 1991 with her husband, H.L. “Penny” Robinson, who in 1960 founded Robby’s Sporting Goods in Bradenton. Robby's grew into a 45-store chain across the Southeast. It was sold and renamed Champs Sports in 1988. Now that the kids are all grown up, Robinson sold to downsize from the sprawling, almost 6,000 square-foot home that spans almost five acres.

Michael James of Michael Saunders & Company represented the buyer, while Jay and Christy Travis with RE/MAX Alliance Group represented the seller.