We're not even halfway through and 2024 is reaching new heights in luxury property sales in the Sarasota, Manatee metro area. There was the one in March which fetched $20 million, and now this one, which will probably take the year’s second-place position, at $19.75 million. The private deal closed on May 31. And yes, it was a cash sale.

Called Ohana, which means "family" in Hawaiian—homes of this magnitude seem to demand a proper name in another language—it’s perhaps Longboat Key’s most impressive address. That’s because it reads more like a resort than an abode. But for such private homeowners, both past and present, it's also caught plenty of attention over the years as an unfriendly beach bogart thanks to a seawall that juts out into the Gulf, effectively choking off a leisurely walk along nearly 11 miles of Gulf of Mexico shoreline. 

The only way to avoid trespassing is to wade into the water, which can break on the seawall, or take a one-mile detour using the two nearest public beach-access spots. Walking across the wall is prohibited with a red "private property" sign that proclaims “bad dog guarding” and that you’re on camera. 

After all,  it’s probably part of why it fetched such a high price, setting a new record for tony Longboat Key, which is already known for its high-end addresses.

Ohana didn't go on the market since the sellers wanted privacy. "They didn't want a bunch of showings," says Reid Murphy of Developers Realty LBK, Inc. "Some of these elite properties sell best [when they're] not on the market.” Murphy represented the sellers, Ohana Trustee LLC., in the transaction.

Information about the buyer was kept private, and the agent who represented them, Scott Samuels, of St. Petersburg-based Samuels Realty and Investments, declined to comment. It's still too early for a deed to have been recorded with Manatee County.

Murphy isn’t surprised by the number Ohana fetched. “It’s just so unique," he says. "If you tried to duplicate this property today, it would cost so much more than the sale price. Plus, you just can’t find that land either."

The owners sold due to a “change of lifestyle,” he says. 

Murphy has quietly had it for a year and a half or so, and showed it roughly three times before landing the sale. “It's a resort," he says. "It's a wow from the front to the back."

The previous highest sale on Longboat Key was $16.5 million, set in 2020 with the sale of Serenissima (Italian for “most serene”) at 845 Longboat Club Road.

Ohana, however, is in Manatee County, and its sale also sets a new record for that county, previously held by 100 Beach Ave. on Anna Maria Island, which fetched $16 million in 2022.

In 2019, then-homeowner Kathryn Hutcheson sold Ohana for $11.4 million. The buyer was Elliott, Robinson & Company, LLP, a Missouri limited liability partnership, as Trustee of the Ohana Hale Estate Land Trust. 

Inspired by their love of African and Polynesian architecture, the Hutchesons, worked with award-winning architect Guy Peterson, to create the one-of-a-kind home, which is made up of a series of residential pods. They also hired Miami-based landscape architect Raymond Jungles and lighting designer Thomas Paterson of Mexico City's Lux Populi. 

Building materials included mahogany and clear Douglas fir window and door interiors; teak cabinetry throughout; floors made of Philippine shell stone and white oak, graded a bit roughly to give them a beachy feel; Sipo African mahogany interior and exteriors, oolite stone wall cladding; and walkways and courtyards of South Florida coral stone.

There's a tennis court, a pool and a spa adjacent to a smaller thatched-roof pavilion. The whole thing is temperature-controlled by a geothermal mechanical system.

Due to the challenging permitting requirements for coastal construction, the ability to have a new house on grade this close to the Gulf wasn't possible, so the existing house was redeveloped into a new family space for entertaining, dining and relaxing. 

It has an open-air, cypress-log and thatched-roof chickee hut, and an entry that’s 28 feet in diameter. To the north is a 5,300-square-foot pavilion with a Gulf-facing, 480-foot-long living and dining room, an open kitchen, media room, laundry room and main suite with bathroom and exercise room. To the south is a 1,200-square-foot in-law suite.

A coral stone walkway leads to the original ground-level beach house, which was transformed into a guesthouse with three-bedroom suites. At the time, Peterson told Sarasota Magazine that Ohana is “about a series of interesting experiences both architecturally within the buildings and the spaces between the buildings—places you go on the property where you can lose yourself or find new surprises.”

Click here to check out the top 10 sales of 2022, or here for the top 10 sales of 2023.