Luxury Homefront

MARKET WATCH

One of Sarasota’s oldest luxury builders, Perrone Construction, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year in a big way: It’s just introduced its luxurious Spice Bay model home off Midnight Pass Road on Siesta Key. Designed by architect Cliff Scholz, who has collaborated with builder Richard Perrone since the company’s inception, the home is part of an eventual enclave of 14 homes built in the Dutch West Indies style, with an indoor-outdoor air of “barefoot elegance.” You can see for yourself, since Spice Bay is on the Parade of Homes, sponsored by the Home Builders Association Manatee-Sarasota and going on through March 7. It’s listed at $1,975,000.

GREAT VALUE

One of just two single-family bayfront homes in The Enclave at El Conquistador in south Manatee County is being listed for $1.45 million by Diane Fogo-Harter of Michael Saunders & Company. The three-story, four-bedroom home at 6448 Mourning Dove Drive was built in 2002, and has stunning open bayfront views all the way south to downtown Sarasota. What makes it a great value? “There’s nothing on the water that’s sold in that price range; at $378.79 per square foot, it’s the lowest priced bayfront property per square foot in the area,” says Fogo-Harter. “Two homes nearby recently sold for more, and they’re not directly on the water.” Plus, it’s practically adjacent to IMG Academies, which draws talented young athletes (and often their parents) from around the world.

Top of The Market

A 7,700-Square-foot home located on more than a half-acre of bayfront at 2890 Casey Key Road sold for $4.4 million after an original list price of $5.9 million, making it the highest-priced residential sale in December. Built in 2008, it has top-of-the-line everything, including travertine floors, Wolf gas cooktop and an elevator. A boat dock and deeded beach easement were included. Tom Stone of Michael Saunders & Company was the listing agent; Terrie Wilson of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate was the selling agent. Sales information provided by Kim Ogilvie of Michael Saunders & Company.

Green Report

From the Top

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Neighborhood Watch  

Sarasota Polo Club

Polo season is in full swing on the Sarasota Polo Club’s nine manicured polo fields, bringing excitement—and big Sunday afternoon audiences—to the bucolic 130-acre residential development on the southeast side of Lakewood Ranch. Not all of the 40 Polo Club properties have homes built on them; some are equestrian barns used part-time during polo season, which runs mid-December through mid-April. Some residents have properties in other locations and spend the fall through spring at the Polo Club, others live here year-round. Regardless, all owners are required to be members of the Polo Club. “This facilitates a tight-knit community where residents know each other and are invited to all the parties held at the club,” says Pat Lyon of Prudential Palms Realty. One notable polo-playing resident: hockey great Larry Robinson, who played and coached for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Total number of Sarasota Polo Club properties: 40 Total number of sales from 12/2008 to 12/2009: 1 seven-acre parcel Sale price: $665,000

SAMPLE LISTING

A 10,800-square-foot equestrian home on 10 acres at 8022 Polo Club Lane is listed for $3,395,000 by Pat Lyon of Prudential Palms Realty. Built in 1999, the two-story home has four or five bedrooms, seven baths, separate formal living and dining rooms, a large office and custom kitchen with Viking professional cooktop. A stone wood-burning fireplace in the oversized family room and separate

fireplace by the pool and outdoor kitchen, pine wood beams and wood floors evoke a grand equestrian lifestyle. A separate one-bedroom, one-bath guesthouse

is also on the property.

RECENT SALE

A pastoral seven-and-a-half-acre property at 7760 Cow Camp Lane in the Sarasota Polo Club sold in February 2009 for $665,000, after an original list price of $999,000. Horses are allowed on the property. It’s a five-minute walk to the private Out-of-Door Academy, and a five-minute drive to I-75. Arthur Leopold, formerly with Lakewood Ranch Realty, was the listing and selling agent. Previous sale: $750,000 in April 2005.

MLS statistics courtesy of Pat Lyon, Randy Lyon and Brenda Uihlein of Prudential Palms Realty. MLS records transactions and listings by members of the Sarasota Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.