Loading
Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana edition)
Concession Developers prepares
for fall start on golf course
Work on development of The Concession, a $600 million, 1,232-acre residential and golf-course community is continuing for a fall start.
A few weeks ago, pro golfer Jack Nicklaus' Nicklaus Investments (Sarasota) Ltd. purchased 37 home lots in the development, located on the east side of Lakewood Ranch between State Road 70 and University Parkway.
The company plans to buy another four lots later this year, says Richard Lam, of the New York City-based real estate investment company Property Markets Group, and a partner in the development with Kevin Daves.
Nicklaus will also have a home at The Concession, Lam says.
Nicklaus Investments purchased the property for a reputed $13.2 million. Five builders have purchased multiple lots in the development for model homes. Twenty home sites have been sold to homeowners.
"It has been phenomenally successful so far," he says.
Work begins on the golf courses this fall, Lam says. Plus, University Parkway will be extended to Lorraine Road.
Homes in The Concession are priced from $1.3 million to $9 million.
Town & Country Developers
starts Villas at Oak Trail
The Florida division of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Town & Country Developers is about to make its presence felt for the first time in the two-county market.
"We opened up here (in Sarasota) about two years ago," says Bill Furst, senior vice president of Town & Country Developers of Florida. "(But) we were looking for land and getting our game plan together."
The company's major target market right now is Palmetto and northern Manatee County. The company, which is developing, building and marketing the project, recently broke ground on Villas at Oak Bend, a 45-unit maintenance-free attached-villa development.
"We are getting ready to go vertical," Furst says. "We will probably start sales there in the next two weeks. We got a lot of calls and inquiries, and we just put them on a list."
The 23-building development, with prices starting in the mid-$150s, is set for buildout by the end of June.
The company's second community is the Villas at Oak Trail, a 66-unit townhome development on Experimental Farm Road and U.S. 41. The community features 10 buildings with six units each, starting in the high $100,000s.
"We are awaiting final approval of the roads, and in the next 60 days, we should start to move dirt," Furst says, who expect to complete it by the end of 2005.
Parcels under contract include 358 acres in Ellenton east of the Prime Outlets and 470 acres just west of Interstate 75. Quincy Johnson Architects of Boca Raton is designing the two projects as a mixture of single and multifamily homes and mixed-use.
"We are looking from Naples north to Tampa," Furst says. "But we are really high on north Manatee. It is just a great market ... with good land availability and high demand."
McClain buys land
for fourth Sonics
McClain Sonics Inc. of Ridgeland, Miss., purchased a little less than an acre on U.S. 301 North in the Ellenton Commercial District from Pelican Pier Partners Corp. for $760,000.
Two years ago, Buddy McClain, CEO of McClain Sonics, signed an agreement with Sonic Corp. to build 20 drive-ins in the Sarasota-Manatee county area within five years. McClain has built Sonics restaurants at 4915 State Road 64 E. and 6008 14th St. W. in Bradenton and 4250 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice. The Venice location, which McClain bought in March from Yomar Restaurant Inc., was Sarasota County's first Sonic.
The typical Sonic Drive-In features a 1,200-square-foot building, used as a kitchen, about 30 drive up stalls for ordering food and 10 outdoor picnic tables. The store typically hires about 75 employees, full and part time.
United Bank buys land
on State Road 70
Sarasota's United Bank of the Gulf Coast purchased vacant land in the 6800 block of State Road 70 west of Interstate 75 in Campbell Commercial subdivision from Floridian Properties Inc. for $625,000.
"We aren't exactly sure about the specifics of what we'll build there," says Susan Blackburn, senior vice president of United Bank. "Just about anything we put in there would be well located. It has a high traffic count. There are a number of new housing starts as well as commercial starts."
The bank will likely build a new branch on the site, giving the community bank a third branch and its second Manatee County location.
"We are definitely looking to grow in Manatee County market," Blackburn says.
Windsor of Lakewood Ranch
set for June opening
Construction on a 65,000-square-foot assisted living facility, the Windsor of Lakewood Ranch, is progressing and company officials project a June 2005 opening.
"We broke ground in May," says Tim Buchanan, president and CEO of Windsor Senior Services and co-owner of the facility along with Realtor Cathy Layton, president of Layton & Co. Inc., and her husband, Pete Russell, of SDR Development.
The 80-unit, 100-bed facility will be on three acres at Nature's Way in Lakewood Ranch's Town Center. The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch is the third such facility in the Sarasota/Manatee area owned by Russell, Layton and Buchanan. The partners also own The Windsor and Windsor Oaks in Manatee County
Tom Wessel Construction of Sarasota is the general contractor for the center. Buchanan has operated assisted living facilities since 1991 in more than 35 states.
Homes by Towne to start
two more in Watercrest
Homes by Towne has received building permits for two new buildings in its highly successful Watercrest condominium development in Lakewood Ranch.
Janet Wilson, sales associate for Watercrest, says that all but four of the 19 buildings are sold. "We are selling them just as fast as they are released," she says. "I have worked for the company for over 10 years and this project has been by far the best."
Watercrest, one of the first multi-level residential developments in the master planned community, will have 180 units along Lake Uihlein when it's completed in 18 months. Prices currently range from $400,000 to $700,000.
"I just really think it is the whole uniqueness of the location that is the big plus," Wilson says. "It's in Lakewood Ranch near I-75. You can do all of your shopping here. You really don't have to go far for anything."
Building permits for the next two condominium buildings list the construction cost of each building at about $2.6 million.
Recently, W.G. Mills Inc. and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. filed plans to build a 130-unit, six-building condominium development on the west side of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard called Lake Vista Residences.
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
