Entrepreneur's Lido home lists for nearly $13 million

A bayfront estate in Sarasota is on the market for nearly $13 million. Entrepreneur and author Pam Sowder is selling her Lido Shores home at 1436 John Ringling Parkway for $12.98 million. Called Casa Lido, the property features views of downtown Sarasota, the Ringling Bridge and Sarasota Bay.

Sowder co-founded It Works!, a Palmetto-headquartered company that sells health and personal products worldwide. She also authored the book "Rich Girl Poor Girl: How to Become the Rich Girl You Were Always Meant to Be.

The estate Sowder owns with her husband spans more than 7,900 square feet, according to a statement. It has five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and four half baths and comes with a private guest house.

Inside, a two-story entryway opens to a great room with walls of windows overlooking the bay, equipped with electric screens. 

Photo by Coastal Home Photography

The first-floor primary suite includes a spa-like bath, oversized dual walk-in closets and an adjoining office.

Also on the first floor is the large island kitchen with two dishwashers and a butler’s pantry. Additional highlights are a temperature-controlled wine room; gym with sauna; and entertainment room with theater seating, wet and dry bars and game space. There is also a wood-paneled office with a spiral staircase that leads to a second-story library. 

Guest suites are located upstairs, and there is also a guest house with private entrance, kitchenette, laundry and en suite bath. Outside, the house offers pools, an outdoor kitchen and private dock with lifts and accommodations for watercraft and paddleboards.

Photo by Coastal Home Photography

“Every space in Casa Lido is oversized, intentional and undeniably grand,” the listing says, “a home that must be experienced in person to fully appreciate its scale, finishes and commanding presence.”

The listing agents are Katy McBrayer and Montana Taplinger, global real estate advisors with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s Downtown Sarasota office.

“Lido Shores has always been one of Sarasota’s most tightly held waterfront neighborhoods,” McBrayer and Taplinger say in a statement. “Very few properties trade each year, and when they do, they often represent a completely different caliber of construction and location. Over the past decade, we’ve seen values climb significantly as new luxury homes replace older residences, particularly those with direct bay frontage and views of the Ringling Bridge.”

McBrayer and Taplinger are also the listing brokers on another high-priced, high-profile property for sale in town, a waterfront estate known as the "House of Columns" on Longboat Key. That listing price is $22 million.