Newsletter 80

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST:

DOWNTOWN TRANSFORMS

The boom continues. Construction is completed, underway or planned on projects that will bring more than 4,000 new apartments, condominiums and hotel rooms in and around downtown Sarasota. Developers and the lenders that back them are risking hundreds of millions of dollars that Sarasota can handle this explosion of growth, which also includes nearly 500,000 square feet of new office, retail and restaurant space. Dozens of projects, some cresting to the maximum 18 stories, are permanently changing the appearance of the city in a post-recession surge of building sparked by pent-up demand and confidence the future. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Building Boom

HOMES SALES, PRICES STILL RISING

The Sarasota and Manatee residential market ended 2017 with increases in both closed sales and median prices compared with 2016. Inventory remains tight and properties spent more time on the market last year. Credit Florida’s robust economy and steady influx of new residents. Sarasota County’s condo sales reached a record with 3,480 closed sales, a 6.6% increase from last year. With all the new luxury condos in downtown Sarasota, it’s a bit surprising that the median sales price rose by only 7.1% to $225,000. In single-family homes, Sarasota’s closed sales edged up 1.1%, to 7,912, while the median price jumped 7.6%, to $269,000. Please click here to read more: Home Sales, Prices Rise

TOURISM INCREASES

Tourist arrivals in Sarasota County increased by 1.5% to 80,100 guests in January compared with the same month last year, according to data from Visit Sarasota County. Numbers for the season as a whole, beginning in October, are even stronger so far, with visitation up 2.7% over the same period last year. When county tourism officials pooled hoteliers in December, the overall feeling about the season was split. The upper end of the market seems to be outpacing the lower end. The limited-service hotels by highways seem to be feeling the pinch from Airbnb and other new lodging alternatives. There’s more on this story here: Tourist Numbers Increase

RITZ DEAL SHOWS MARKET STRENGTH

When a national investor in luxury hotels drops $171 million on a local property, people pay attention. The proposed sale of the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota sends a signal to other real estate investors about the potential of the Southwest Florida market, experts say. The Ritz is a unique property for the region, with that $171 million price tag including the 266-room bayfront hotel, a private club on Lido Key with 410 feet of beachfront, and an 18-hole golf course. Buyers Ashford Hospitality Prime said it seeks out luxury hotels and resorts that offer the highest levels of revenue available per room. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Ritz Deal

SAND DOLLARS

The city is planning a small-scale shoreline protection project at Lido Key while it awaits a judge’s ruling on a proposed dredging of Big Pass to renourish the beach. The city plans to use 150,000 to 200,000 cubic yards of sand from New Pass this fall to renourish Lido Key beach. The project, estimated to cost between $2 million and $3 million, depending on how much sand is used, will help to offset beach erosion on the barrier island while a case opposing the dredging of Big Pass for even more sand to aid the disappearing beach is considered by an administrative law judge, city officials said recently. There’s more on this story here: Lido Beach

BUILDER SHARES COLONY VISION

It was once a resort known throughout the world that attracted tennis stars, even presidents. It is now a dilapidated property inhabited by rodents and caught up in a decade of litigation and disagreements. Recently, the Longboat Key town commission listened to a pitch by a developer with hopes of building a five-star hotel and condominiums on the site where the world-renowned Colony Resort once stood. What to do with the 17.6-acre site has been an issue of contention since the Colony filed a series of bankruptcies starting in 2010 and dissolved into what it is today. If you’d like to read more, click here: Colony Vision

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE FOUND IN GULF OFF VENICE

When state officials were alerted that a diver found human skeletal remains off the south Sarasota County coastline, they recruited a forensic anthropologist from Florida Gulf Coast University to examine a potential crime scene, about 300 feet off Manasota Key. It was determined that the remains were part of a rare 7,000-year-old Native American ancestral burial site in what state and local officials are calling an “unprecedented” underwater discovery. For more on this story, please click here: Archaeological Site in Gulf