Newsletter 112

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

DEVELOPERS LOOK SKYWARD ON SIESTA

The days of Siesta Key’s reputation as a quaint yet quirky island community might soon be over. Three developers have lined up to pore over paperwork with Sarasota County planners, pitching what might become, if approved by elected officials, a beach hotel renaissance on Siesta that opponents fear would fundamentally change the character of life along the Gulf of Mexico. Two of the three are asking the county to throw out the density and height requirements to make room for seven-story beach resorts. The proposals would also include changes to the zoning regulations that could allow for much higher development densities. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Development on Siesta

LOCAL HOME SALES MAINTAIN HOT PACE

Prices paid for single-family homes continue to set new highs in the Sarasota-Manatee region as buyers snapped up properties at a fast pace in August. The median price for a resale home was $340,000 in August, the same as the record set in July that topped the prior high of $325,000 in April, according to a report recently from the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. After several steep drops as buyers were spooked during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, sales have accelerated in recent months. Buyers closed on 1,580 homes in August, an 11% increase over the year. Home sales nearly recovered their lost ground, now just 1.7% down through the first eight months of 2020 from last year’s levels. For more on this story, please click here: Home Sales Hot Pace

CITY TAKES STEPS TO REGULATE HOTEL HOUSES

Years ago, Julia Bales and her husband, Wilson, chose their home on Jackson Drive on St. Armands for the quaint shops on the circle and its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. As they moved in, they eyed the empty lot next door. "In a blink of an eye, we now have three houses next door that meet the definition of hotels," said Bales. Each of the new buildings, rented out daily to large groups of vacationers, has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms. There’s even a 1,600 square-foot elevated pool with a tiki bar. Music and the noise from rambunctious parties thuds into Bales’ living room from dusk to dawn, she said. Bales was more than a dozen residents who live next door to "luxury hotel homes" on the barrier islands who spoke to city leaders recently. Those residents say that if the city doesn’t act, these vacation rentals will continue to devastate their quality of life. There’s more on this story here: Hotel Houses

FLORIDA IS TOP DESTINATION FOR A FOREIGN HOME

Foreign buyers continued to pull back from buying homes in the U.S., even during the pre-coronavirus days. For the second straight year, foreign investment in U.S. residential real estate declined. Those buyers purchased $74 billion worth of existing homes here from April 2019 through March 2020, the period covered in the latest report by the National Association of Realtors. That marked a 5% slump from the previous 12 month period. Foreign buyers purchased 154,000 properties, a 16% annual drop. Florida, for the 12th straight consecutive year, remained the top destination for foreign buyers, with a 22% share of all international purchases. California ranked second as the destination of 15% of foreign buyers, followed by Texas at 9% and New Jersey at 4%. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Foreign Buyers

LONGBOAT KEY AND ITS RESORTS GET HONOR

Longboat Key might be a good place for a quiet beach getaway, but it seems the secret is out – at least among readers of Conde Nast Traveler. The barrier island was ranked as one of the Top 15 in the country by readers of Conde Nast Traveler, the travel magazine from the same company that owns Vogue, The New Yorker and GQ. The recognition is part of the magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards, released in the November 2020 issue. The island, which sits in both Sarasota and Manatee counties, made the national list, along with Marco Island and Key West. In addition to Longboat Key itself, Conde Nast readers also rated the island’s Zota Beach Resort and The Resort at Longboat Key Club among the Top 30 resorts in the state. There’s more on this story here: LBK Gets Travel Honor

LUXURY CONDO PLANNED FOR LBK SPOT

A Longboat Key vacation spot that traces its roots to the late 1940’s will be torn down and replaced with a 160-unit luxury condominium. Real Estate development firm PMG just paid $13.25 million for the 3.4-acre home of the Sun ‘n Sea at 4651 Gulf of Mexico Drive. PMG, with offices in Miami and Manhattan, is teaming with Sarasota’s Floridays Development Co. on the proposed Sage Longboat Key Residences, where units will start at more than $4 million. The proposed proposal reflect the on-going strength of the real estate market in the Sarasota-Manatee region, particularly in the high-end category, despite the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Demolition of the 24-unit Sun ‘n Sea is planned within two months, with construction to follow, and completion slated in 2022. Please click here for more: Luxury LBK Condo

SARASOTA IS THE BEST PLACE TO RETIRE

The greater Sarasota area ranks as the top place in America to retire and the 16th best place in the country to live, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Places to Live & Retire 2020-21 rankings, which were recently released. Emily Brandon, senior editor for retirement at U.S. News & World Report, said that a couple of things pushed Sarasota – which finished in last year’s rankings – ahead of Fort Myers. "The first thing is Sarasota scored highly in a Gallup survey of well-being, with residents saying they have supportive social community relationships," Brandon said. "In Sarasota, there are a lot of other retirees in the area." "It can sometimes be difficult to make friends and form a new community when you move to a new place in retirement, but it can help if there are a lot of other retirees in the area as there are in Sarasota," she added. "Sarasota also scored well on our desirability metric, which is where people age 45 and older are most interested in retiring." Click here for more: Sarasota Best Place To Retire

A PINCH OF OPTIMISM

Brett Wallin is like the Luke Skywalker of stone crabbers. A fourth-generation fisherman, he plays and jokes with Alex Trevino – his Han Solo – as they chug around Sarasota Bay in a fishing boat with a sputtering engine Thursday, the opening day of stone crab season. At first glance, they appear too happy for people covered in fish guts and slime. But once they zero in on a crab trap float, the two men are all business, using their fishing knowledge passed from a century of family members to pluck the oval shaped stone crabs out of the sea. Wallin, wearing chest-high waders, measures the reddish crustaceans "crusher" claws and snaps off ones that meet the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s minimum claw size limit. This year it was increased by 1/8 inch to 2 3/4 inches. Both crab claws can be harvested legally, the FWC says. Stone crabs, like other crustaceans, can grow back their claws. Crabbers toss back the crabs after claws are harvested. Recreational crabbers are limited to a gallon of claws per person or two gallons per vessel, whichever is less. Traps may be placed in the water 10 days prior to the start of the season. Wallin has a commercial crabbing license. He owns the popular Walt’s Fish Market Restaurant & Tiki Bar. There’s more here: Stone Crabbers

THE LONG VIEW ON OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE BAY

Vespa’s children got their bad habits from their mother’s side. The bottlenose dolphin was born in 1979 in Sarasota Bay, and plays with humans. That has led to a family of naughty cetaceans, according to Randy Wells, director of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program at Mote Marine Laboratory. As a result, many of her offspring have been injured or died over the years because of human activity. "She’s a case study of what not to do when you’re a dolphin mother," Wells said. For 50 years, generations of researchers with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program have studied generations of bottlenose dolphins from the southern edge of Tampa Bay to Venice Inlet. The program has been operated by the Chicago Zoological Society since 1989, and since 1992, has been based at Mote Marine Laboratory. The groundbreaking studies have revealed that about 170 dolphins in our region can be specific to bay systems, returning day in and day out, year in and year out, generation after generation, Wells said. "It’s the most important discovery in determining how to protect them," he said. Please follow the link for more on this story: Sarasota Dolphin Research

FLORIDA SEES SIGNALS OF CLIMATE HOUSING CRISIS

If rising seas cause America’s coastal housing market to dive – or, as many economists warn, when – the beginning might look a little like what’s happening in the tiny town of Bal Harbour, a glittering community on the northeastern tip of Miami Beach. With single-family homes selling for an average of $3.6 million, Bal Harbour epitomizes high-end Florida waterfront property. But around 2013, something started to change: the annual number of homes sales began to drop – tumbling by half by 2018 – a sign that fewer people wanted to buy. Prices eventually followed, falling 7.6% from 2016 to 2020, according to data from Zillow, the real estate data company. All across Florida’s low-lying areas, it’s a similar story, according to research recently published. The authors argue that not only is climate change eroding one of the most vibrant real estate markets in the county, it has quietly been doing so for nearly a decade. To read more about this story – please click here: Housing Crisis Driven By Climate