Newsletter 110

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST

CITY OF SARASOTA EXTENDS MASK ORDINANCE

Sarasota city commissioners voted last week to extend the city’s mandatory mask ordinance for an additional 60 days. The ordinance requires the wearing of face coverings inside and outside with a few exceptions. It went into effect on July 1. Sarasota’s face covering mandate will be in effect for an an additional 60 days beginning on August 19. The city has not issued any citations for noncompliance and has largely worked to educate people on the importance of wearing face coverings to help prevent the spread of the deadly and highly transmissible coronavirus. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Sarasota extends masks

LOCAL HOME SALES JUMP DURING JULY

The Sarasota and Manatee housing market showed renewed demand in July with a rise in sales, new listings, pending sales and pending inventory, according to reports compiled by Florida Realtors and provided by the Realtors Association of Sarasota and Manatee. The organizations reported closed sales in July increased by 24.1% from the same month last year. The market continues to favor the seller with a rise in demand and a decrease in inventory, a news release stated. For more on this story, please click here: Local home sales jump

SARASOTA ARTS LEADERS PURSUE FEDERAL HELP

Because arts and culture form one of the largest business sectors in Sarasota County, and they have been financially devastated by shutdowns caused by the coronavirus, leaders of local arts organizations are pushing for a share of federal relief money to protect the jobs of thousands of workers and their ability to continue as an economic driver in the community. Leaders of the county’s major professional theater, orchestra, ballet and opera companies have been contacting congressional delegations to urge for support for proposed legislation that would provide financial help for their operations. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Arts leaders pursue help

LUXURY SALES STRONG

While many homes buyers have retreated to the sidelines during the coronavirus pandemic, the luxury market stayed busy during the first half of 2020 in the Sarasota-Manatee region. Thirty-six homes and nine condominiums each topping the $3 million mark closed from January through July 7 in the two-county area, according to MLS records. Home sales are down nearly 9% in Sarasota-Manatee from last year, as COVID-19 caused potential buyers to postpone their home shopping, and drove sellers to pull their homes from the market or delay open houses over health concerns. But buyers continued to close top-dollar deals, with the sale of a Gulf of Mexico estate on Longboat Key setting a record for the Sarasota-Manatee region – by $1. There’s more on this story here: Luxury sales strong

SIESTA BEACH RANKS #1 (AGAIN) IN U.S.

Beaches, restaurants, hotels and attractions in Sarasota and Manatee counties are among the best in the U.S. and the world, according to new rankings from Tripadvisor. Siesta Beach was ranked once again as the top beach in the U.S. and #11 in the world by Tripadvisor users in the platform’s annual Travelers Choice Awards, which were released last month. The awards are calculated based on reviews and ratings collected on the platform in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s rankings honored 4,817 businesses out of more than 8.7 million listed on Tripadvisor. Please click here for more: Siesta Beach #1 again

MASTER PLANNED SUCCESS

Despite the challenges of the coronavirus-induced economic downturn, two master-planned communities in Southwest Florida again ranked among the fastest sellers in the nation. Lakewood Ranch finished second and Wellen Park landed in third place in the midyear 2020 home sales scorecard from real estate consultant RCLCO. Lakewood Ranch, which sprawls across the border of Sarasota and Manatee counties, retained its position from one year ago and from year-end 2019. The 33,000 acre community, developed by Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, reported 838 sales as of June 30, up by 2% over the year. Click here for more: LWR success

VIRUS HITS SARASOTA-MANATEE TOURISM HARD

Tourism in Sarasota County plummeted in April, May and June, the same time period when Florida as a whole saw a 60.5% drop in visitation. In the three months ending June 30, visitation in Sarasota fell by 67.9%, with the number of visitors falling to 111,800 compared to 348,000 in the same three months the year before. Tourism was virtually non-existent in April, when visitor numbers fell by 94.6%, from 132,000 in April 2019 to just 7,200 people in April 2020. In May, the area welcomed 32,500 tourists, down by 69.7%, from 116,000, and June visitation dropped by 30.1%, from 99,300 to 69,400 people. Coinciding with a drop in visitors, the county also saw major declines in hotel occupancy, which was 51% in June, compared to 63.8% in June 2019. May’s occupancy was 21.7% and April’s was just 9.2%, compared to 75.2% in April the year before. There’s more here: Tourism hit hard

FLORIDA ON PACE FOR HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD

Temperatures soared higher than normal across much of the nation in June and through the first six months of 2020, putting the country on track for what could be another one of its warmest years on record. Every one of the 48 contiguous states saw above-normal average temperatures during the first half of the year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in its most recent update on climate conditions in the United States and around the world. In Florida, the year-to-date average daily temperature on June 30 was 71 degrees, 3.5 degrees warmer than normal. In Florida, this June’s average temperature – 81 – was 1.5 degrees warmer than the previous centuries average. Please follow the link for more on this story: Hottest year on record

REEF RESTORATION BREAKTHROUGH

Scientists with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium recently documented the spawning of lab-grown mountainous star coral that had been planted five years ago on a reef near Cook Island and Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. The reef is near Newfound Harbor, which is one of the seven iconic reefs targeted in the $97 million plan to restore coral in the Florida Reef Tract that was unveiled in December 2019 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with seven partners, including Mote. Mote recently broke the news, noting that this is the first time in Florida or Caribbean waters that restored massive corals were observed spawning. Click on the link for more: Coral reef breakthrough

LBK: GOING UNDERGROUND

It started as an effort to “harden” the town’s electrical infrastructure with bigger, more secure concrete utility poles. Now, Longboat Key is embarking on a massive, voter-approved project to position the town to embrace newer technologies. Since last summer, the town has been fast at work burying its overhead utility lines in a process known as “undergrounding”. Utility poles will be no more, and taller “smart poles” will take the okay of existing street lights. But also included in the project is a town-wide fiber optic network that ultimately seeks to provide 100% coverage of the community over time. To read more about this story – please click here: Going underground