The Good Life

Our little piece of paradise has been a magnet for people seeking the good life ever since land developer J. Hamilton Gillespie traveled here from Scotland in 1886 and built the nation's first golf links near what is now the downtown Sarasota courthouse area.

Rich in natural beauty, top-rated schools, and cultural and leisure activities, Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties attract residents who are significantly better educated, more affluent and more likely to own their own homes than Floridians in general.
 
History tells the tale. In the booming early 1920s, colorful characters such as circus impresario John Ringling and socialite Bertha Honore Palmer (of Chicago's famed Palmer Hotel family) transformed the little fishing and farming village of Sarasota into a resort destination. Starting in the 1940s and continuing for several decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist MacKinlay Kantor, John D. MacDonald of the best-selling Travis McGee mystery novels, sculptor John Chamberlain and other celebrated intellectuals established an artists' colony here that formed the foundation of Sarasota's flourishing arts community. Manatee and Charlotte counties, meanwhile, developed as tranquil destinations where retirees, most of them Midwesterners, could enjoy fishing, boating and other outdoor pursuits.
 
Times have certainly changed in the 100 years since realtor A.B. Edwards showed properties to newcomers in his horse and buggy. Today, the region is busy writing a new chapter in its history as a flood of new residents moves here, drawn from all over the country and even abroad by the natural beauty of its beaches and public parks; a wealth of arts and cultural offerings, including opera, symphony and ballet companies, botanical gardens and a new, high-tech planetarium; and stellar educational and medical facilities. In 2004 and 2005, Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties issued a total of 21,426 single-family residential building permits. Even though home building slowed here in 2006, along with the rest of the nation, new developments continue to be announced at a regular pace.

Why do newcomers flock to our tri-county area? Take a look at some of its most notable neighborhoods and you'll see.

SARASOTA COUNTY

THE BEACHES
The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico enchant newcomers from the cold gray North, and many prospective homebuyers look first to waterfront properties on Sarasota's barrier islands, which locals call the keys. Each of Sarasota's island communities has its own personality. A word of caution: Waterfront properties are the area's priciest; at the extreme end of the market, for example, a newly built Mediterranean-style estate on Longboat Key was recently listed for $11 million.
  
For centuries, Longboat Key was a camping ground for native Indians; from the late 1880s to the great hurricane of 1921, it was an agricultural center that produced avocados, papayas and tomatoes. Today Longboat Key is a 12-mile stretch of beach-to-bay resort living, from the multimillion-dollar condominiums of the gated Longboat Key Club on the south end to the wooden bungalows, ranch houses, vacation rentals and low-rise condos of the north end's laid-back Village. Gulf of Mexico Drive, which runs up the island's spine, is lined with hot-pink oleanders and banyan trees and bordered by a popular bike and jogging trail.

Longboat is the seasonal home of many of the nation's top retired executives; its winter residents are known, and appreciated, for their active participation in Sarasota's cultural activities. Several years ago, Money magazine singled out the community as one of America's wealthiest zip codes, and real estate values bear that out. A modest home off the water in the Village now sells for well over $450,000 (if you can find one), and the most luxurious beachfront condos command $2 million to $6.5 million (although smaller, older ones can be found starting at $850,000). Who's buying? "We attract people who could live anywhere in the world," says Ann Runyon, manager of the Longboat Key office of Michael Saunders & Company.

St. Armands is a lovely old neighborhood of eclectic architectural styles that revolves around the world-famous shopping destination of St. Armands Circle. Beautiful Lido Beach and the Circle's terrific restaurants and upscale boutiques are just a short stroll or bike ride away. Platted in the 1920s by Sarasota's most colorful developer, circus magnate John Ringling, St. Armands Circle retains a good bit of his razzle-dazzle. On almost any night of the week, tourists line up outside the ice cream shops, and Harley-hopping lawyers take over the corner coffeehouse. Older canal-front homes on the quiet, neighborly residential side streets are being snapped up for more than $1 million for the land value alone.

You can walk to the lovely public beach on nearby Lido Key, where a wave of new beachfront condominiums have risen, among them Orchid Beach Club and The Beach Residences, adjacent to the ultra-ritzy  Ritz-Carlton Beach Club. Nearby Lido Shores boasted last spring's highest residential sale: $13 million for a mansion set on two acres with spectacular Gulf views across a private walking beach.

Bird Key, a 510-home enclave just off the Ringling Causeway, has canal-front and bayfront homes with manicured front lawns and dramatic city skyline views. Also originally owned by John Ringling, the key was the Arvida Corporation's first big Sarasota development in the early 1960s. Bird Key is a boater's dream, and the Bird Key Yacht Club is the hub of social life here. A mix of executives, physicians, recently retired baby boomers, at least one rock 'n' roll superstar and a controversial national talk-show host call it home, but we're not naming names.

Home to a popular public beach that has been named the winner in a "world's whitest sand" contest, Siesta Key is the most family-oriented of the area's barrier islands. Residential options range from multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions hidden behind private walls to mid-century modern houses to the older mid-rise condominiums on the island's south end. The heart of the key is the surfer-dude-cool Village, with its outdoor eateries, funky shops and ice cream stands. Some people swear the perfect date is a sunset beach walk followed by a daiquiri at a Village watering hole.

Tucked behind sea grapes and bougainvillea, unpretentious family compounds for the rich and private once predominated on Casey Key, a quiet residential enclave on nine lush Gulf-to-bay miles. Today many of them are being razed, and monumental residences are replacing them: two 20,000-plus-square-foot homes were recently completed. It's easy to see why people move here, says Tom Stone of Michael Saunders & Company, himself a former island resident: "You have no high-rises, no traffic problems; it's all single-family, except for a very few condos built before 1972 near the public beach. You really truly feel like you're on an island, but not remote." Last spring, a $9 million sale set a Casey Key record. Who's buying? "People from the Northeast and Midwest who otherwise looked at Naples and decided this was a better buy," Stone says.

To the south, 7.5-mile Manasota Key straddles Sarasota and Charlotte counties between Lemon Bay and the Gulf. Narrow Manasota Key Road, with its dense tree canopy, seems like a road into Florida's past. Midway down the island is a jumble of historic wooden cottages now known as The Hermitage Artist Retreat. The nonprofit organization, founded by the Sarasota County Arts Council, brings artists, musicians and writers to its unspoiled beachfront campus to draw creative inspiration from the setting.
 
SARASOTA
Meandering along Sarasota Bay, the city of Sarasota, population 53,000, is the seat of county government, arts and culture. Its history is inextricably intertwined with John Ringling, who made Sarasota the winter headquarters of his famed Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and who built his over-the-top Italianate palazzo, C… d'Zan, on the Sarasota bayfront. Ringling also built the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art to house his priceless collection of Baroque art and willed it to the state of Florida. Today, the art museum-C… d'Zan-circus museum complex, owned by Florida State University, is Sarasota's biggest tourist attraction.

Two of the area's oldest established bayfront neighborhoods, Indian Beach and Sapphire Shores, comprise the popular museum area, so named for its proximity to the Ringling Museum. A thriving cultural district, the area also claims the FSU Center for the Performing Arts (home of the Asolo Repertory Theatre and Sarasota Ballet), New College of Florida and a branch of the University of South Florida. Tree-lined Bay Shore Road travels the length of these historic north Sarasota neighborhoods, which are filled with  meticulously renovated estates and modest Craftsman-era bungalows from the turn of the last century.

Homes along Sarasota Bay in the museum area command the highest prices, of course, and some of them are Sarasota's most expensive (one recently sold for $12 million); but even the smallest non-waterfront houses in this desirable area start in the $200,000s. The newest addition to the residential mix are 23 modern pavilion-type homes that "will pay homage to the Sarasota School of Architecture [a mid-century modernist movement that won international attention]," says architect Guy Peterson, a developer of  The Houses of Indian Beach, now under construction.
 
From the ribbon of 1970s-era mid-rises that ring Gulfstream Avenue to the swanky Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, downtown's condominium choices are soaring. An explosion of high-end condominium construction over the past few years is yielding two dozen new complexes, Rivo at Ringling, Alinari at Rosemary Place, 1350 Main and Broadway Promenade among them. On Golden Gate Point, the tiny spit of land near Bayfront Park, luxury high-rises like Grand Riviera and Le Reve Dore are pushing out the laid-back 1950s and '60s-era two-story apartment buildings.

Downtown condo prices continue to climb, too; the average sale price in 2006 was $831,700, with the highest topping out at $4.8 million, according to Candy Swick of Candy Swick & Company. "Downtown condos appeal to people who are coming off the barrier islands, are not interested in golf course communities and don't want to go east of town," says Cheryl Loeffler of SKY Sotheby's Realty. "Young professionals also enjoy the vibrancy of downtown."

For those who desire downtown ambiance but like to keep both feet on the ground, downtown's single-family neighborhoods are appealing alternatives. Young professional families and empty nesters have freshened up Laurel Park's Craftsman bungalows and 1920s-era Mediterranean Revival cottages, and they've formed an active residents' association to build a small neighborhood park. Nearby Towles Court has become a thriving artists' colony where creative entrepreneurs have covered their Florida Cracker-style cottages in bright paint and turned them into galleries and coffeehouses. A monthly gallery walk attracts hundreds of browsers. Urban frontiersmen are also turning to up-and-coming Gillespie Park, north of Fruitville Road, where old bungalows around a 10-acre park are being rehabbed and sold to young professionals.
 
OSPREY AND NOKOMIS
The once sleepy, unincorporated communities of Osprey and Nokomis, located between Sarasota and Venice, are awakening to tremendous residential and commercial growth.
Almost 100 years ago, Osprey was the winter home of Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer, wife of hotel magnate Potter Palmer. She came to Sarasota County in 1910 and snapped up tens of thousands of acres of wilderness, intent on utilizing it for cattle ranching, citrus groves and real estate development. Her bayfront estate, Osprey Point, is now being managed as Historic Spanish Point by the Gulf Coast Heritage Association. Here, the public can tour Mrs. Palmer's water garden, sunken garden, Duchene lawn and fern and jungle walk.
  
Nearby Oscar Scherer State Park, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, offers 15 miles of nature trails, campgrounds and plenty of paddling opportunities on South Creek.
Until now, the elegant Oaks Country Club has been the biggest development in Osprey, but that will change when Bay Street Village & Town Center is completed. This 45-acre mixed-use community will include shops, offices, restaurants, a new public library and some 500 condominiums designed within the New Urbanist framework of live-work-shop-play. It's expected to be completed sometime in 2007.

In neighboring Nokomis, the southern gateway to Casey Key, developer Henry Rodriguez is planning a 220-acre mixed-use development along S.R. 681 that will eventually include 1,950 residences and 240,000 square feet of commercial space.
 
VENICE
In 1925, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), a railroad union based in Cleveland, Ohio, purchased 55,000 acres in south Sarasota County and hired renowned Boston architect and planner John Nolen to create a resort city that would lure well-off winter residents from the cold Midwest. BLE realtors courted potential buyers with everything from lobster-and-candelabra picnics on the beach to hunting expeditions in the wilds of eastern Sarasota County. It worked; by the late 1920s, charming little Venice had attracted a winter population of several thousand.
From the start, Nolen pictured a walkable, human-scaled small city, with distinct neighborhoods all within strolling distance of a few-blocks-long shopping district along Venice Avenue. Wide, landscaped boulevards and homes built around playgrounds or parks were central to Nolen's vision for this planned city, which was one of the nation's first.
 
Today a renaissance is taking place. Small shops and restaurants flank palm-lined Venice Avenue, and nearby Venice Little Theatre and Venice Art Center are the hubs of cultural life. Within walking distance of the compact downtown shopping district are historic 1920s-era Mediterranean Revival estates surrounded by more modest single-family homes. A few blocks west leads directly to the Gulf of Mexico and Venice Beach, a favorite spot to comb for sharks' teeth. (The Venice Sharks Tooth Festival draws thousands of fair-goers each April.) Here are a mix of 1970s low-rise condominiums and new luxury projects.
 
Surrounding golf course communities-and there are many-offer a wide range of suburban ranch homes and villas with vista views.  Long-established Jacaranda Country Club, Plantation Golf & Country Club, Waterford Golf Club, Mission Valley Golf & Country Club, Calusa Lakes, Capri Isles and Pelican Pointe Golf & Country Club have been joined by posh newcomer Venetian Golf & River Club, set on the beautiful Myakka River.

Two areas are about to boom. Some 3,000 acres in North Venice are slated for residential, commercial and industrial development in the next decade. Among them is Waterford Companies' recently announced $320-million The Renaissance, with more than 800 residences, an 1,800-seat movie theater and 295,000 square feet of commercial-retail space. And in south Venice, construction began in June for the enormous Gran Paradiso on Thomas Ranch, a community of 1,999 homes ranging in price from the $300,000s to over $2 million.
 
NORTH PORT
One of Florida's fastest-growing cities and, at 120 square miles, one of the largest in land area, North Port is beckoning families and value-conscious retirees to its affordable subdivisions and its central location close to I-75 along the Sarasota-Charlotte county line.
 
Young homeowners, many of whom commute to work in Sarasota and Fort Myers, can still find small, older carport homes for around $200,000. As elsewhere in the region, new three-bedroom, two-bath residences have climbed above $300,000. "People are moving here from Sarasota, Venice, Cape Coral and Fort Myers because those prices are still better than what they're getting down there," says Bill Diekman, manager of Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty.
 
Neighborhood parks, a multitude of youth programs and beautiful new schools are turning North Port into a real community. Even the cultural amenities are developing: A popular concert subscription series is held each winter in North Port High School's performing arts center, and the North Port orchestra, chorale and concert band give public concerts there as well.
  
Three major golf course communities, Bobcat Trail, Heron Creek and Sabal Trace, are attracting active retirees from the Midwest and other Northern climes. They offer two-bedroom villas and patio homes from the $300,000s, and single-family homes for $400,000 to over $1 million-a price unheard of here a few years ago. More than 80,000 visitors, including many eastern Europeans, flock each year to the healing 87-degree waters of Warm Mineral Springs in northernmost North Port. An ambitious $50 million renovation of the resort is planned, with new condominiums, estate homes, an artists' village and redevelopment of the springs themselves.
 
And the growth keeps coming. Late last spring, a West Palm Beach developer announced plans for the Isles of Athena on 5,800 acres in northeast North Port. Preliminary plans call for 15,000 homes and a town center with restaurants, offices and shops-virtually a brand-new city within the city of North Port. Planning and permitting are at least two years away, developers say.