Luxury enclave planned for Siesta Key

This article is from the Sarasota, Florida Herald Tribune.

SIESTA KEY -- In what might be the ultimate residential tear-down scenario on Southwest Florida's pricey barrier islands, a developer has assembled more than four acres on the north end of Siesta Key that he plans to turn into a luxury enclave.Developer Roger Van Wie has paid as much as $600,000 apiece for existing homes on Ocean Boulevard, Givens Street and Halmor Drive near Lake Norma for his "Lightkeeper's Park."Meanwhile, Van Wie's new neighbors, the Out-of-Door Academy, are likewise heading toward a plan where their five acres, occupied since the 1920s, could come into play as a development site.It would be the largest site available on Siesta Key, a hotbed of home sales in the region's heady real estate market.Van Wie has bought his 11 parcels during the last few months and has hired The Maddox Group, an architectural and development firm, to front for him.Together, the partners plan to raze the homes and build a 14-home community with a common park in its center and views of Lake Norma to the east."Yes, tearing down what is there," confirmed Bill Maddox, the principal of the Maddox Group, who has submitted a preliminary site plan to the Sarasota County Planning Department calling for vacating Halmor Drive, a short east-west cul-de-sac street that runs east from Ocean Boulevard."We started working with Roger three months or so ago as he first started acquiring property," Maddox said.The plan shows a cluster-type subdivision focused on a park in the center, with a connection to the Lake Norma waterfront for the homeowners.Meanwhile, directors of the nearby Out-of-Door Academy are completing their long-range planning process for moving most, if not all, of the school's students to a new campus in Lakewood Ranch.This fall, they are likely to consider what to do with the Siesta Key property as their new campus evolves, school officials said.The academy is on the east side of Lake Norma, separated from the lake by one row of homes along Gleason.The nonprofit school launched a second campus 10 years ago at Lakewood Ranch by acquiring 85 acres there.School officials said the board of directors would complete its long-range plans for Lakewood Ranch this summer, and that this fall, the board is likely to turn its attention to what to do with the Siesta Key property."Our whole focus has been on building the pre-K through 12 school at Lakewood," said school head David Mahler. "Once the campus master-planning process is complete at Lakewood Ranch, the school's board of trustees will direct its attention toward the future of the Siesta Key campus."Ron Gelbman, chairman of the board of trustees for the school, confirmed the possibility that the property would be sold, but maintained that the subject is still open for debate.It "may turn out to be true, that we would sell that property and use the money to finance Lakewood Ranch," Gelbman. "Or, we may keep it as a feeder school."The academy property is appraised by the county with a "just market value" of $4.8 million including buildings and land."There is nothing else that size," said Warren Hickernell, a Siesta Key Realtor with Prudential Cascade Realty.Hickernell looked at roughly comparable non-waterfront properties on the island and found they sell for about 2.5 times their assessed value. Assigning that ratio to the Out-of-Door Academy yields a price of about $12 million.The current zoning on the school's land would have to be changed to allow much development. It is presently zoned RE2, which allows only one residential unit per acre. Nearby homes are closer to three to an acre."It shouldn't be a big problem changing that to single-family residential because of the surrounding zoning," Hickernell suggested. "However, whenever you go for a zoning change, nothing is guaranteed."Right now, each branch of the Out-of-Door Academy has about 300 students and 50 employees, Mahler said."The master plan calls for a school of 800 at Lakewood Ranch."