Key Real Estate

In December 1971, Edward Ball, chief trustee of the $1 billion Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust, commented on the state of the then-depressed stock market.

“From watching this market the last few months, it looks to me like it could be characterized as a ‘yo-yo market’ — it just goes up and down,” he said.

From this observer’s view, the present state of the keys’ realty market can also be likened to that yo-yo, rollercoaster-like, stock-market observation of Ball back in 1971.

Since March 2, weekly real-estate sales recordings on the keys have gone from five to seven to 10, then back down to four; then, back up to 11, down again to four and, finally, up to 10 for this recording week of April 13 through April 17. In the last seven weeks, there were 51 sales total, of which 11 were for more than $1 million.

Sleepy Lagoon
In the largest of the 10 sales in the third week of April, Dawna and John McDonough paid $2 million to Richard and Lois Snyder, 760 Old Compass Road, for their beachfront home at 6603 Gulfside Road in the Sleepy Lagoon subdivision.

The 3,051-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths occupies the southwestern portion of Lot 38, covering almost a half acre, with 103 feet on the Gulf beach. The house was constructed in 1974. Of the 10 sales, this was the only one on the Manatee County side of the Key.

Country Club Shores
The second largest of the week’s transactions occurred in the 420-lot Country Club Shores, Unit IV. John Knutsen Jr., 97 S. Washington Drive, St. Armands Key, sold his four-year-old, three-bedroom, three-bath waterfront home at 580 Putting Green Lane to Donald Ray Robinson, of Madisonville, Ky., for $1.5 million. The 3,586-square-foot home was built in 2005 and has a swimming pool. Knutsen paid $1,773,800 for the home in 2007.

There was a second sale in Country Club Shores at 1155 Bogey Lane in Unit V, in which Susan and Timothy Overby bought a half-interest and Kimberly Dellosso purchased the other half for $670,000 total. The buyers were all from Colleyville, Texas, and the seller was Joeph Deglman, 700 John Ringling Blvd.
The home has three bedrooms and three baths with 2,045 square feet of living area. It was constructed in 1966. Deglman paid $445,000 for the home in September 2000.

Longboat Key Towers
Over at the Key’s oldest beachfront high-rise — the 88-unit Longboat Key Towers, 601 Longboat Club Road — Jon Dokmo and Leanne Johnson, of South Barrington, Ill., sold their Unit S-703 to Denise and Douglas Burnetti, of Lakeland, for $775,000. The two-bedroom, two-bath apartment has 1,458 square feet of air-conditioned living space and was constructed in 1970.

Fairway Bay II
Lawrence John Kidd, from Jackson, Ohio, bought Unit 452 in Building M–4 at Fairway Bay II in the 288-unit bayfront complex. He paid $325,000 to Thalia Dorwick, of Oakland, Calif., for the two-bedroom, two-bath condo at 2020 Harbourside Drive. Built by Arvida Corp. in 1984, the apartment has 1,192 square feet of living area.

Portobello
Beth and Brian Deaner, of Deer Park, N.Y., sold their Unit B-503 at Portobello condominium, 3240 Gulf of Mexico Drive, to Mary Ann and Henry Laraia, of Ilion, N.Y., for $270,000.
The two-bedroom, two-bath condo was constructed in 1975 and has 1,260 square feet of living space. Portobello has 39 units on its bay side and 30 on the Gulf for a total 69 units.

Longboat Key Club Moorings
Joseph Martindell Jr., 681 Old Compass Road, sold his boat slip 4 on Pier R at the 294-slip Longboat Key Club Moorings Marina to Shakeel Mozaffar, of Ocala, for $161,000.

Bird Key
Donna and David Wollert, 321 N. Blvd. of Presidents, bought the Bird Key home at 323 Bob White Way from Ivey McFarlin, heir of the estate of Henry McFarlin, South Pasadena, for $655,000.
The four-bedroom, three-bath home was constructed in 1975 with 2,708 square feet of living area and a swimming pool.

In a second transaction on Bird Key, Rochelle and Donald Freed, of Northport, N.Y., sold their home at 516 S. Spoonbill Way to Marilyn and Robert Radakovic for $520,000. The three-bedroom, two-bath home was built in 1965 and has a swimming pool and 1,895 square feet of living area.

Lido Harbour
Janice Roberts, of Indianapolis, purchased Unit 105 in the Arlington House of Lido Harbour condominium, 1900 Ben Franklin Drive, for $550,000. The three sellers each sold their one-third interest in the condo.
They were Edward Esposito II, Daniel Esposito and Sally Gibson, all of Denver.
The two-bedroom, two-bath apartment has 981 square feet of living area and was constructed 1967.

Kent Chetlain is a veteran Florida journalist and historian, a former Manatee County commissioner and a holder of a Florida real-estate license. He has chronicled real-estate activity in this area since 1957.