Grand Bay unit sells for $1.3 million

The keys’ largest real-estate transaction for the week of May 18 through May 22 was the $1.3 million sale of Unit 136 in Building 1 at the 272-unit Grand Bay highrise complex. Mary Jane and Joe Duffey, of Liberty, Mo., sold the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath condominium to Diane Redding, of Short Hills, N.J.

Constructed in 1994, the 2,781-square-foot condominium at 3060 Grand Bay Blvd., sold for $1,349,000 in March 2004.

Original St. Armands home
One of the original St. Armands Key homes built in 1926, the year the John Ringling Causeway and Bridge first opened, was purchased by Diane Clagett, from Washington, D.C., for $1.29 million.

The five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath home at 236 S. Washington Drive was sold by Gail and Rodrick White, of Atlanta. They paid $1,212,500 for the home in April 2005. The 2,759-square-foot home includes a swimming pool added in 1991.

Country Club Shores, Unit I
Another original home, this one at 525 Sloop Lane in Unit I of Country Club Shores, was sold by Linda and Terry Chambers, of Ontario, to Jacqueline and Richard Meckstroth, from Huntington, W.Va., for $757,000.

Built in 1962, the three-bedroom, two-bath ranch-style home has 2,237 square feet of living area and a swimming pool. The Chamberses paid $278,857 for it in May 1990.

Seaplace VI
Katherine Farber Lapidoth, from Miami, bought Unit G-7 109-C at Seaplace VI from Janice and John Wismer, of Ontario, for $380,000.

The two-bedroom, one-bath condo at 1935 Gulf of Mexico Drive was constructed by Arvida Corp. in 1979. It has 933 square feet of air-conditioned living area. The Wismers bought the condo for $439,000 in January 2005.

Sands Point
In a transaction at the 78-unit Sands Point, Maxine Burke, from Adel, Iowa, sold her Unit 123 to Christopher Dubs, from East Hampton, N.Y., for $355,000.

The two-bedroom, three-bath apartment was built in 1966. The condo last sold for $550,000 in May 2004.
Sale recorded incorrectly

When Gay and Paul Scherrer, of Indianapolis, sold their Unit 259 at Silver Sands condominium, 5841 Gulf of Mexico Drive, for $325,000 to Victor Cook Jr., of Columbus, Ohio, the transaction was recorded at the Sarasota County Courthouse in error, because the property is on the Manatee County side of Longboat Key.

As such, it should have been recorded at the Manatee County Courthouse, in Bradenton.
Silver Sands was originally constructed in 1972 as a resort rental but was converted into a condominium at the height of the real-estate boom in 2004.

The two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath condo with 748 square feet of living area last sold for $695,000 in March 2005.

Bird Key
In the week’s lone sale on Bird Key, Elizabeth and Janusz Majewski, from Wyomissing, Pa., paid $625,000 for the 36-year-old home at 546 Bird Key Drive. The sellers were Steven Saemisch and Barbara Carnes, of Sarasota.

The three-bedroom, three-bath home has 2,790 square feet of living area with a swimming pool. The home last sold for $625,000, in 2004.

St. Armands Key
Carolyn Cline, of San Francisco and 5380 Gulf of Mexico Drive, sold her 54-year-old home at 61 S. Adams Drive to Jane and Sigurd Hermansen, of Chevy Chase, Md., for $550,000. The three-bedroom, three-bath house has 2,425 square feet of living area and a swimming pool.

The house at 355 N. Washington Drive was purchased by Krisztina and Gerald Gilmartin, from Paxton, Mass., for $305,000. The sellers were Lillian Swiman, of West Haven, Conn., and Nancy Axelrod, of Enola, Pa.

Signing the deed of sale was attorney-in-fact James Fischer for the sellers and the estate of Ruth Dunford.
The house has three bedrooms, four baths and 3,510 square feet of living area.

Lido Harbour Villas
Co-trustees Kristie Bryan, 620 S. Blvd. of the Presidents, and Jean Olsen, of Sarasota, of the Budd Olsen Estate, sold Villa 7 at Lido Harbour condominium to Carol and Carl Wetzig for $250,000.

The two-bedroom, two-bath condo at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Drive has 1,088 square feet of living space and was constructed in 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.