Key Real Estate: December sees 55 Key realty sales

The last-minute rush to record Key real-estate sales before the end of 2009 sent transactions soaring to 55 in December, making it one of the best sales months of the year. Of the 55, no less than 20 exceeded the $1 million plateau.

The top sale of the final week of December was for a condominium at Longboat Key’s 11-story, 86-unit Water Club II that sold for $1.8 million. Next was a $1.5 million home within the Longboat Key Club Islandside development, followed by a $1.35 million condominium at the Orchid Beach Club on Lido Beach, in Sarasota.

Water Club II
Shirley and Howard Markus sold their Water Club II condominium Unit 607, at 1281 Gulf of Mexico to Robert Mills Jr., of Dayton, Ohio, for $1.8 million. The Markuses bought the condominium new for $1,186,700 in September 1999.

The 3,273-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths.

Longboat Key Club
A Brussels couple, Christina Zwaenepoel and Hadj Zellat, bought the home at 981 Longboat Club Road, in Unit 5 on Lot 5 within the Longboat Key Club, for $1.5 million. The seller was a Canadian real-estate investment firm known as 1083892 Ontario Ltd., headed by Joseph Tanenbaum, of Toronto.

The 4,322-square-foot residence was constructed in 1993 and has three bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths and a swimming pool. The home last sold for the same price in 1994.

Orchid Beach Club
The week’s third-largest transaction took place at the 54-unit, 11-story Orchid Beach Club Residences, 2050 Ben Franklin Drive, on Sarasota’s Lido Beach, where Kathleen Hempel, of Madison, Wis., bought Unit B-704 from Mark Ulanov, of Northbrook, Ill., and Bella Arman, of Wheeling, Ill., for $1.35 million. The three-bedroom, three-bath condo was built in 2005 with 2,936 square feet of living space.

Ulanov and Arman bought the condo for $1.28 million in September 2005.

Country Club Shores, Unit IV
Suzette and Gerald Seigel, 101 N. Warbler Lane, Bird Key, and their partners, Lila and Stephen Huse, of Sarasota, bought the Country Club Shores Unit IV home at 570 Bowsprit Lane for $1.06 million in June 2005. They sold it for $710,000 in December to Gregory Lavallee, of Westmont, Quebec.

The canal-front house was built in 1964 with three bedrooms, three baths, a swimming pool and 1,707 square feet of living area.

Islands West
There was one transaction recorded at one of the two tallest high-rise towers on Longboat Key, the 15-story, 89-unit Islands West condominium at 2525 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Murugananthan and Yoshana Rajaratnam, of Winter Haven, sold their Apartment 4-C to Marta and Zoltan Fried, of New York City, for
$625,000.

The two-bedroom, two-bath apartment was built in 1972 with 1,468 square feet of living space. The Rajaratnams bought the condo for $595,000 in May 2004.

Longboat Beachcomber
Kimberly and William Burns, of Naples, paid $485,000 to Christy and Edson Hart, from Delavan, Ill., for their condominium Unit 404, at the six-story, 40-unit Longboat Beachcomber, 2721 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The two-bedroom, two-bath apartment was built in 1970 with 884 square feet of living area. The condo last sold for $37,900 in 1970.

Privateer-South
John Lockwood, of Sarasota, sold his Unit 703 in the 12-story, 58-unit Privateer-South tower, 1000 Longboat Club Road, to Lucie and David Lapovsky, of Bradley Beach, N.J., for $440,000. The unit has two bedrooms and two baths with 884 square feet of living area. The home last sold for $58,000 in 1977.

Sands Point
In a fiduciary, intra-family transaction, Robert and Frances Nelson sold a 99-year lease on their Units 125 and 126 at the three-story, 78-unit Sands Point condominium for $360,000 to Brian Nelson, of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.; Randy Nelson Ozar, of Weston, Conn.; and Chery Nelson Ozar, of Westport, Conn. Each of the three acquired a one-third interest in the lease agreement. Under the agreement, Frances and Robert Nelson retained the right to occupy the condo apartment for as long as they want.

Sands Point, located in the extreme southwestern corner of Longboat Key, north of New Pass and east of the Gulf of Mexico, holds the distinction of being one of the first condominiums built on Longboat Key in 1966. It was first as an apartment, then later converted into condominium personal ownership.

The Nelsons’ double unit consists of 2,984 square feet of living area with three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths. They bought the two units for $127,500 in May 1980.

Windward Bay
In the week’s lone sale on the Manatee County side of the Key, Christopher Martin, from Beamsville, Ontario, bought Unit 13-VR in Building H at the 151-unit Windward Bay, 4860 Gulf of Mexico Drive, from Alice Salaices, of Venice, for $175,000. The two-bedroom, two-bath condo was built in 1974 and has 885 square feet of living area.

Salaices acquired the condo for $68,500 in September 1993.

Seaplace III
In what appears to be a bookkeeping action involving a Lake Bluff, Ill., couple, Merle and Caryl Nelson sold Unit G5-407-A at Seaplace III to Caryl Nelson’s trust for a fiduciary $4,000. Arvida Corp. constructed the two-bedroom, two-bath condo in 1977, with 1,257 square feet of living area at 1965 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The Nelsons bought the property for $211,000 in March 1986.

Lido Shores
Jonathan Greene, of Brooklyn, N.Y., sold his home at 1322 Westway Drive on the Sarasota side of New Pass to Margaret and Kenneth Abt, as trustees of the Margaret Abt Trust, Middletown, N.Y., for $619,000.
The home the Abts purchased was built in 1988 with three bedrooms and three baths within the 2,056 square feet of residential living area. The sale price was $371,000. Greene bought the property for $990,000 in June 2006.

Although this area is commonly referred to as Lido Shores, it was, in fact, platted by John Ringling’s nephew, John Ringling North, after World War II in 1948 as the Lido C Subdivision of John Ringling Estates.

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.