Bird Key home sells for $4.2 million

Sharon Smith sold her home at 429 Meadow Lark Drive on Bird Key for $4.2 million to Dorothy Westerberg in the highest sale for the week of Feb. 22 through Feb. 26 recorded on Longboat, Lido, St. Armands and Bird keys at the Sarasota and Manatee county courthouses. The four-bedroom, five-bath home was built in 2002 and has a swimming pool and 6,735 square feet of air-conditioned living space. The lot sold for $875,000 in April 1996.

Roger Pettingell, of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, was the selling agent, and Audrey Singer, of Michael Saunders & Co., listed the property.

“The home has an amazing view of downtown Sarasota,” Pettingell said. “It’s one of the best views in town.”

The sale price is the highest amount paid for a Bird Key property since May 2009, when the home at 552 S. Spoonbill Drive sold for $4.75 million.

Land’s End condominium
Randall and Charlotta Langley, of Clermont, sold their Unit 9 at Land’s End condominium for $800,000 to David Wilson, of Surrey, England. The unit was built in 1979 and has three bedrooms, three baths and 3,954 square feet of living area. The Langleys paid $1,462,900 for the condominium in December 2005.

The condominium is located on the historic Land’s End on the northern-most tip of Longboat Key, where, according to Ralph Hunter’s “From Calusas to Condominiums,” Capt. John Savarese built a home in 1913. That home was destroyed by a hurricane in 1921, and Savarese died shortly thereafter. He left his real-estate holdings to his wife, Nell, who later allowed their niece and her husband, Fran and Frank Mayers, to take the lot on Longboat Key if they paid the back taxes, because Nell Savarese had lost most of her cash in the 1929 stock-market crash. The Mayerses paid the taxes in 1937, and in 1940, they began building a vacation cottage. By the time the family moved to Land’s End permanently, it included three children: daughters, Michael (now Michael Saunders, of Michael Saunders & Co.) and Joan (now Joan Bergstrom, who was instrumental in zoning and developing Jewfish Key) and son, Tom, who still lives at Land’s End.

Club Longboat Beach & Tennis
Joan Albright, of Venice, sold her Unit 511 at Club Longboat Beach & Tennis condominium, 5055 Gulf of Mexico Drive, for $504,000 to Steven and Ann Lester, of Winter Park. The two-bedroom, two-bath condominium was built in 1973 and has 1,718 square feet of living area. The unit last sold for $265,000 in February 1994.

Harbour Oaks
Margaret Kostelnik, of Menasha, Wis., paid $501,000 for Unit 801 at Harbour Oaks, 2159 Harbourside Drive, located behind the gates of the Longboat Key Club and Resort. The sellers were Michael and Susan Master, of Gulph Mills, Pa. The 2,219-square-foot home has three bedrooms and three baths and was built in 1984. The unit last sold for $700,000 in May 2005.

Lido Shores
Richard Brown, of Philadelphia, sold his Unit 504 at Lido Shores condominium, 350 S. Polk Drive, to Alec and Silvia Rosen, of Miami, for $380,000. Built in 1977, the unit has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,396 square feet of living area. The condominium last sold for $142,000 in April 1989.
Islander Club

Clarence and Janet Crutchfield and James Crutchfield, of Advance, N.C., sold their Apartment 34-N at the Islander Club, 2301 Gulf of Mexico Drive, to John and Mary Rayis, of Hinsdale, Ill., for $295,000. The condominium was built in 1970 and has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and 1,235 square feet of living space. The unit last sold for $595,000 in July 2005.

Conrad Beach
Thomas and Alice Stampiglia, of Tampa, sold the vacant property at 411 Firehouse Court in the north-Key Conrad Beach subdivision to John and Margaret Eldred, of Holland, Ohio, for $285,000. The lot last sold for $325,000 in December 2004.

Neptune condominium
Matthew and Bernadette Cieslak, of Hamilton, Ohio, paid $117,300 to OneWest Bank FSP, in Pasadena, Calif., for Unit 8 at Neptune on Longboat Key condominium, 2850 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The 657-square-foot condo has one bedroom and one bath and was built in 1967. The unit sold for $279,900 in May 2005.