Wild Blue adds luxury homes to Waterside at Lakewood Ranch

After a successful run in The Lake Club of Lakewood Ranch, Stock Development has been seeking other opportunities as available land begins to dwindle in the nation's No. 1-selling, multi-generational, master-planned community.

Those hoping to move to the area or who live here but want to upgrade can now get a look at Stock's newest venture at Wild Blue at Waterside. Models on site, which sits on the east side of Lorraine Road (across from the Sarasota Polo Club) in Waterside, won't be available until late in 2023, but you can check out Wild Blue models at a sales office in The Lake Club at 8307 Lake Club Blvd.

As it has done in The Lake Club, Stock will be concentrating on upscale homes and amenities.

Claudine Leger-Wetzel, Stock's vice president of sales and marketing, said homes will start at $1 million and then go upward. Besides Stock Luxury homes and Stock Custom Homes, other builders in the new village will include Lee Wetherington Homes, John Cannon Homes, AR by Arthur Rutenberg, and Anchor Builders.

"Certainly, this is an extension of what Stock does best, a masterplanned community with exceptional locations," Leger-Wetzel said. "We have worked with the team at (Schroeder-Manatee Ranch), putting together a nice package. We are bullish on Lakewood Ranch."

Stock will have a unique agreement, sharing a 13-acre park with Homes by Towne, which will be developing adjacent land to Wild Blue. Leger-Wetzel said SMR brought the two builders together on the project.

The park, which includes nature trails, is important to the Wild Blue project, which bills itself as a "nature-centric" community. The village, which will have 500 single-family homes when built out, is 550-acres, with more than half being untouched spaces. 

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A winding trail system will be a major draw, along with a system of small lakes throughout the community. Outdoor amenities will include a resort-style pool, an outdoor poolside bar and restaurant, tennis and pickleball courts, a pavilion, a children's playground, outdoor fitness equipment, an event lawn, docks and kayak launches, dog park, basketball court, and picnic areas.  The pool area will include a Fiji-inspired lagoon, a yoga lawn, and a putting green.

Besides those outdoor amenities, residents will have a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse and wellness center. It will include a movie theater for residents only and a golf simulator. The clubhouse will be built in the second phase of the project.

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Leger-Wetzel said the homes won't feature the Mediterranean style so well known to the Lakewood Ranch area.

"It's going to have clearer lines, lighter colors, a British West Indies look," she said.

On Feb. 8, more than 275 area Realtors and their guests were treated to an introduction to the new village at a special event at the Clive Daniel Home showroom on the Fruitville Commons.

The release of future Wild Blue home sales this spring coincides with the continued development of Waterside Place, which has three major restaurants planning 2023 openings.