Tech mogul buys historic waterfront Sarasota home for $6 million

It might be the deal of the century — at least as far as Sarasota real estate is concerned.

The property at 900 Alameda Lane was originally listed on Jan. 23 at $11.9 million. But the estate saw spring price reductions that brought the price down to $8.9 million before finally closing on Aug. 31 at $6,025,000. 

Located on 210 feet of private waterfront at Indian Beach, the four-building estate stands on nearly 2 acres of manicured gardens. It boasts a resort-style pool and features a 3,209-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bath main house, a guest cottage and a carriage house above one of the two-car garages.

Courtesy Florida Visual Marketing

The original two-story farmhouse dates to 1894 and was incorporated into a complete remodel, which well-known architect Frank Folsom Smith designed for himself and his wife, Anne. The couple bought the property in 1987 for $150,000. 

“He ripped it apart, designed the remodel and added the pool,” said Eric Hill of Exit Bayshore Realty who represented Peterman. “The property is stunning.” 

Smith was a well-known modernist architect and part of what has become known as the Sarasota School of Architecture. Anne made a reputation as an interior designer. Frank and Anne took the Observer on a narrative video tour of the home in 2014.

The lucky buyer? Michael Peterman, the founder of VeraData, a machine learning analytics company based in Fort Myers.

VeraData provides nonprofits with information to help guide their decisions when creating marketing and fundraising campaigns. That includes decisions like what font to use or how big an envelope should be for a mailing or where to spend digital marketing dollars. 

“All of the data is used to tell you that kind of stuff,” Peterman told the Business Observer in a 2019 interview.

Courtesy Florida Visual Marketing

But the biggest draw for Peterman was the property’s pedigree — and its sellers’ legacy. 

“What really appealed to Michael was the history of Frank and Anne. When we went to the first showing he fell in love with the original attributes of everything that comes with the property,” said Hill. “Michael is going to keep everything almost original, he may update the kitchen, but he plans to keep (most of it) original.”