Longboat Key condo sells for $21 million

A 10,887-square-foot condominium on Longboat Key has sold for $21.24 million — the highest price ever paid for a property on Longboat Key and the highest for a condo in Sarasota County.

The unit is in the new The Residences at The St. Regis Longboat Key and was bought by an LLC with a Pennsylvania address.

The condominium itself is actually two units in the St. Regis — Armand 201 and Armand 202 — that were combined to create a single six-bedroom, seven-full and two-half-bathroom waterfront apartment.

The unit’s exterior includes 7,500 square feet of open space with an extended terrace and a personal glass-front plunge pool with an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Mexico.

The buyer “wanted something unique,” says Michael Saunders, founder of Michael Saunders & Co., which has the exclusive listing for the residences at The St. Regis Longboat Key. (Saunders declined to disclose more information on the buyer, citing their request for privacy. Public records show the buyer's LLC is traced back to a property in Wyomissing, a small town in Berks County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia.)

“What they wanted was a palatial home on the beach. … So they created this space where, truly, they had a home on the beach with all the services of a five-star resort.”

The sale ranks as the top condominium sale in Sarasota County and puts it in line with two of the biggest single-family home sales with similar price tags, according to a recent Multiple Listing Service report.

An 11,275-square-foot waterfront home on Hillview Drive sold in March for $20 million. And an 11,500-square-foot house a couple of blocks down on Hillview sold for $17.5 million in 2022.

While the condo’s sale price is eye popping, Saunders says it’s just the beginning of what the buyer will spend. She says the buyer, working within the existing parameters, is building out the interior in order to personalize the unit and make it more of a home.

The St. Regis is a luxury development on 17.6 acres. The property, which includes the recently opened St. Regis Longboat Key Resort along with the residences, was built on the site of the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort by Unicorp National Development.

In all, it has 168 hotel rooms, 69 residential units, a ballroom, a spa, two restaurants, a beach grill and three bars, as well as a 4-acre saltwater lagoon.

The residences, which are already sold out, come with a private pool, spa and beach access as well as concierge and butler service.

Saunders says transforming the property into the St. Regis was an arduous 10-year process that involved buying out individual owners in the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort and winning over community support.

The effort, she says, was worth it and the property will benefit Longboat in the long term.

That’s in large part because of the St. Regis flag.

St. Regis, along with the Ritz-Carlton and W Hotels, is one of Marriott International’s global luxury brands. In fact, the resort is Marriott’s 9,000th property.

“I think it will bring a whole new clientele. I think it will bring a more international clientele,” says Saunders, whose firm, one of the largest brokerages in Florida in sales volume and agents, will open a sales office on the property.

“The Colony attracted an incredible international clientele of tennis aficionados from all over the world. But I believe that the St. Regis brand will bring St. Regis devotees from around the world to Longboat Key. And I think once they get to us, what's there not to love here? I mean, you fall in love and you want to buy something. So, I think it’s going to make a big difference.”

Georgia Kopelousos and Lynn Morris represented the developer in the sale and Michael Moulton represented the buyer. All three work for Michael Saunders & Co.

This article originally appeared on sister site BusinessObserverFL.com.