- February 17, 2025
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Perhaps you are more middle class than blue blood, like me, and you've gone on a cruise.
One of the things I like is that my waiter, or the bartender, has no idea whether I am staying in the top luxury suite, or the dungeon cabin on the bottom floor.
An Armani jacket from Goodwill, and I'm good to go.
Likewise, when I'm at the beach and people ask where I live, I like saying Lakewood Ranch.
When Rex Jensen and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch planned Lakewood Ranch, they wanted a mix of housing opportunities. Sure, they wanted the high-end communities where the rest of us couldn't see over the fence, but they also needed space for those scratching out a living in the service industry along with everything in-between.
And when you tell that beachcomber you live in Lakewood Ranch, he or she has no idea whether you live in the Lake Club or ... well ... not the Lake Club.
Just keep your 1997 Hyundai parked around the corner.
So I never have understood why people gripe when they hear Lakewood Ranch just broke ground on an elite neighborhood. I imagine that Mick Jagger would still have to stand behind me in line at Taco Bell. If he wants to live in a $5 million home near me, good for him.
The bottom line is that if you squeeze into the middle class homes in Lakewood Ranch, and an elite neighborhood comes to your general vicinity, there is a good chance your own home is going to appreciate in value.
Moving on up. I am thinking about a cruise upgrade.
When Stock Development's Dominick Giallombardo says that the high-end market in Lakewood Ranch has "exploded" upward, that should be cause for celebration, for all of us.
For many places around the U.S., home sales slowed in 2024 due to high interest rates and people worrying about their finances. Lakewood Ranch, meanwhile, continues to show it is insulated against national sales trends. On Jan. 7, Lakewood Ranch was announced as the No. 1 selling, multigenerational, master-planned community in the U.S. for the seventh consecutive year with 2,210 new home sales in 2024.
Included in those sales are the elite homes, in places such as the Lake Club, which has been Lakewood Ranch's marquee neighborhood. The Lake Club closed out its final new home sale in December when the home at 15315 Anchorage Place went for $6,295,000.
Giallombardo has been selling homes in the Lake Club for 11 years, the last six as a sales associate with Stock Development. Since Stock Development closed on its first Lake Club home in 2015, it has sold 382 new homes in the neighborhood along with 89 homesites.
Along the way, Giallombardo said Lakewood Ranch has significantly raised the bar when it comes to its elite homes.
"Since September, the $3 million-plus market has been on fire in the Lakewood Ranch area," Giallombardo said. "When I started here, $2 million was the high end. Three years ago, it was $3.5 million. Now most of the homes are starting close to $2 million in Wild Blue.
"I think you are going to see high $6 million to $8 million homes (in Wild Blue)."
He said he expects Wild Blue, in Lakewood Ranch's Waterside area, to sell out in about three years despite the rising prices. In the not-too-distant future, he expects the top elite homes in Lakewood Ranch to sell for $10 million, or "north of it."
"We set the tone on Anchorage Place," Giallombardo said. "We built four higher-caliber, estate-lot sized products that were spec homes (where the builder has mostly finished construction before the home is put on the market). Two of the homes were 5,000 square feet and the other two were 6,000 square feet. We broke ground on them 18 months ago and, realistically, they didn't go on the market until September.
"Once the first one sold, they fell like Dominoes. The first one validated the price point. You see it trending that way."
The four homes sold for a combined $25 million.
Giallombardo said it isn't Lakewood Ranch that has changed.
"It's just the migration from other areas," he said. "They still are coming from out of state."
Hurricanes be damned.
"This market has shown it has an appetite for the high-end product," he said.
Stock Development already has planned 15 estate homes for Wild Blue of the 505 total homes or lots for homes.
Claudine Leger-Wetzel, the vice president of sales and marketing for Stock Development, said SMR turned to Stock Development to fill the demand for custom homes. Stock began buying huge chunks of land in the Lake Club in 2017.
"The challenge for SMR was finding custom builders who could fill the demand," she said. "With Stock, it is so unique. The developer is a custom builder. When we came into the Lake Club, they were selling 20 homes a year. Each builder was building five to 10 homes, but they didn't have the volume. SMR knew it needed more. They decided to sell the land and let someone else manage the project.
"There was a demand for luxury homes in a luxury community."
Leger-Wetzel said demand started to grow significantly for luxury homes on Florida's west coast following COVID-19. She said the east coast of Florida had dominated the luxury price point.
"People were looking around for alternatives. When they saw Lakewood Ranch, it was, 'Wow, this place offers a lot.' We started to build a lot of specs. Momentum breeds momentum. The custom four homes on spec in the Lake Club filled an unmet demand."
She said Stock expects the elite home market to continue to thrive.
"We're betting on it," she said.
I won't be buying one, unless I hit Powerball, but I am going to toast the future with a little champagne anyway. "Waiter! Bring me the good stuff. I live in Lakewood Ranch."