By Jane Bartnett
Siesta Key is home to a wide array of rental apartments, condominiums and single-family houses that dot the landscape. With availability of single-family units at record lows, buyers interested in becoming homeowners in a small, new, gated single- family community may be in luck.
The newly established Coronas Park is designed in a coastal style and is known as the crown of Siesta Key, located at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Givens Street.
It is available for buyers and builders alike, combining 13 properties that are on the market.
For example, on Bochi Circle — only a few blocks from the private Out-of-Door Academy and half a mile from Siesta Key Village and the beach — stand five existing luxury three-story homes that came on the market in early August.
Built between 2009 and 2015, all five are being sold fully furnished and turnkey. Each has a private pool/spa, multi-car garage, balconies, and an elevator.
Coronas Park also has eight buildable lots for sale that are ready to become home sites for single-family residences.
When built, the design of the new homes will be required to adhere to the architectural codes of the community’s homeowners association. The existing three-, four- and five-bedroom homes with multiple baths range in size from 2,300 square feet to 3,800 square feet, and span in price from $1.2 million to $1.8 million.
Buildable lots that face the Gulf of Mexico and the private Lake Norma range in price from $550,000 to $650,000. The Coronas Park Homeowners Association fees will include all maintenance and landscaping for the 13 properties.
The community also features a paved roadway and a decorative fountain.
Before the properties changed hands in June, a previous owner held the homes and land. The residences were used as investment rental properties. All five residences as well as the buildable lots and common land and are now under the ownership of Coronas Park, LLC.
Mark Kara, a Siesta Key and Sarasota business executive, and Dale Maggard, of the Tampa area, are officers of the company. After the homeowners association was created, sale of the residences and lots began under the direction of the Ware Group of Sarasota.
“It was the right time and the right place to create this unique residential community on the Key,” Kara said.
Added Curt Ware, “Coronas Park is absolutely a unique place. For buyers, this truly is a rare opportunity to become a part of a newly established homeowners association right here on Siesta Key in a quiet residential neighborhood.”
He noted that there are only two other gated communities with single-family homes on Siesta Key.
Siesta Estates is one of them. Built during the years of 1997 to 2017 on Midnight Pass Road, it is within a short drive or bike ride to the Village. The community features 20 stately, large single-family homes.
As of late August, a review of Realtor.com showed that no Siesta Estates homes were for sale.
The other is the Sanderling Club, located at the southern end of Midnight Pass Road. It dates back to the 1940s.
Secluded and luxurious, it contains 67 waterfront homes and 25 gulf-facing cabanas that were designed by the distinguished architect Paul Rudolph. Residents of the Sanderling Club enjoy their own marina and many amenities.
According to Realtor.com, there were three homes for sale in this exclusive enclave. They range in price from $4.475 million for a seven-bed, seven-bath, 6,697-square-foot home to $17.9 million for a six-bed, eight-bath, 9,096-square-foot beachfront home.
In discussing the current availability of single -family luxury homes on the island, Ware Group Realtor Domanic Calamese stated “The real estate market on Siesta Key has been extremely strong with no signs of letting up.”
Ware concurred, and said that “We expect that these five Coronas Park luxury homes, as well as the eight rare building lots, will go very fast.”
He noted that “Second-home owners, snowbirds, as well as those looking for a year-round home, will find ownership in Coronas Park very appealing.”
Added Kara, “Having grown up in Siesta Key, I knew the area very well. Architecturally, the style of the existing houses fits the landscape and complements the rest of the community.
“We understood that this would be a special residential opportunity that would be good for the Key.”
Author: Jane Bartnett