SARASOTA, FLORIDA, August 24th, 2015 – Lee Wetherington Homes is one builder that buyers of Sarasota homes for sale would be quite happy to deal with not only for its superior construction but also for its commendable community involvement. Established around the late 1970s, this company has donated over $2 million to local charities over the last 10 years, thus prompting the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund to honor its founder and president/CEO, the 68-year-old Lee Wetherington, with the 2015 C. John A. Clarke Humanitarian Award early this year.
The builder’s philanthropic efforts are coursed through the Lee Wetherington Foundation as managed by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. One of the foundation’s major beneficiaries is the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota County which named its building in honor of the Lee Wetherington Homes head and founder.
As ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, Wetherington also has a special heart for veterans. His focus in 2015 is homeless veterans and their families. He has already raised half a million dollars in order to help the nonprofit Harvest House fund the purchase of 16 foreclosed Sarasota homes for sale which will be remodeled for the needy ex-servicemen.
Additionally, Lee Wetherington is an annual contributor to Season of Sharing, a Community Foundation yearly fundraiser for initiatives preventing homelessness. The builder has also previously lent support to the transitional housing project of Harvest House, the children’s literacy projects of the Library Foundation, show productions by the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, and studies by the V Foundation for Cancer Research. It is estimated that over a 12-month period, this homebuilder has donated approximately $3,500 for every home that it has sold.
Nature conservation is another soft spot for Lee Wetherington which is a major donor for the environmental awareness campaigns of the Friends of Oscar Scherer State Park. In the early 2000s, this builder established its first eco-friendly community—Willowbend—which is located in Osprey a short distance east of Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) and just off the Legacy Trail and the Oscar Scherer State Park.
This community is noted for its water-conserving landscapes which were developed in partnership with the park and under the guidelines of the Florida Yards & Neighborhoods, a homeowner program advocating the conservation and protection of Florida’s water resources.
With this underlying nature-friendly theme, Lee Wetherington has created the deed-restricted Willowbend as a community of 275 residences on 128 acres of some of the most lush setting for Sarasota homes for sale. As endearing, over half of the properties were developed around the community’s three scenic lakes.
All Sarasota homes for sale in Willowbend have tile roofs in varying square footage and lot sizes. The smaller options are detached villas on sites measuring 55 by 120 feet, and the bigger choices are the club series on lot sizes of 65 by 120 feet.
Executive homes constitute the last residences to be built in this community and occupy 72-foot by 120-foot sites. Built backing onto Oscar Scherer State Park, the floor areas of these residences range from approximately 2,000 to 3,300 square feet, with the largest constructed as two-story, four-bedroom dwellings bearing the imprint of a builder with total community commitment.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, October 7, 2019 – Property values of communities in the Sarasota-Manatee region now face lesser threat from neighborhood eyesores brought about by abandoned, foreclosed homes. Known in the real estate trade as zombie foreclosures, these properties have shrunk significantly in the region. According to an August report of ATTOM Data Solutions, abandoned […] more>>