SARASOTA, FLORIDA, March 9th, 2017 – Residents of Serenoa Golf Club may soon find themselves having new neighbors, with Neal Communities’ pursuit of a new development adjacent to their South Sarasota community.
Early this March, the homebuilder purchased over 500 acres just south of Serenoa and renewed its petition for County Commission approval of up to 1,100 homes on this current agricultural site east of Interstate 75. Planned as the Grand Lakes, this new community is now envisioned to have at least 15 percent of its total residential dwelling units allotted as affordable housing.
This allotment is consistent with the Village Planned Development standards of the Sarasota 2050 long-range land-use plan. Neal earlier sought an exemption from the affordable housing requirement and instead proposed a “village enclave” concept for Grand Lakes.
This proposal, however, got the Planning Commission’s thumbs-down in September last year primarily because of its non-compliance with the affordable housing provision of Sarasota 2050. Under this plan, property owners are allowed additional density to proposed developments east of Interstate 75 but subject to regulations promoting walkable, environment- friendly projects.
Last year, the Grand Lakes’ property was approved as a conservation district good for up to 258 homes. This approval was crafted in consultation with residents of the Serenoa golf community which matches that density. Neal’s revised plan now includes six different housing types in two neighborhoods.
Another regional builder, Medallion Home, has started development of a new community a short distance north of Neal’s planned Grand Lakes. This new project, called the Waverley, sits on 193 acres off Proctor Road, a property that formerly hosted the Foxfire Golf Course built over parts of two closed landfills.
Waverley is being developed as gated community with 110 homes. Seven floor plans are available here, ranging from about 2,400 up to 4,700 square feet designed with three to five bedrooms. Their pricing starts at the low $500s and tops at the $700s. Named after a quaint town in the UK, this neighborhood explores the English countryside theme with its grand entrance fit for royalty and an English garden-style landscaping.
Aside from developers, prospective buyers of Sarasota homes for sale are active in this South County area just east of Interstate 75. During the past 12 months, deals on more than a dozen resale homes were closed at Serenoa. These residences feature floor plans of between 2,900 and 4,100 square feet designed with either four or three bedrooms and had listed prices from the $400s up to around the $700s. Several homes in this community are still currently available at this price range.
Adjacent south of the new Waverley development, the market is as active at Red Hawk Reserve where nine homes were sold recently at price points from the $400s up to the $600s. These sales listings are typically fast-sellers, with ownership in one home changing hands last October within three weeks of its listing. Expect more home hunters around this South County area as soon as Neal Communities firms up its blueprint for the Grand Lakes.
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>>