SARASOTA, FLORIDA, September 4, 2018 – Some transportation infrastructures improvements in the pipeline in Osprey loom as added factors to consider for prospective home buyers in this area, especially in the communities of Bay Acres and Park Trace Estates.
One project is anticipated to start spring of 2019 and set between Blackburn Point Road and McIntosh Road. It calls for major improvements on a 2.5 mile-stretch of U.S. 41 on the flanks of these two communities. This initiative of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has an estimated cost of $8.2 million.
The FDOT project, once completed, would add new 5-foot sidewalks and buffered 7-foot wide bicycle lanes. The right-turn lanes would also be widened and thus overall create a safe multimodal transportation for residents to use in this U.S. 41 corridor. There would be adjustments and updates on driveways too in order to accommodate the new bike lanes.
Additionally, pedestrian sidewalk ramps would be modified to meet guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Bus shelter pads would likewise be constructed along with the widening of some bus bays.
Local residents though would have to adjust to the closure of the median on Holland Street which would be done under the FDOT project. The expected benefits for closing this median south of the Osprey Village Shopping Center include the reduction in the number of conflict points and improved driver predictability in the corridor.
Also as a result of the median closure, the southbound left turn lane at Bay Street will be extended to open up additional space for vehicles. It is critical that this turn lane doesn’t fill to capacity because of the ongoing eastward extension of Bay Street, another project in Osprey that would have an impact on nearby communities. Traffic is likely to become busier in this area once the Bay Street extension is finished, because one of Bay Street’s arterial roads towards south, Old Venice Road, is the main access to the Pine View School.
Meanwhile, more local connectivity in the school’s area is shaping up with the Sarasota Planning Commission’s recent approval of a mobility trail between U.S. 41 and Old Venice Road. This trail for bikes and pedestrians jibe with the features of nearby communities especially with Bay Acres and Park Trace Estates.
Notably, Bay Acres already boasts of being walking distance to the coastal delights of the Gulf of Mexico. Its residents are also only minutes from the Bay Acres Estates Park where they enjoy free membership and have access to its facilities including a picnic area, playground, and kayak/canoe launch and storage. In August, a home built in 2000 with three bedrooms and two baths within a 1,827-square-foot floor area was sales-listed with a $360,000 asking price.
Turning to Park Trace, the choices shift to larger residences priced in the $400s‒$500s range. These residences feature floor plans ranging between 2,300 and 3,120 square feet, featuring three to four bedrooms and up to four bathrooms. A deed-restricted community, Park Trace has drawn inter-generational residents comprised of retirees, single adults, and families with kids, all surely up for some gains from the new road projects in Osprey.
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>>