SARASOTA, FLORIDA, March 13th, 2016 – Something great surely must be going on in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area as it again ranked highly in the Gallup-Healthways’ State of American Well-Being: 2015 Community Rankings. While it slid to third from No. 1 in the 2014 listing, the region improved its score from 64.1 to 64.7 in the latest ranking.
Institutions promoting physical health, one of the benchmarks in the Gallup index, appear as one strong driver for the area’s consistent top rating in well-being across the country. Healthiest Weight Florida, a public‒private collaboration, has affirmed this, likewise citing Bradenton, Manatee and Sarasota amongst the 2016 Healthy Weight Community Champions in the Sunshine State. These communities stood out for the mechanisms they’ve put in place to promote active living and better nutrition which are the very foundations of a sound well-being.
In addition to numerous recreational parks, popular farmers’ markets and productive community gardens weave the common thread that bannered the region high as one of Florida’s Healthy Weight Community Champions. Both Sarasota and Manatee host several farmers’ markets, including those in their downtown districts, which conveniently make available locally grown fresh produce and organic foods prerequisite to a better quality of life in communities.
The two counties also have a good number of community gardens that bring many positive contributions locally. Besides providing a source of fresh and nutritious produce, these gardens also promote healthy lifestyles and strong community engagement. Being collaborative projects, they likewise enhance neighborhood security, peace and order as well as help boost property values in their immediate vicinity.
Prospective buyers of Manatee or Sarasota homes for sale aspiring to employ their green thumbs as well are in for a merry picking of communities or neighborhoods close to or have their own community gardens. In Lakewood Ranch, residents of Greenbrook will have the front seat at the community garden set to open in time for this spring growing season at a field near their Adventure Park. Notably, there are plenty of available Lakewood Ranch homes for sale in Greenbrook where listings of available residences can start at the $100s and the $200s as well as include choices up to the $700s range.
In Bradenton, folks at The Loop, an upscale gated development, enjoy close proximity to the Geraldson Community Farm that Manatee County operates and maintains for organic farming. Another one is being planned in the county’s health department campus at 410 6th Ave. East at the eastern periphery of the Village of the Arts. The city is likewise eying a community garden along with a kayak launch in its tenth park now on the drawing boards of the Bradenton Parks and Recreation Department.
Sarasota boasts of even more horticulturists’ havens. It has eight community gardens where members can have a plot, get garden tools, water and mulch as well as avail of soil testing, reference materials and professional advice. These gardens are supported by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The newest amongst these eight is the Bee Ridge Community Garden at 4430 South Lockwood Ridge Road which opened in October 2013. The Bee Ridge neighborhood it serves includes the subdivisions of Flora Villa and Hymount where Sarasota homes for sale typically feature residences with two to three bedrooms within floor plans between 1,300 and 1,950 square feet priced attractively in the $200s.
Check out these other Sarasota centers for local gardeners and amateur horticulturists: Bayou Oaks Community Garden, Old Bradenton Road and 35th Street; Laurel Community Garden, 509 Collins Road, Laurel; Englewood Community Garden, 1390 Old Englewood Road, Engelwood; Nokomis Community Garden, 234 Nippino Trail East, Nokomis; Orange Blossom Community Garden, 18th Street and North Orange Avenue; and North Port Community Gardens 4462 Symco Ave., North Port.
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>>