SARASOTA, FLORIDA, July 11th, 2014 – Main Street of Lakewood Ranch (LWR) has come into its own as a life and leisure center, Sarasota Bay Real Estate reports. The realty firm notes that this LWR business and commercial hub has consistently drawn new tenants and successfully organized special events, thereby strengthening its stature as among the local attractions drawing prospective buyers of Lakewood Ranch homes for sale.
Julia DeCastro, leasing and sales director of Main Street, told media recently that this LWR facility is now nearing 100% occupancy. The property was opened in 2005, a year after the inauguration of the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center directly across Main Street and its various tenant establishments. These tenants include trendy boutiques, specialty shops, international restaurants, movie theaters, and a mini golf course called Fish Hole.
A new health food store, Healthy Living Organic & Natural Market, is one of the latest additions to Main Street. Located at 10671 Boardwalk Loop, this 12,000-square-foot store sells foodstuff including dairy and frozen foods which are hormone-free and chemical-free. It also has a section for vitamins and minerals, as well as a juice bar offering fresh vegetable and juice drink extracts.
This store employs a nutrition consultant who can share information among customers on organic foods as well as provide advice on diet supplements. The store’s immediate clientele include Main Street restaurants, one of which is the Polo Grill just across the health food market. Notably, this restaurant has committed to utilize fresh produce sourced locally.
In another move recently, The University of South Florida (USF) Manatee-Sarasota also established its presence in Main Street. Its College of Hospitality & Technology has consolidated its Culinary Innovation Lab in the LWR center, moving its classes previously held at the Publix’s Apron cooking and at the Manatee Technical Institute.
USF’s culinary program at Main Street is the only such course in the university’s curricula. School officials have emphasized that it is not just a cooking or a culinary learning facility but a venue wherein students can acquire skills as good restaurant managers and employ the theories they learn into practice. Main Street’s DeCastro adds that the USF program brings not only prestige to the LWR center but also provides a new source of energy and business for its tenants.
Every first Friday of each month, Main Street becomes even more energized as free concerts draw crowds of over 5,000 with many coming from downtown Sarasota and Parrish. Dubbed as Music on Main, this activity started in 2006 and gradually gained following over the years such that the entire stretch of Main Street is now being closed to accommodate the concert-goers coming in. Parking even overflows to the nearby grounds of the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.
During each occasion, the Main Street businesses are open for extended hours. Restaurants are busier than usual and have to assign additional staff. In recent years, the event has also become a venue of fund-raising for charities, thus further strengthening Main Street’s bond with the communities of Sarasota and Manatee.
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>>