SARASOTA, FLORIDA, August 21st, 2015 – Two homebuilders based in Sarasota emerged among the winners of the 2015 Aurora Awards competition of the Southeast Builders Conference (SEBC). Significantly, the favored projects this year were sustainable homes—those with longer lifespan and low carbon footprint, which sure are attractive to many prospective buyers of Sarasota homes for sale.
Josh Wynne Construction, a small but fully custom, boutique building outfit, towered above the rest of the field as both of its entries tied for this year’s top Golden Aurora Award. En route to receiving these highest SEBC citations among 135 categories, this family-owned homebuilding company earned the judges’ nod in best for show ($300,001-$500,000 category) for its detached single family home in 1414 South Osprey, Sarasota, and in Custom Home One of a Kind ($750,001-$1,000,000 category) for its “Lotus on Orange” build in Bungalow Heights, Sarasota.
Trendsetting and recognition in sustainable residential builds have been a part of this company since its owner Josh Wynne set it up in 1998. It was this homebuilder which built the Codding Cottage in Sarasota’s historic Laurel Park, the first home in Florida certified under the standards of LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
At that time, this Laurel Park residence was likewise recognized as the highest scoring LEED Platinum home across the nation. Since then, Wynne has constructed more LEED Platinum homes than any other builder in Florida. His company is also is the only builder with several houses rated among the top 10 by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Jonathan Parks of the Sarasota firm Solstice Architect attributes Josh’s success to his regional focus on sustainability which employs resource-conserving materials and methods as well as to his utilization of passive design and green technology. Parks surely knows from where he speaks of as he collaborates with Wynne on some projects which for certain help enrich the stock of Sarasota homes for sale.
Significantly, 2015 was the second year in a row that Wynne won an SEBC Golden Aurora. In 2014, he bagged the award for the “Tip Top House” on Westway Drive in Lido Shores, a project with Jonathan Parks. For his part, Parks won the this year’s SEBC award for his “Thirty Oaks” project in Siesta Key under the custom home design and energy efficiency category ($1.5 million-$2 million price range).
Parks’ project was in collaboration with Voigt Brothers Construction, landscape architect David Young, and structural engineer Steve Wilbur. For his 2015 Aurora awards, Wynne collaborated, among others, with designer Chris Leader, Punit Patel of Sawa Design Studios, and landscape architects Michael Gilkey and Tim Borden.
Other Southwest Florida winners in this awards sponsored by the Florida Home Builders Association include Flad Architects for Best Community Site Plan for CORE at Lakewood Ranch and PGI Homes in Punta Gorda for interior kitchen merchandising and interior detailing for its Casa Colonia.
Notably, a multiple winner in previous Aurora Awards, luxury home builder MGB, is also active in a new West of Trail development a short distance south of the Josh Wynne Construction’s 2015 Aurora awardees. This new community is the gated Granada Park consisting of just 25 lots, with market listings of Sarasota homes for sale at starting prices in the $800s and $900s.
The Aurora Awards are presented annually to outstanding builders, architects, planners, developers, designers, and interior merchandisers within a 12-state eastern and southeastern Caribbean region. An Aurora Award can be granted to one entrant in each of the 135 categories. From these categories, Grand Aurora and Golden Aurora Awards are selected for the whole competition.
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>>