SARASOTA
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and his wife — fresh off a victory in acquiring the Channelside property in Tampa — have taken the first significant steps to develop a grand residence on St. Armands Key that could have dramatic views of downtown Sarasota.
To that end, demolition has begun on a 64-year-old house at 132 N. Washington Drive that the Viniks bought in May for $3.5 million.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik is demolishing a 1950 house at 132 N. Washington Drive on St. Armands Key, Sarasota. A banyan tree and other plants were removed Thursday, July 24, 2014, and the house was destroyed Friday. Jeff and Penny Vinik bought the bayfront property for $3.5 million in May. In 2013, he paid $4.25 million for the 12-year-old house next door and tore it down. A single house will be built on the two lots. (STAFF PHOTO / HAROLD BUBIL)
That deal followed the 2013 acquisition by Vinik and his wife, Penny, of a 12-year-old house next door, at 112 N. Washington Drive. The couple paid $4.25 million for it before tearing it down.
Taken together, the two houses measured 9,200 square feet.
The Viniks plan to replace those residences with one that will cost $3.6 million to build, according to a City of Sarasota building permit.
“It’ll be an incredible project,” said Sarasota-based builder Michael Walker, who will construct the Viniks’ St. Armands home. He declined to comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement with Vinik.
Walker’s houses typically cost $1,000 per square foot or more to build. By comparison, most typical residences in Southwest Florida cost about $200 per square foot to $300 per square foot to construct.
Through a Lightning spokesman, Vinik declined to comment.
The demolition at St. Armands comes just days after a Vinik-led partnership secured the rights to redevelop Channelside Bay Plaza, the languishing outdoor shopping mall near the Lightning’s home ice at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Vinik, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager, bid $7.1 million for Channelside, in a deal approved earlier this week by a bankruptcy judge. The waterfront shopping center, which is next to the Tampa Port Authority’s cruise-ship terminal, has been in financial straits for years and was most recently owned by the Irish Bank Resolution Corp. that controls soured real estate assets.
At St. Armands, the Viniks will have, when completed, a home valued at roughly $11.5 million including land costs — and one just 59 miles from their 10,000-square-foot residence overlooking the Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in south Tampa.
It’s valued at $6.5 million.
Greg Jones, a Tampa architect who designed Vinik’s house there, is listed as the designer on the building permit for the St. Armands project, as well.
Michael A. Gilkey Jr., of Sarasota, has been retained to provide landscape architectural services. Earlier this week, Gilkey removed a large banyan tree from the 132 N. Washington Drive front yard, along with dozens of other plants.
A pair of “8-foot canopy trees,” along with other suitable plants, will be added upon completion of the house, according to a tree-removal permit filed with the city.
The Viniks’ St. Armands’ property is unique because it offers views of Sarasota Bay, the John Ringling Causeway Bridge and the downtown skyline, yet is within easy walking distance of the famed shopping district.
Neighbors say Penny Vinik enjoys strolling the circle.
The Viniks acquired their Tampa residence in 2010, after he had bought the Lightning in a $170 million deal.
Previously, Jeff Vinik had lived in Boston since 1991, where he managed the Fidelity Magellan fund. Last year, he listed his seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom estate in Weston, Massachusetts, for sale at $17 million. The price has since been reduced to $14.5 million, according to Realtor.com.
Vinik’s Boston-area mansion measures 19,000 square feet and contains an indoor basketball court, a 16-seat home theater, a billiards room and a wine cellar.
Channelside isn’t the only property Vinik has acquired of late in Tampa. Earlier this week, he also paid $1.7 million for three parcels — totaling less than an acre — near the Selmon Crosstown Expressway.
The properties are next to Channelside-area parcels Vinik bought in the past year.
Vinik also owns the lease to the Forum and controls 23 acres around the sports and concert arena.
Though his National Hockey League team represents his primary sports asset in the area, Vinik also owns the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League.
He also is a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and sits on the board of the Liverpool soccer club in England’s Premier League.
