Grove Pointe, or “The Grove,” as some call it, was an orange grove before it became a housing development. A century ago, the area was called Bee Ridge Village and extended from Bee Ridge Road to Clark Road, near what is now Interstate 75. Settled in the 1870s, Bee Ridge became an agricultural boom town when Bertha Palmer’s Sarasota-Venice Company platted it in 1912 and promoted it as an agricultural mecca.
PHOTO GALLERY: More photos of Grove Pointe in Sarasota
The entrance to Grove Pointe on Gantt Road in Sarasota. Staff photo / Harold Bubil
The fertile soil, ideal for vegetable and citrus crops, attracted a host of farmers. Five years later, the town could brag of having a post office, a hotel, two churches, a dry goods store, a barbershop, a dairy, a sawmill and a women’s club. Bee Ridge became a stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad to Venice. At the time, tickets to downtown Sarasota cost 15 cents.
Today, all that’s left of the historic community is the 1896 Tatum House, near Lakeview School, and a historical marker at the Presbyterian church on Proctor Road near McIntosh Road. The only remnant of what was once a thriving agricultural area is the Albritton Fruit Company store a half-mile west of Grove Pointe on Proctor Road.
Now the area’s housing developments are popular with homeowners. Grove Pointe is a good example. The deed-restricted, family friendly neighborhood is surrounded by white walls with a green stripe close to the top. The two entrances, one on Gantt Street, the other at the junction of Proctor and Cattlemen roads, are pleasingly landscaped. Mature foliage and generously laid out roadways make for an attractive, well-maintained neighborhood.
This house at 5786 Stone Pointe Drive in Grove Pointe, Sarasota, is listed for sale at $259,000 through Pamela Strom of RE/MAX Platinum Realty. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms and two baths in 1,883 square feet. Staff photo / Harold Bubil
“It is a sought-after place,” says Denise Mattmuller, a Realtor with Michael Sunders & Co., who has a pending sale in Grove Pointe. “I had over 50 showings of the property and four offers, and it took only eight weeks,” she says.
“You don’t get a tremendous amount of turnover,” she continues, “which speaks volumes about the community.”
Part of the appeal is that most of the 270 homes were built in the 1990s and early 2000s, which is considered established, but not old, housing. The three- and four-bedroom, single-family residences in Florida contemporary architectural style feature high ceilings, and most of them have covered lanais and swimming pools in back.
Grove Pointe also has two lovely interior lakes. The larger one, smack in the middle of the subdivision, offers scenic views to the houses backing onto it, not to mention good fishing prospects.
Another plus is the convenient location. “Close to I-75 and convenient to downtown Sarasota,” says Mattmuller.
Tim Mapp of Mapp Realty agrees. His listing is a three-bedroom home at 5823 Sandy Pointe Drive, built in 1991, and priced at $425,000. “It’s a 20-minute drive to world-class Siesta Key Beach, 15 minutes to the new UTC mall, and most important, only five minutes to Doctors Hospital,” he says.
A typical streetscape in Sarasota’s Grove Pointe.Staff photo / Harold Bubil
Amenities are close by, too. Lowe’s, The Home Depot, and Walmart are just to the north on Cattlemen road. Shops, restaurants, banks and other shopping opportunities on Bee Ridge and Clark roads are within easy driving distance.
Grove Pointe’s demographics are a mix of retirees and families. Nearly half of the working population is employed in executive, management and professional occupations. Good neighborhood schools — Ashton Elementary, Sarasota Middle and New Gate, a Montessori school — attract young couples with children. Riverview is the district high school. Minimal through traffic makes it a safe environment for children to play.
Homeowners’ association fees of $395 a year cover maintenance of the ponds, the surrounding walls, and the landscaping of the entrances and other common areas.
According to Mattmuller, Grove Pointe has had some distressed sales, but even the bank-owned properties have commanded prices in the low to mid $200,000s, comparable to regular sales — another sign of the appeal of the neighborhood.
In the past 12 months, of the 17 homes sold, six were bank-owned, and one was a short sale. The prices ranged from $224,900 to $396,000.
Currently, there are two active listings, two active with contract and two pending sales, from $249,900 to $425,000.
