Aquadisia, a remodeled 1999 Guy Peterson-designed house of 5,000 air-conditioned square feet on 4 gulf-front acres, has come on the market at $18 million through Kim Ogilvie of Michael Saunders & Co. Behind the gates of the Sanderling Club on Siesta Key, the property has four acres with 500 feet of waterfront and two guest houses. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
It is one of the most intriguing properties on the Gulf Coast.
First, because of the name, Aquadisia, derived from “aphrodisia.” Surrounded by the Gulf on one side and a lagoon on the other, and outfitted with a variety of clever water features, the property certainly appeals to someone with an intense desire to be near water.
PHOTO GALLERY: Aquadisia on Siesta Key
Second is the price, $18 million, making it the most expensive listing in Sarasota County and No. 2 in the region, behind the $19.9 million Ohana — recently reduced from $22 million — on the Manatee County end of Longboat Key.
Third is the secrecy that surrounded the property when former owner Stacey Siegel marketed it at $22 million in 2014. Although it was advertised on Zillow.com, it was not placed in the MLS, and publicity was not welcome.
Siegel sold the property a year ago for $11.85 million, and the new owner is lifting the shroud of secrecy in a big way.
“This is one of a kind,” said Jeff Roberti, who called his all-cash purchase of Aquadisia “a steal.”
Aquadisia: The view from the master bedroom. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
One of a kind, because of the nearly 4 acres of land behind the gates of the high-end Siesta Key enclave known as the Sanderling Club. And, because of its 550 linear feet of sandy Gulf-front property lined with a 1960s-era rock revetment to protect against storms. And, because of its two guest houses and exemplary main house that was designed in 1999 by Guy Peterson, with new interiors by David Lowe and award-winning landscape architecture by David W. Young.
“I still haven’t moved into it, can you believe that?” said Roberti in a recent interview inside the main house. “I’m still paying bills and writing checks. So your next question is, ‘Why are you selling it?’ I travel a lot; I’m on the road a couple hundred days a year, and it just became ... maybe I am the first guy who bought a big property and thought that was what he wanted, and then when I started thinking about all the moving parts and the complexity of the property ... there are two of us.”
A big reason why Aquadisia is listed at $18 million, the highest MLS price in Sarasota County, is all that waterfront land. Behind the hedge is "Point House," one of the property's two guest houses. Plans have been drawn to completely remodel that structure. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
Realtor Kim Ogilvie, who is listing the property with her husband, Michael, for Michael Saunders & Co., was quick to point out that even if the house isn’t right for Roberti and his wife, who already have a fine home at the south end of Sanderling, it can be right for “another couple, who could buy this and be tremendously happy here.”
“I have mixed feelings, to be honest with you,” Jeff Roberti said. “We love where we live and are very grateful to have that home. We feel blessed to be there.
“This was a no-brainer. There’s the sheer land, and the house is a bonus. She had just spent two or three years renovating. This was like brand new and one of a kind.
The property's waterfront is unusual in that it has a rock revetment that was added to protect against rough seas. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
“This was a dream to come in here and have an estate — a resort. You could have a third structure (on land now occupied by a court of 50 royal palms), and redo the house on the point, and have three houses with a big pool in the middle. You have a property across the street, and then the main house and the one on the point. Aquadisia, Pool House, Point House — we have names for them.”
Roberti, who made his fortune through network marketing, mostly as the No. 1 world seller of the Juice Plus brand, says Sanderling is a retreat from the “madhouse” of Siesta Key in season.
A gap in the rock revetment allows for bathing. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
“When I drove through the gates of Sanderling, it was like a decompression. You pull through the Sanderling gates, you come through that canopy of trees, you pull into this property and there is a whole energy of this property. When I saw this come available, it was too good to pass up.”
Aquadisia is really three properties that were assembled by Stacey Siegel, founder of the Everything But Water chain of swimwear stores, from 2003 to 2006. Together, the 1952 guest house on the lagoon, the 1957 Point House and Aquadisia total 11,100 square feet. Plans have been drawn by architect Leonardo Lunardi to remodel Point House.
Aquadisia landscape was redesigned by David W. Young. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
Young’s work at Aquadisia was mostly on the ground level.
“It involved the addition of what call an office/gallery and a massage room on the ground level, and the glass-enclosed areas,” said Young.
When he first saw the property, he found the landscape concept confusing.
“The circulation of the home was very ambiguous,” he said “It was not intuitive about where to park or how to get to the front door. Those are the things we like to sort through to make sure the guest ... moves clearly to an entry threshold and then into organized parking and a sequence to the front door.
“We spent a great deal of time developing that so there was a very distinct separation of the public and private realms of the property. We organized that with a pedestrian spine that leads to the entry plaza, where there is the glass cube.”
Aquadisia: This glass enclosure in front of the house is a "sound box" for musical performance. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
That cube, actually a glass enclosure with openings, is meant to be a space for musical performance. During a recent visit, Kathryn Parks of Michael Saunders & Co.’s marketing division, who is a star of local musical theater, demonstrated it by singing a phrase from “If I Loved You.” The sound was glorious.
Next to the cube is a labyrinthine garden, surrounded by bamboo, of concentric concrete circles separated by bands of Empire zoysia grass. At the center of the garden is the stylized “A” that serves as Aquadisia’s logo.
Aquadisia: This garden is part of David W. Young's landscape architecture plan. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
“It was supposed to be a sanctuary for the previous owner,” Young said. “She did not like a lot of plant material, so there are not layers and layers. There are very clean lines and organized plantings that define space. The plantings support the functions of the hardscape. For the labyrinth, the bamboo creates privacy. It is visible from the massage room. The idea was to create this space in neutral territory so it was more comfortable for her” than having massages in the master suite.
The other prominent landscape features include a court of 50 royal palms, the swimming pool that goes under the house, a long stand of bamboo along the road that replaced Australian pines, and, of course, all that beach.
“Royal palms were one of the few plants she liked, so my plant palette was very limited,” Young said.
Upstairs, David Lowe made changes with the lighting and plumbing to meet Siegel’s desires.
Aquadisia: The master bathroom. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 12-30-2015.
In the master bath, a large, free-standing round tub dominates the master bath. The tub fills from a spigot in the ceiling, and the faucet handles are out of sight.
Next to the tub, the shower has no enclosure; one simply stands in the middle of the room. The water falls from the ceiling rain shower head and drains through cuts in the floor.
There are no window treatments, not that they are needed in this secluded property.
“Give credit to David Lowe, the interior designer,” said Young. “We tried to make the fixtures go away, which is why the water comes out of the ceiling. The lights are behind channels so you have the ambient quality of light, but you don’t see the source of the light. Everything was put through this scrim where you had the aspect of whatever it was, but you didn’t necessarily see it.
“The Lutron shades are carefully concealed within the trim pieces in that room.
“A lot of effort went into the details. The work that was done was the reason Jeff bought the place — the attention to detail, all the water elements and the landscape and the spaces that were created.”
Wood dominates the 5,000-square-foot main living level, from the soaring living room ceiling to the 4,000-square-foot deck with spa tub that has perimeter overflow.
All these factors contributed to the price of the listing; Kim Ogilvie expects that finding a buyer will require a nationwide marketing effort.
“We will be on a national search for this, with a page in Christie’s magazine devoted to this property. To be in a gated community, on the beach, with a club, with boating across Midnight Pass Road — we are in the golden triangle of Sarasota. The natural beauty, the seascape of 550 feet on the Gulf, guest house and lagoon — the lifestyle opportunities here are endless.
“It is a rare convergence of factors makes this the crème de la crème of properties in Sarasota.”
“Do I have mixed feelings about selling it? I kinda do,” Roberti said. “If the right buyer comes along at the right price, I will sell it. But I don’t have to sell it. I paid cash for it.”
Note: This story has been updated to point out the existence of a rock revetment along the waterfront.
