This duplex at 5015 321 Canal Road in Siesta Village is listed for sale at $ 698,000 through Michael Saunders & Company. Built in 1969, it has two units with two bedrooms and two baths each. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-20-2013.
Siesta Key, with its celebrated, white-powder sand beaches and relaxed Florida atmosphere, has been an international tourist magnet for decades.
One of the popular attractions is a shopping and restaurant area along Ocean Boulevard known as Siesta Village, which draws visitors from all over the world. Go into any of the funky stores, boutiques and restaurants and you’re likely to hear French and German, or English with a British or Canadian accent.
But Siesta Village also has a residential neighborhood that is populated by snowbirds, renters and year-around denizens.
The area includes expensive condominiums on the beach — Whispering Sands, The Terrace and Terrace East — and luxury waterfront mansions.
Farther inland, you will find 1960s and ’70s Florida-ranch houses and numerous two-story, island-style rentals with wooden balconies, stairs and railings.
The architecture of the more recently built homes, which often replaced torn-down older structures, reflects the newer hurricane and flood-zone regulations. Living areas occupy second and third stories, while garages and disposable storage space take up the ground floor beneath.
This duplex in Siesta Village, on Sarasota's Siesta Key, is for sale at $ 1,999,000 through Coldwell Banker's Amy Robinson. Combined, the two units, built in 2008, have 6 bedrooms and 8 baths in 5,634 square feet. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-20-13.
The boundaries of Siesta Village are loosely defined. They include most of the area west of Avenida del Mare and Higel Avenue to the Gulf and south of Treasure Boat Way and Sandy Cove Road, including Palm Island and all of the other inland “Calles” and “Avenidas.”
Annemarie Boerner, a Realtor with Michael Saunders & Co. since 1997, has been one of the top producers on Siesta Key. Over the past three years, she has sold six units in Sandy Cove and four homes on Palm Island. She also lived on Siesta Key for 12 years.
“It’s relaxed, not formal, and people love that,” she said. “I made a lot of friends who bought here on the key.”
According to Boerner, residents are an eclectic mix of snowbirds and year-around retirees, working professionals and families. Many of the latter send their children to Out-of-Door Academy, a private school founded in 1924, whose Siesta Key location is on the National Register of Historic Places (a second campus was established in Lakewood Ranch in 1996).
The recovery from the housing crisis has brought a new clientele.
“I have a number of customers who are buying here before prices go out of sight again, and plan to rent their home out until they are ready to retire,” Boerner said.
Her grandson, Joseph Boerner, joined her in the real estate business when he returned to the area recently. A few years ago, in his early 20s, he worked as a bartender and manager of The Beach Club on Ocean Boulevard.
“I loved living and working here. I almost never left the key,” he said. “I know a lot of younger people my age who do the same now.
“What makes it so appealing is that we have just about everything,” he added. “There is old-Florida charm, ‘island time’ during the day — relaxation, leisure, the beaches — and then in the evenings it transforms into a night club with live bands at almost every corner.”
Drew Stroubel, a longtime resident, agreed. “It’s so convenient. Everything is within walking distance — restaurants, the beach, the grocery store, a hardware store; for a while even our doctor.”
A watercolor artist who is best known for his portraits of cats, Stroubel’s website is called “Catmandrew.” He and his wife, actress Kim Crow, have lived in the village since 1986. Their ranch home was built in 1965 and sits on one of the avenidas across from a canal. Like many of the “locals,” they have renovated the interior extensively. “We love it here,” he said.
Their neighbors have been on the island even longer. “We’ve seen their son grow up, go to college, come back, get married, and now there is a grandchild,” Stroubel said.
Apartment 15-3 at The Terrace, 5400 Ocean Blvd. in Siesta Village is for sale at $ 999,900 through Sandals Realty of Sarasota. Built in 1970, the condominium unit has two bedrooms and two baths in 1,187 square feet. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-20-13.
“Once you buy here, you don’t move,” Stroubel insisted. “Both former owners of our house have come by to visit from time to time, and they always say it was a mistake to leave.”
The current market reflects the fact that it’s not easy to find property on the island. In 2012, only 42 condominiums and 40 houses sold. The condos ranged in price from $103,000 to $746,000 and the single-family residences from $244,500 to $4.45 million.
Inventory is also tight this year. Only 17 houses are listed for sale, starting at $245,000 and topping out at $6.5 million. The 38 condominiums listed are priced from $205,000 to $2.7 million.
