I should have known that last Sunday, when I ran a column about top-selling agents in Sarasota real estate, that there would be a reaction. I heard two.
For Glenn Brown, an agent with Re/Max Alliance Group, the reaction was quite amazing. I described the long-time top-seller as a “workhorse” in my column, and he posted a “thank you” on Facebook.
Well, what followed was a veritable cascade of affection for Mr. Brown, with 147 Likes and 50 comments, most of them like this one from Adrienne Sollecito:
“I strive to be like Glenn Brown,” she wrote. “Such a gracious man. I see lots of Realtors, new and seasoned, that are bitter and jaded. He is a class act!”
I don’t want to impose another day of social media mania on Glenn, so I will stop there.
Not so happy with my column was longtime Sarasota Realtor Candy Swick, always a cordial and trusted source, who pointed out that she should have been No. 10 on the list, and not No. 15. However, my list was for Sarasota only, and she included Manatee sales while ranking real estate agents who might not specialize in marketing bank-owned properties.
“This is the first year in 37 years where I have not been in the real top 10 Realtors,” Swick wrote in an email. “For an independent Realtor, that is crushing. Most years I have been in the top 5. The numbers are critical to the competitive Realtors who work really, really hard.”
Gray’s areas
The Sarasota Architectural Foundation is presenting a documentary on Eileen Gray, “Gray Matters,” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ringling College’s Academic Center Auditorium, 2699 Old Bradenton Road, Sarasota.
Gray’s modernist work in furniture, interior design and architecture was aptly described as a “rolling experiment through the decades.”
“To create, one must first question everything,” Gray is noted for having said.
Guest speaker is Dr. Chelsea Bruner, interior design historian at the Ringling College of Art + Design.
Admission is $10 for SAF members and $15 for others. Students are admitted free with fulltime ID. A reception follows the film at 7.
A nod to Nolen
Dr. R. Bruce Stephenson will lecture and also sign his book, “John Nolen: Landscape Architect and City Planner,” at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Venice Community Center, 326 Nokomis Ave S., Venice, as part of the free New Urbanism speaker series.
The event is presented by the Venice Museum & Archives, and sponsored by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Venice Heritage Inc., Venice Area Historical Society, and Florida Journey Communications.
Nolen, of course, designed Venice and revised Sarasota’s city plan, both during the 1920s boom. He is considered one of the greatest urban planners of the 20th century.
The Venice Museum & Archives’ exhibit “Design for Living: John Nolen and the Renaissance of New Urbanism” continues through Feb. 24.
“Design for Living” explores the inspirations for Nolen’s plan for Venice and how his planning principles connect with the New Urbanism movement today. The museum is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, and on the first and third Saturdays through April, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
