Return of the spec mansion

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This 7,500-square-foot house on Westway Drive in Lido Shores was designed by architect Clifford Scholz. It sold as a new house in 2003 for $13.2 million including the lot next door. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 7-11-2012.

This 7,500-square-foot house on Westway Drive in Lido Shores was designed by architect Clifford Scholz. It sold as a new house in 2003 for $13.2 million including the lot next door. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 7-11-2012.

Once upon a time, risk-taking builders constructed mansions on the water -- on speculation. In 2003, one sold on Westway Drive in Lido Shores for $9 million.

Three years later, the market cooled, then collapsed. Building homes on spec ceased.

In 2015, the market has improved to the point that the spec mansion is making a fresh appearance on the local real estate scene.

Perrone Construction is building a 10,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bath estate on Sarasota Bay called Aqua Vita. The design is by noted Sarasota mansion and mansionette designer Clifford Scholz.

The house will sit on one acre and should be complete in 2016.

Lynne Koy of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate's Longboat Key office has been tasked with selling it. The list price is $8.4 million.

The master suite is the size of an apartment, with a private balcony and vestibule, morning bar and exercise room. Guests will have their own private quarters. The house will have an elevator, two terraces and a circular great room, 24 feet in diameter, that will have sweeping views of the bay and the John Ringling Bridge.  Outdoors, there's a pool and spa, pavilion with fire pit, outdoor living room and kitchen, lush landscaping and water frontage on two sides with beach access to Longboat Key.

 

The estate is being constructed and designed by Perrone Construction and Clifford M. Scholz Architects.

Harold Bubil

Recipient of the 2015 Bob Graham Architectural Awareness Award from the American Institute of Architects/Florida-Caribbean, Harold Bubil is real estate editor of the Herald-Tribune Media Group. Born in Newport, R.I., his family moved to Sarasota in 1958. Harold graduated from Sarasota High School in 1970 and the University of Florida in 1974 with a degree in journalism. For the Herald-Tribune, he writes and edits stories about residential real estate, architecture, green building and local development history. He also is a photographer and public speaker. Contact him via email, or at (941) 361-4805.
Last modified: January 21, 2015
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