A 1950 house at 1201 Hillview Drive in Sarasota's Harbor Acres sold this afternoon at $5.25 million, or about $1,400 a square foot.
But most of the value is in the land, said Roger Pettingell, the Coldwell Banker real estate agent who brought the buyer to the listing held by Kim and Michael Ogilvie of Michael Saunders & Co. The house is on a curve of Sarasota Bay with dramatic views of the John Ringling Bridge and downtown Sarasota.
STAFF PHOTOS / HAROLD BUBIL
It's also on grade, which is desirable, except for the risk of storm surge.
The house has architectural pedigree. It was designed by Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph in 1949, and is a landmark of the Sarasota School of midcentury architecture. It was remodeled in 1997 to give it a much beefier appearance than it had in 1950.
Despite all that, said Pettingell, it might be a tear-down, as 80 percent of the value is estimated to be in the land.
The sellers, Michael and Cynthia Lieberbaum, have owned the house since 1970.
