Sarasota contractor, partners buy vacant Siesta Village lot

BUYER: RSL Siesta Key Development LLC (principals: Raymond and Stephen Delaney and Lauren Kohl), Osprey

SELLER: Laguna Vista LLC

PROPERTY: the southeast corner of Ocean Boulevard and Treasure Boat Way, Siesta Key

PRICE: $727,500

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.5 million, October 2005

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Adams and Reese LLP, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota contractor Raymond Delaney, his brother Stephen Delaney and friend Sarasota attorney Lauren Kohl purchased 1.91 acres of vacant land on Ocean Boulevard for $727,500.

The price equated to $381,030 per acre.

The property, which was formerly owned by an affiliate of IberiaBank, is approved for a six-unit subdivision of homes.

But Delaney says that the current real estate market wouldn't support that dense a development on the site.

“For the last 20 years I've kept my eye on it,” Delaney says. “It finally reached a price point were I felt it was good for us. I think we could divide it into four lots. I know that merchants would like to see a parking lot there, but I don't think it would be that easy to get that zoning change. There's very few times in your life when you find almost two acres in [Siesta Key] Village that's never been developed.”