Holmes Beach developer creating new Longboat community

BUYER: Bonaire LBK LLC, Holmes Beach
SELLER: K. Judson Boedecker also known as Kenneth Judson Boedecker III as trustee of the Cary Jay Morrison Trust
PROPERTY: 5005 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key
PRICE: $6.4 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bowman, George, Schieb, Kimbrough & Koach PA, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Holmes Beach developer Shawn Kaleta purchased 3.49 acres between Positano and Club Longboat for $6.4 million.

The price equated to $1.84 million per acre.

Kaleta plans to build a gated subdivision with nine single-family homes on the gulf-front parcel.

Earlier this month, Kaleta submitted pre-application materials to the Longboat Key Planning Zoning and Building Department to construct the nine-home community that's named Bonaire, after the West Indies island of Bonaire.

“We'd like to break ground sometime in the next few months,” Kaleta told the Longboat Observer, sister publication of the Business Observer.

He estimates construction will take two-and-a-half years. Five of the homes have reportedly sold in the project. The homes will start at $1.25 million for vacant parcels or between $3 million and $7 million for completed homes.

“What makes it special is that it's the last developable piece of gulf-front land on Longboat Key,” Kaleta says. “There's a niche of buyers who want what's not a traditional condo, but it has the benefits of a well-manicured community.”

Brian Phipps, president of Sarasota-based A. Phipps Design Inc., will design the homes.

Kaleta and his Holmes Beach-based company, Beach to Bay Construction, are best known for their residential projects on Anna Maria Island. But the Bonaire will differ from many of Kaleta's past projects.

“This will be more of a custom-home focus, versus vacation rentals,” Kaleta says, noting that all five of the buyers will use the homes as primary or secondary residences.

On Longboat Key, Beach to Bay Construction is the builder for the Triton Bend project, currently under construction, and the three-home Enclave project that will soon break ground in the old Poseidon location mid-Key.

Residences will range from 2,800 square feet to 5,000 square feet and include private swimming pools, driveways and garages. Three of the homes will be located directly on the gulf, although each home will have gulf views and access.

The project will go through an administrative review but won't require the approval of the Longboat Key Town Commission or Planning and Zoning Board because it has fewer than 10 units.

Gabe Buky of the Buky Team at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate's Longboat Key office, handled the sale.

- reporting by Robin Hartill, correspondent