Developer plans nine-home community

Holmes Beach developer Shawn Kaleta plans to build a gated subdivision with nine single-family homes on an undeveloped 3.48-acre Gulf-front property.

Kaleta closed on the purchase of the parcel at 5005 Gulf of Mexico Drive, located between Positano on the south and Club Longboat on the north, last week for $6.4 million from K. Judson “Jud” Boedecker III, as trustee of the Cary Jay Morrison Trust, according to Manatee County property records. Boedecker is a partner in Southwest Florida Homes Inc.

Gabe Buky, of the Buky Team at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate’s Longboat Key office, was the sales agent.

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

“We’d like to break ground some time in the next few months,” said Kaleta, who estimates construction will last two-and-a-half years.

Already, Kaleta has sold five homes in the community that have not yet been recorded on the Manatee County Clerk’s Office website. Properties are priced starting 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 said. “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 the Sarasota-based A. Phipps Design, will design the homes.

“It’s the one final pristine property on the Gulf on Longboat Key that is large enough to do a gorgeous architectural concept,” Phipps said.

Kaleta and his Holmes Beach-based company, Beach to Bay Construction, are best known on Anna Maria Island, where he estimates they’ve sold “in excess of 100 units.”

But Bonaire will differ from many of Kaleta’s past projects.

“This will be more of a custom-home focus, versus vacation rentals,” he said, 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 at Bonaire 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.

According to Senior Town Planner Steve Schield, the project meets zoning and density requirements. The project will go through an administrative review but will not require review by the Longboat Key Town Commission or Planning and Zoning Board because it has fewer than 10 units.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected]