St. Armands property sells after more than decade on market

Sold!

A St. Armands Key property familiar with many Longboaters coming and going from the Key has a new owner after more than a decade on the real estate market.

The sale of the three-story waterfront home at 290 Washington Drive, at the corner of North Boulevard of the Presidents at the southeastern base of the bridge heading north toward Longboat Key, closed on Friday, March 17 for $3.5 million.

The Hedge Team with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty handled the sale.

With five bedrooms, four full baths, two half-baths, a pool and a dock, the home offers 6,799 square feet of air-conditioned over three floors, according to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser. The home features 10,092 square feet of living space.

Tom Hedge Jr., an associate with Premier Sotheby's, said some of the most fascinating features of the house are:

• Venetian plaster walls throughout;
• A round-shaped den with globe ceiling
• A sound-proofed windows and walls
• A hidden pantry in the kitchen. "If any buyer brought children, they always played hide and seek in the house, and that was the perfect hiding spot,'' he said in an email.

The house's walls were built to withstand tropical weather, featuring solid, poured concrete walls.

The home has been on the market since mid-October, 2006. Sarasota Vacation Properties LLC, the home’s owners, have employed five real estate brokers in marketing the property over the years. Premier Sotheby’s International Realty said the home might have been the longest-listed home on the market in Sarasota. A previous home on the property was torn down in 2005. Hedge said an investor began construction on the current home in 2006, and it was first offered for sale then. The lender took the home back via a deed in lieu in 2011 and was put back up for sale, he said.

Originally priced at $8.45 million in 2006, the price was reduced to $4.49 million and then closed last week at $3.5 million.

Hedge said one of the challenges of the sale was the property's northern view, which was of the bridge and traffic leading off St. Armands Key. He said the new owners plan to dock a large boat, making their view to the north one of their boat and Sarasota Bay beyond.

The Corpus Christi, Texas couple who bought the home plan to move in soon, according to Charlotte Hedges, broker-associate with Premier Sotheby’s International.

The Hedge Team consists of Charlotte  Hedge, Tom Hedge  Sr., Monica Barth, and Tom Hedge Jr.