Engel & Vakers, Sun Resorts reveal plans

Engel & Völkers Longboat Key Realty and Sun Resorts International LLC will leave the building at 6350 Gulf of Mexico Drive to make room for ResortQuest International’s Southwest Florida office, which will move into the location in the next month or two as part of a planned expansion. But both companies will continue to do business on the Key.

According to Ellie Ellis, vice president of rental operations and general manager of Sun Resorts International, the company will open March 1 at 6830 Gulf of Mexico Drive in Whitney Beach Plaza.
“We’re excited about it because of the increased traffic, particularly during season,” Ellis said.

According to a prepared statement, Engel & Völkers, which absorbed Wedebrock Real Estate Co. in September, had occupied Wedebrock’s former Longboat Key office with a month-to-month lease. Since then, the company has been searching for a Longboat Key location that would fit the company’s “property shop” concept. The company refers to its locations as “property shops,” instead of offices. They don’t have cubicles and feature contemporary décor and ambient lighting to blend in with retail space. Most shops are located in high-traffic pedestrian areas.

“We recognized that we took a risk of being uprooted, but our quest to find the right location is key,” said Engel & Völkers Longboat Key & Anna Maria Island Realties President/Broker Ray Alexander said in a prepared statement.

Alexander said the company might consolidate offices in its Holmes Beach location in the short term and eventually expand to other locations.

Sun Resorts International manages rentals of more than 150 properties on Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island, including the Beach Castle Resort. Engel & Völkers is a Hamburg, Germany,-based company with nearly 500 offices worldwide. The company’s Anna Maria and Longboat Key franchises, which had previously operated out of the same office, became licensed in 2008.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected]