Beachplace Association to replace every door in the complex

The project will cost $2.5 million.

By Sten Spinella
| 12:00 p.m. July 30, 2019

Here is one of the current doors. It will be removed and replaced with a stronger door in the coming months.

Longboat Key
News

Beachplace Association condominiums is adhering to the maxim of “when one door closes, another door opens” with its … doors.

The complex is replacing all 336 of its doors, according to building permits and General Manager Loren Lysen, for a price of $2.5 million. That comes out to approximately $7,000 per door, but that’s not just the door, there are other parts that go along with the endeavor as far as structural stucco and interior finish, Lysen said.

The undertaking should last about six months, and Beachplace is hoping to get started before the end of August.

This will be Loren Lysen's fourth year as property manager at Beachplace.

Like other structures on Longboat Key, Beachplace is undergoing this renovation because of its age.

“We're 40 years old, and the existing doors, many of them were starting to get into a situation that needed a lot of repair,” Lysen said. “The materials that they were made of just no longer, more or less, exist. It was time to get to a hurricane-compliant door.”

Lysen extolled the qualities of the new doors, calling them state of the art and noting their observance of the Sarasota school of architectural design.

Replacing the doors will be inconvenient for residents, but Lysen said it will be a “very slight” inconvenience because implementation will be rather quick, so people will never be without a door.

“Starting at eight o'clock in the morning, the old one will come out, the new one will go in at the end of the day,” Lysen said.

Beachplace is using a custom design for the new doors.

Beachplace has undergone a number of renovations in the past several years. Three years ago, the complex supplanted all 11 of its roofs on the 11 towers. Two years ago, it replaced its elevator lobbies. And earlier this summer it replaced all of the paving on its roadways and parking lots.

Subcontractors will not be working on weekends or holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. These subcontractors include Karins Engineering Group and Complete General Contracting, both based in Sarasota.

“This will be my fourth year as property manager, and we’ve done a lot,” Lysen said. “But it’s things that need to be done right now. When you get to be that age, it needs attention.”