Shopping plaza opens soon with furniture, windows, flooring tenants

At Brista Commons, the newest shopping center on Longboat Key, customers will soon be able to design a house and then go next door for just about everything else.

Windows, doors, cabinets, flooring and furniture will all be available to view in showrooms next door to Brista Homes’ new location at 3120 Gulf of Mexico Drive beginning in December.

Owner Mark Ursini will work alongside his wife, Gina Ursini, who runs a boutique real estate brokerage, Brista Realty. The tenants picked to occupy the 8,000 square feet of commercial space was a very intentional decision, Mark said.

“For our clients and our tenants’ clients to have that type of presence from all of those sources in the construction industry is a benefit, especially during season where people don’t want to travel all the way to Sarasota,” Ursini said. “They can come here, make selections and even buy furniture now.”

Brista Homes works with the potential homeowner, designers and architects to create custom-built homes, offers pre-built spec homes and condos, and takes on major renovation projects. 

Mark said 80% of his business is on Longboat Key, so opening a brick-and-mortar on the island would be convenient for him and his clients.

“Over the last 15 years, we’ve really grown to be more predominantly in Longboat Key. We built dozens of homes in Country Club Shores, Triton Bend and all the remodels we do,” Mark said.

For a decade, Brista has worked with the tenants that will fill out the rest of the commercial space, Mark said.

“We’ve established great relationships with them and our clients, and we thought it’d be a benefit to have everyone so close,” he said.

Next door to Brista Homes and Brista Realty’s corner office space will be anchor tenant Couch Longboat Key showcasing furniture, lighting and home decor. Noel Ladd and Ken Rushing own three furniture and interior design stores in Oklahoma and planned annual trips to Florida for Noel’s birthday, a different city each time. One year, they picked Sarasota blindly off the map and fell in love. 

Then, they found Longboat Key and decided they wanted to buy a house on the barrier island. That’s where they met Gina to help them reach that goal, and the Ursinis and Ken and Noel became friends.

When Ken’s interior design expertise was utilized to outfit Gina’s sister’s Montana home, the Ursinis decided they wanted Noel and Ken to be the anchor tenant for their Longboat Key commercial complex.

“They saw the work (Rushing) did and just loved it,” Ladd said.

Couch will display and offer “anything that has to do with furniture” including rugs, lamps, lighting fixtures, bedding, window treatments and, you guessed it, couches. 

While there will be top-of-the-line options available, there will be many price points for customers “to fit anyone’s budget,” Ladd said.

Rushing will provide interior design consultation, and Couch will also provide upholstery thanks to a partnership with a local long-standing business.

Within the Couch showroom is a fully functional satellite kitchen showcase by Cuccine Ricci Imported Italian Kitchens. Then there’s Your Flooring Warehouse for hardwood, laminate, carpeting, tile and other flooring needs.

Capping the strip off is ClearView Windows & Doors. John Harding Jr. started the business in 2002 at the age of 50.

His son, John Harding III, returned home from college to work for the family business and recently took over as president as his father shifted to a consulting role. ClearView’s Longboat location will be an expansion as the Bradenton-area base will remain. 

With many customers coming from Sarasota and Longboat Key, Harding III said the Longboat Key showroom will provide added convenience to customers. ClearView’s Longboat showroom will include “impressive displays” of all the company offers: hurricane-resistant windows and doors sourced from Venice-based PGT Industries. 

The impact-resistant products offer many benefits including security, noise reduction, wind and impact resistance, and energy savings, Harding III said.

“Some people do it for peace of mind, some do it for hurricane protection, some do it for energy efficiency,” Harding III said. “There’s a lot of benefits to it.”

Ursini said Brista Commons will soon be open to the public, with tenants expected to begin moving in during November and everyone expecting to open in December.