Sarasota Deluxe

SARASOTA COUNTY AT A GLANCE

LAND AREA: 620 miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE (2005 estimate): 594
POPULATION (2005 estimate): 368,443
POPULATION INCREASE (2001 to 2005): 10.3 percent
COLLEGE GRADUATES: 31 percent
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 21.8 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME (2003): $41,651
MEDIAN HOME PRICE (First quarter 2005): $326,300

Sarasota has been a magnet for people seeking the finer things in life ever since land developer J. Hamilton Gillespie traveled here from Scotland in 1886 and built the nation's first golf links near what is now the downtown courthouse area.

Rich in natural beauty, excellent schools, and cultural and leisure amenities, it's no wonder Sarasota boasts residents who are significantly better educated, more affluent and more likely to own their own homes than Floridians in general.

It's always been that way. In the booming early 1920s, colorful characters such as circus impresario John Ringling and socialite Bertha Honore Palmer (of Chicago's famed Palmer Hotel family) transformed the little fishing and farming village into a resort destination. Starting in the 1940s and continuing for several decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist MacKinlay Kantor, John D. MacDonald of the best-selling Travis McGee mystery novels, sculptor John Chamberlain and other celebrated intellectuals established an artists' colony here, forming the foundation of Sarasota's bountiful arts community.

Today, Sarasota is writing a new chapter in its history as more new residents move here, drawn by the natural beauty of its beaches and public parks; a wealth of arts and cultural offerings, including its very own opera, symphony and ballet companies; and excellent educational and medical facilities. The numbers tell their own story: In 2004, Sarasota County issued 7,906 single-family and multifamily residential building permits, an increase of 45 percent over 2003; already in the first quarter of 2005, permits for 2,793 units were issued. And values continue to skyrocket: The median first-quarter 2005 sale price for existing single-family homes was $326,300, making Sarasota County second in the nation for price appreciation (topped only by neighboring Sarasota" target="_blank">Manatee County).

Why do newcomers flock to Sarasota? Take a look at some of its most interesting neighborhoods and you'll see.

ISLAND STYLES

The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are like a siren call to newcomers from the cold gray North, and many prospective homebuyers look first to waterfront properties on the area's barrier islands, which locals call the keys. The fluffy white stuff you'll find here is sand, not snow, and the curious wading birds and occasional leaping dolphin you see from your terrace provide nonstop entertainment. Prices for waterfront properties continue to climb into the stratosphere, but realtors are quick to point out that these homes hold their value. Each of Sarasota's island communities has its own personality.

Longboat Key

For centuries, Longboat Key was a camping ground for native Indians; from the late 1880s to the great hurricane of 1921 it was an agricultural center that produced avocados, papaya and tomatoes. Today Longboat Key is a 12-mile stretch of luxurious beach-to-bay resort living, from the multimillion-dollar condominiums of the pristine Longboat Key Club on the south end to the wooden bungalows, ranch houses, vacation rentals and low-rise condos of the north end's laid-back Village.

On Longboat Key are first-rate golf courses and tennis clubs, beachfront condominiums with endless Gulf views, gated communities of handsome single-family homes, fashionable boutiques, great restaurants, internationally renowned resorts that attract the rich and famous, and a few friendly mom-and-pop beach hideaways. The main boulevard, Gulf of Mexico Drive, is lined with hot-pink oleanders and banyan trees and bordered by a popular bike and jogging trail.

Longboat is the seasonal home of many of the nation's top retired executives; its winter residents are known, and appreciated, for their active participation in Sarasota's cultural activities. Several years ago, Money magazine singled out the community as one of America's wealthiest zip codes, and real estate values bear that out. A nondescript home in the Village now sells for well over $400,000 (if you can find one), and luxury beachfront condos command $3.5 million to $5.5 million. Who's buying? "We attract people who could live anywhere in the world," says Ann Runyon, manager of the Longboat Key office of Michael Saunders & Company.

St. Armands, Lido Key, Lido Shores and Bird Key

St. Armands is a lovely old neighborhood of eclectic architectural styles that revolves around the world-famous shopping destination of St. Armands Circle. Beautiful Lido Beach and the Circle's terrific restaurants and upscale boutiques are just a short stroll or bike ride away. Platted in the 1920s by Sarasota's most colorful developer, circus magnate John Ringling, St. Armands Circle retains a good bit of his razzle-dazzle. On a Saturday night, tourists line up outside the ice cream shops, and Harley-hopping lawyers take over the corner coffeehouse. Older canal-front homes on the quiet, neighborly residential side streets are being snapped up for more than $1 million for the land value alone.

A wave of new beachfront condominiums is rising on nearby Lido Key: Orchid Beach Club, Azure on Lido Key and The Beach Residences, adjacent to the new ultra-ritzy Ritz-Carlton Beach Club.

Nearby Lido Shores boasted last spring's highest residential sale: $8.847 million for a six-bedroom Venetian villa built by famed designer Adrienne Vittadini and her husband.

Bird Key, a 510-home enclave just off the Ringling Causeway, has canal-front and bayfront homes with manicured front lawns and dramatic city skyline views. Also originally owned by John Ringling, the key was the Arvida Corporation's first big Sarasota development in the early 1960s. Bird Key is a boater's dream, and the Bird Key Yacht Club is the hub of social life here. A mix of executives, physicians, recently retired baby boomers, at least one rock 'n' roll superstar and a controversial talk-show host call it home, but we're not naming names. Recent listings ranged from just under $1 million to nearly $7 million.

Siesta Key

Home to a popular public beach that once took first place in a "world's whitest sand" contest, Siesta Key is the most family-oriented of the area's barrier islands. The heart of the key is the surfer-dude-cool Village, with its outdoor eateries, funky shops and ice cream stands. Some people swear the perfect date is a sunset beach walk followed by a daiquiri at a Village watering hole.

From the fishermen who line the Siesta Key Bridge on weekends to the colorful tropical foliage that spills onto Higel Avenue, Siesta Key feels like a permanent vacation. But real estate here, as elsewhere in Sarasota County, is serious business. Residential options range from multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions hidden behind private walls to mid-century modern houses to the older mid-rise condominiums on the island's south end. One newcomer is Solymar, a gated beachfront community of nine single-family homes off Higel Avenue. Prices there range from $3.55 million to $6.775 million, but realtors say the general range of Siesta Key properties is $700,000 to $10 million.

Casey Key and Manasota Key

Tucked behind sea grapes and bougainvillea, unpretentious family compounds for the rich and private once predominated on quiet Casey Key, a residential enclave on nine lush Gulf-to-bay miles. Today many of them are being razed, and monumental residences are replacing them; two 20,000-plus-square-foot homes were recently completed. It's easy to see why people move here, says Tom Stone of Michael Saunders & Company, himself a former longtime island resident: "You have no high-rises, no traffic problems; it's all single-family, except for a very few condos built before 1972 near the public beach. You really truly feel like you're on an island, but not remote." One recent sale: $6.6 million for a modern six-bedroom Gulf-front estate.

To the south, Manasota Key is a 7.5-mile sliver that straddles Sarasota and Charlotte counties between Lemon Bay and the Gulf. On the Sarasota County side, where Manasota Key Road is narrow, the tree canopy is dense and there are only single-family residences, so the island feels very private. On the Sarasota" target="_blank">Charlotte County side, the road widens, there are bike trails and some low-rise condominiums and commercial developments. Regardless, both ends of the key are experiencing tremendous growth and demand, realtors say. Eight homes priced from $1.5 million to $4.75 million sold here last year.

DOWNTOWN SARASOTA GOES UP AND UP

The past year has seen tremendous growth in downtown Sarasota, and a passel of new high-rise projects is fast changing the city skyline. Sarasota's lively energy is the envy of small cities across the state. Downtown dwellers revel in their proximity to the cosmopolitan amenities that make Sarasota so delightful: fine restaurants, coffeehouses, bookstores, theaters, galleries, a 20-screen multiplex and an art-house cinema, botanical garden and beautiful bayfront park. The recent opening of a downtown Whole Foods Market and announcement of two major upcoming retail complexes, one on the bayfront site of the old Sarasota Quay and another called Pineapple Square on State Street and Lemon Avenue, underscore the excitement.

Downtown Condo-mania

From the ribbon of 1970s-era mid-rises that ring Gulfstream Avenue to the swanky Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, downtown's condominium choices are soaring. An explosion of high-end condominium construction over the past few years is yielding two dozen new complexes, Rivo at Ringling, Alinari at Rosemary Place, 1350 Main and Broadway Promenade among them. On Golden Gate Point, the tiny spit of land near Bayfront Park, luxury high-rises like Grand Riviera and Le Reve Dore are pushing out the laid-back 1950s and '60s-era two-story apartment buildings.

Downtown condo prices continue to climb, too; the average sale price in 2004 was $357,228, with the highest topping out at $5.8 million. "Downtown condos appeal to people who are coming off the barrier islands, are not interested in golf course communities and don't want to go east of town," says Cheryl Loeffler, of Prudential Palms Realty. "Young professionals also enjoy the vibrancy of downtown."

Downtown's Bungalow Neighborhoods

For those who desire downtown ambiance but like to keep both feet on the ground, downtown's single-family neighborhoods are appealing alternatives. Young professional families and empty nesters have freshened up Laurel Park's Craftsman bungalows and 1920s-era Mediterranean Revival cottages, and they've formed an active residents' association to build a small neighborhood park.

Nearby Towles Court has become a thriving artists' colony where creative entrepreneurs have covered their Florida Cracker-style cottages in bright paint and turned them into galleries and coffeehouses. A monthly gallery walk attracts hundreds of browsers.

Urban frontiersmen are turning also to up-and-coming Gillespie Park, north of Fruitville Road, where old bungalows around a 10-acre park are being rehabbed and sold to young professionals. Gillespie Park Villas is the latest newcomer here: a soon-to-be-built mix of single-family homes and townhomes designed to blend with the existing historic Craftsman and Spanish-Mediterranean homes.

Touring the Museum Area

Two of the area's oldest established bayfront neighborhoods just north of downtown, Indian Beach and Sapphire Shores, comprise the popular museum area, so named for its proximity to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. A thriving cultural district, the area also claims the FSU Center for the Performing Arts (home of the Asolo Theatre Company and Sarasota Ballet), New College of Florida and a branch of the University of South Florida. Tree-lined Bayshore Road travels the length of these historic north Sarasota neighborhoods, which are filled with a mix of meticulously renovated estates and modest Craftsman-era bungalows from the turn of the last century.

Homes along Sarasota Bay in the museum area command the highest prices, of course, and some of them are Sarasota's most expensive (one is on the market for $14.9 million); but even the smallest non-waterfront houses in this desirable area start in the $200,000s. The newest addition to the residential mix will be 23 modern pavilion-type homes that "will pay homage to the Sarasota School of Architecture," says architect Guy Peterson, a developer of The Houses of Indian Beach. At press time, no timetable had been set for groundbreaking.

WEST OF TRAIL

These three little words in a real estate ad set hearts fluttering and home values soaring. West of Trail neighborhoods exude comfort and character. An eclectic mix of architectural styles, mature landscaping, excellent schools and convenient proximity to downtown and Sarasota Bay makes these neighborhoods among Sarasota's most desirable. Early in the morning and on weekends, sidewalks fill with dog walkers and joggers pushing baby strollers.

Harbor Acres and Paradise Shores

The Harbor Acres of 2005 is vastly different than 15 years ago, when its modest '60s-era single-family canal and bayfront homes started meeting the wrecking ball. In their place have risen grand multimillion-dollar estates. A significant contingent of physicians lives in Harbor Acres; they appreciate the neighborhood's proximity to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Two neighboring aged bayfront homes on Hillview Street sold together last winter for just under $6 million; a mega-house is rising in their place. Immediately to the south are the "bird" streets of Paradise Shores (Sandpiper, Sparrow, Mallard, Blue Heron). Platted in 1953, Paradise Shores' mostly bayfront executive homes are more quietly conservative than those in Harbor Acres. They don't turn over often; people tend to buy here and stay here. Last winter, prices ranged from $749,000 to about $2.9 million.

Southside Village, McClellan Park and Granada

Behind Sarasota Memorial Hospital on Osprey Avenue, Southside Village has become a hip shopping and dining destination. A popular gourmet food market, home décor stores and trendy boutiques bring shoppers out by day. On balmy evenings, young professionals take over the sidewalk tables at restaurants and taverns. It's an entertaining "see-and-be-seen" scene. The neighborhoods around Southside Village-Bungalow Hill to the north and the "flower" streets of Clematis, Wisteria, Hibiscus, Oleander, Bougainvillea and so forth to the south-are an unpretentious mix of '50s-era ranches, Spanish-style and Craftsman bungalows. The past two years have seen some tear-downs, but renovation is generally the rule here.

The same holds true in historic McClellan Park, which boasts winding streets, mature oaks and a mix of Craftsman bungalows, Spanish-style homes and even Tudor Revivals, most of them built between the 1920s and 1950s. At the center of the small neighborhood is the McClellan Park School, now called School in the Park, which was built in 1915 on the site of an ancient Indian mound.

Early residents of Granada, a lovely and not-so-quiet-anymore neighborhood just south of Siesta Drive, would be surprised to find that today their unpretentious homes are being snapped up for over $500,000-still a steal when you consider the neighborhood's proximity to U.S. 41, shopping and Siesta Key.

Cherokee Park, Cherokee Lodge and Bayview Heights

Families also love Cherokee Park and the nearby neighborhoods of Cherokee Lodge and Bayview Heights because of the large old houses on oversized lots, treed boulevards and proximity to Southside Elementary School. A sense of history permeates these neighborhoods; Sarasota's first main street was Cunliff Lane, and the oldest house in Sarasota County is here-a rambling antebellum Florida farmhouse that, legend goes, was headquarters for a rumrunner's operation during Prohibition. Very few homes change hands here; a recent typical listing in Cherokee Park for a remodeled three-bedroom, three-bath 1950s-era home was $999,000.

THE SOUTH SIDE

Oyster Bay and The Landings

A flurry of new construction is going on in leafy Oyster Bay, west of the Trail and south of Bee Ridge Road, where many of Sarasota's longtime community leaders reside. Here, waterfront homes on manicured lawns sit prettily beneath towering trees, and children ride bikes down winding South and North Lake Shore drives to play tennis or swim at The Field Club. An exclusive enclave of homes called Oyster Bay Landing is being developed west of Camino Real, and more new homes will soon be built on property recently occupied by a synagogue. Sales in Oyster Bay in 2004 ranged from $440,000 to $2.5 million.

Developed in the early 1980s, The Landings is the area's first in-town gated community. As verdant as Oyster Bay, The Landings has a mix of large executive homes on well-kept lots, villas on quiet cul-de-sacs and attractive mid-rise condos. People who live in The Landings tend to have families or be active retirees. One of its main attractions is its popular tennis club. "It's safe for children; they can ride their bicycles anywhere, the gate is strict, and the homes are uniformly nice," says realtor Lois Bennett. Recent sales ranged from $220,000 for a villa to $1.155 million for a single-family home.

Just south of The Landings, the gated luxury condominium community of Phillippi Landings is rising on Phillippi Creek. At press time, prices started in the low $700,000s.

Coral Cove and South Point Shores

Twenty years ago, Coral Cove and South Point Shores were enclaves of modest bayfront homes with prices to match. Things have certainly changed in this neighborhood just off U.S. 41 south of Stickney Point Road. Many original homes have fallen beneath the bulldozer's blade, while others have been completely transformed. One recent listing: $2.4 million for a redone older four-bedroom residence with 130 feet of bayfront looking across to Siesta Key. Louise Hamel of Prudential Palms Realty says interest in the property has come from across the United States.

Southbay Yacht and Racquet Club

On the bay between Sarasota and Venice, Southbay is "magic" because of its community marina with 172 deepwater boat slips that can accommodate boats up to 55 feet in length, "and that's real hard to find," says Candy Swick, of Candy Swick & Company. The clubhouse has a pool and lighted tennis courts; and there are active power- and sailboat clubs that "bring great camaraderie," says Swick. "Residents are always looking for neighbors to go boating with." Buyers are "retirees for whom the boat is the center of their life, tennis players and a resurgence of younger people because it's close to Pine View," a public magnet school for the academically gifted.

And across U.S. 41 from Southbay, plans were approved last spring for Bay Street Village and Town Center, a 41-acre development to include more than 500 multifamily homes, a library, restaurants, retail and office space, and a village green where outdoor community events will take place. Construction is expected to start in early 2006.

EAST OF THE TRAIL

Many of Sarasota's established suburban neighborhoods are situated east of Tamiami Trail. Families flock to The Lakes, Hidden Oaks, Old Forest Lakes, Woodland Park and Sherwood Forest. Good schools, quiet, bicycle-friendly streets and well-maintained homes that are anything but cookie-cutter are the main draws. Easy access to I-75 and Fruitville Road, and the shopping and restaurants that have developed around them, are also pluses. "These are the most densely vegetated neighborhoods," says Nancy Falkenstein, of RE/MAX Properties. "When we get people who say they have to have a lot of trees, that's what we show them."

Except for Old Forest Lakes and Sherwood Forest, which were developed in the 1960s, these neighborhoods were built in the 1980s, and offer that era's California contemporary-style architecture: vaulted ceilings, wood and brick exteriors. The Lakes has its own recreation center, fitness center, pool, tennis court, and shady walking paths around the small namesake lakes. Hidden Oaks is distinguished by its estate-sized one- and two-acre, heavily treed lots.

The biggest news here is at Forest Lakes Country Club, where a new community of 200 condos is expected to begin construction in early 2006 around the driving range and No. 10 hole. Replacement of the old clubhouse is part of the project.

Southgate and Gulf Gate

Southgate and Gulf Gate are great family neighborhoods of comfortable homes built from the late 1950s through the 1970s, centrally located just east of Tamiami Trail. Easy access to shopping, libraries, the beaches and downtown Sarasota, good neighborhood schools and lots of fruit trees are the draws. To prove the adage that everything old is new again, Southgate and Gulf Gate's Florida ranch-style architecture-concrete and stucco exteriors, terrazzo floors, screened-in Florida rooms-are becoming sought-after by the creative crowd; a recent redo of a 1,700-square-foot modernist '60s house by a local graphic designer was featured in the pages of SARASOTA Magazine.

Heading East

Several posh new single-family subdivisions are changing the former pasture lands east of I-75. Eagle Trace, with one-acre home sites, is off Bee Ridge Road; buyers can get social memberships at nearby Laurel Oaks Country Club. Nathaniel Place, Trillium, Osprey Woods and Tuscana are all under way.

COUNTRY CLUBBING

Homebuyers seeking an active lifestyle find the perfect answer in the Sarasota area's many master-planned golf course communities. Besides great golfing at your doorstep, most offer tennis, swimming, fitness centers and a wealth of social events. Snowbirds flock to them because they provide a network of friends and activities, realtors say. Most communities offer an attractive mix of condominiums, maintenance-free villas and single-family homes. The typical buyer, realtors say, eventually ends up spending more months in Sarasota and tends to move up to larger residences within the same community.

Residential real estate choices are bountiful in such fine golf course communities as Bent Tree, the Country Club of Sarasota, Foxfire, Laurel Oak Estates, Misty Creek, Oak Ford and Serenoa Lakes.

The Meadows

One of the region's first master-planned communities is The Meadows, located off 17th Street and Honore Avenue in northeast Sarasota County. Developed in the late 1970s, the country club community has 3,400 homes, 700 of them single-family, and another 2,700 garden apartments, villas and townhomes. The Meadows Country Club recently undertook an ambitious renovation of its popular golf course, clubhouse and tennis club.

Meadows residents are known for their neighborliness-volunteers run the popular "Meadows U," teaching classes in everything from knitting to photography; there are winter concerts and a big Meadows-wide garage sale each fall. The Meadows' polling precinct has the highest voting percentage of any in Sarasota County. "It's a very, very, very close community, and an active one," says Paul Sullivan, broker/manager with ERA Mount Vernon Realty, himself a 20-year resident. "But people can take it at any speed they want." Sales last year ranged from $187,000 to $790,000.

The Founders Club

Sarasota's newest country club is the ultra-exclusive Founders Club, a 700-acre enclave being built off Fruitville Road east of I-75. Just 262 custom homes will be constructed by some of Sarasota's best builders around the 18-hole golf course, which was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. The new club is open to only 275 golf equity members and select invitational members.

The Oaks

When Chicago socialite Bertha Honore Palmer came here in 1910 and became an enthusiastic supporter of the town, she picked this idyllic oak-shaded bayfront spot in Osprey for her winter estate. Mrs. Palmer's elegant style has been preserved in the gracious estates that dot the heavily wooded 1,000-plus-acre country club community midway between Sarasota and Venice. Nature lovers will appreciate the 10-acre bald eagle sanctuary and proximity to nearby Historic Spanish Point and Oscar Scherer State Park. West of Tamiami Trail are classic Georgian-style custom homes on heavily wooded properties, a few of the largest of them directly on Sarasota Bay. On the east side is the grand Oaks Country Club, with championship golf, tennis, pool complex and croquet.

"This is a beautiful neighborhood with lovely, elegant homes, and the original developer was very wise to save the trees," says Lynn Robbins of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. Recent sales ranged from $350,000 to $1.862 million for a 7,000-square-foot single-family home.

Palmer Ranch

Palmer Ranch is Sarasota's largest master-planned community, with 10,000 acres south of Clark Road and east of Tamiami Trail. It offers a broad mix of housing options in nearly 30 different neighborhoods, everything from zero-lot line villas to luxury golf-view estates. Nature trails and recreational centers abound, and there are two championship golf courses, including the prestigious Tournament Players Club. A popular branch of the Sarasota Family YMCA boasts a lively water park for tots and an outdoor aquatic center that hosts many regional swim meets. Proximity to shopping and some of the best schools in the state are pluses. If you want to move into Palmer Ranch, act quickly, says Michael Bower of Prudential Palms Realty; listings typically stay on the market for only a few days.

VENICE

In 1925 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers purchased several thousand acres of wilderness in south Sarasota County and hired renowned Boston architect and planner John Nolen to design a resort city that would lure well-off winter residents. Nolen created Venice, a walkable, human-scaled small city with distinct neighborhoods, wide landscaped boulevards and homes designed around playgrounds and parks. Venice became one of the nation's first planned cities.

Today a renaissance is taking place here. Small shops and restaurants flank palm-lined Venice Avenue, and nearby Venice Little Theatre and Venice Art Center are the hubs of cultural life. Within walking distance of the compact downtown shopping district are historic 1920s-era Mediterranean Revival estates surrounded by more modest single-family homes. A few blocks west lead you directly to the Gulf of Mexico and Venice Beach, a favorite spot to comb for shark's teeth. Here is a mix of 1970s low-rise condominiums and new luxury projects such as Beleza on Venice Beach.

Surrounding south Sarasota County golf course communities-and there are many-offer a wide range of suburban ranch homes and villas with vista views. Long-established communities such as Jacaranda Country Club, Plantation Golf & Country Club, Waterford Golf Club, Mission Valley Golf & Country Club, Calusa Lakes, Capri Isles, Englewood's Boca Royale Golf & Country Club and Pelican Pointe Golf & Country Club have been joined by posh newcomer Venetian Golf & River Club.

Homebuyers will find lots of new construction in Venice, from Willow Chase, with single-family homes from $375,000, to Valencia Lakes near I-75, with 67 single-family homes from $200,000 to $350,000; Jacaranda Trace, a 55-and-over retirement community with 446 condos and villas from the $200,000s; and Magnolia Park, with 96 condominiums from the $270s. One of the most visible, The Waterfront on Venice Island, is rising along the Intracoastal Waterway as you enter the city from the north. This high-rise development features luxury condominiums from the $600,000s.

North Port

One of Florida's fastest-growing cities and, at 120 square miles, one of the largest in land area, North Port is beckoning families and value-conscious retirees to its affordable subdivisions and its central location close to I-75 along the Sarasota-Charlotte county line.

Young homeowners, most of who commute to work in Sarasota and Fort Myers, can still find small, older carport homes for under $200,000. As elsewhere in the region, new three-bedroom, two-bath residences have climbed above $300,000. "People are moving here from Sarasota, Venice, Cape Coral and Fort Myers because those prices are still better than what they're getting down there," says Bill Diekman, manager of Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty.

Neighborhood parks, a multitude of youth programs and beautiful new schools are turning North Port into a real community. Even the cultural amenities are developing; a popular concert subscription series is held each winter in North Port High School's performing arts center, and the North Port Orchestra, Chorale and Concert Band give public concerts there as well.

Three major golf course communities, Bobcat Trail, Heron Creek and Sabal Trace, are attracting active retirees from the Midwest and other Northern climes. They offer two-bedroom villas and patio homes from the $300,000s, and single-family homes for $400,000 to over $1 million-a price unheard of here a couple of years ago.More than 80,000 visitors, many eastern Europeans, flock each year to the healing 87-degree waters of Warm Mineral Springs in northernmost North Port. An ambitious $50 million renovation of the resort is planned, with new condominiums, estate homes, an artists' village and redevelopment of the springs themselves.

Last year, the city of North Port issued 3,008 single-family building permits, more than all the rest of Sarasota County combined. Besides the 1.5 million square feet of office and retail development slated for construction in 2005, new communities such as the 225-residence Talon Bay and the mammoth 2,500-home Woodlands at North Port will be coming online.

And the growth keeps coming. Late last spring, a West Palm Beach developer announced plans for the Isles of Athena on 5,800 acres in northeast North Port. Preliminary plans call for 15,000 homes and a town center with restaurants, offices and shops-virtually a brand new city within the city of North Port. Planning and permitting will take two to three years, developers say.