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DIVERSIONS

Town Commission approves $30 million Hilton project.

PAGE 16A

10 TO ATTEND

Read our top picks for the upcoming winter/spring season.

PAGE 1B

The most expensive house in town lives up to its $22 million price tag. INSIDE

OUR TOWN

{ISSUES TO WATCH}

Kelsey Grau

A great blue heron arrived at Save Our Seabirds in early January.

+ Babies on board at SOS Baby-bird season is upon us. Save Our Seabirds sees an influx of our feathered friends at the beginning of each year. Whether they are blown out of their nest, rejected by their mother or failed at their first flying attempt, hundreds of baby birds are brought to SOS in hopes of giving them a second chance. This year’s first visitor is a young great blue heron.

“The best chance of survival was to bring him here,” said David Pilston, CEO of the organization.

+ Send us your announcements The Observer is seeking submissions for its announcements section, Occasions. We want to help you celebrate births, engagements, weddings and anniversaries. The announcements will appear in the Longboat, Sarasota and East County Observers and the Pelican Press.

For births, please include the baby's parents' and grandparents' names and cities in which they live, names of the baby's siblings and the baby's height, weight, time of birth and place of birth.

For engagements, weddings and anniversaries, let us know how you met, where you met and any fun details of the event. Share your story!

Submissions should include a photo, name of people in the photo, where they live and a brief write-up about the announcement.

To submit announcements, please email Robin Hartill at rhartill@yourobserver.com.

SEE OT / PAGE 18A

2014 INSURANCE

COLONY

BRIDGE

ULI

PENSIONS

ELECTION

HILTON

BEACHES

CIRCLE

RECEPTION

A look at some of Longboat Key’s most pressing issues. { SEE PAGES 2A THROUGH 14A }

INDEX Calendar.............. 5B Classifieds......... 13B

Cops Corner....... 15A Crossword.......... 12B

Neighborhood...... 1B Opinion.................8A

Real Estate.......... 8B Weather............. 12B

Vol. 36, No. 23 | Three sections YourObserver.com

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

ULI: TIME FOR CHANGE Longboat Key should embrace while they’re still fresh on everychange. one’s minds.

That was one message an UrIn December, the commitban Land Institute panel deliv- tee agreed to prioritize discusered to the town after a five-day sions of a town center that the study of the Key in October. panel recommended for the Bay But will the comIsles area. Commitmission and resitee members also dents actually emmoved identifying brace change? That the amenities that OVERVIEW: The has yet to be seen.

Bayfront Park needs town of Longboat The ULI panel to the top of their toKey is working to made eight basic do list. implement recomrecommendations But Town Manager mendations the (see sidebar) to the Dave Bullock made it Urban Land Institute commission Oct. clear that town staff made as part of a 25, after touring the isn’t waiting for com$125,000 study Key by bus and boat mittee discussion to for which taxpayers and interviewing take action. While paid. dozens of residents the committee’s job PLAYERS: Town of and business ownis to generate discusLongboat Key ers. The panel is exsion and ideas, town pected to submit its staff must determine TIMELINE: Ongoing final report to the what can actually be town in a 40-page done. document by the Town staffers have end of January. That report met with property owners will include an implementation on Bay Isles Road to discuss posstrategy to accomplish the sug- sibilities for a town center. Town gested goals and create a road- Manager Dave Bullock also hired map for the future.

Sarasota architect Gary Hoyt, The Urban Land Institute Im- who designed the new Longboat plementation Advisory Commit- Key Publix, to design two sets of tee — consisting of five citizens, renderings for the concept. two commissioners and two At their Dec. 17 meeting, comPlanning & Zoning Board mem- mittee members told staff they bers — is tasked with discussing will recommend to commisways to bring the panel’s sugges- sioners that the roads as they tions to fruition. currently sit should not prohibit Committee member Tom that town center concept.

Freiwald has said that the comHoyt is also sketching an overmittee needs to act swiftly to im- lay district for a town center conplement the recommendations cept to see how it could be ac-

An Urban Land Institute panel urged residents to work together to plan for the future.

RECOMMENDATIONS

BREAKDOWN

Courtesy rendering

Town Manager Dave Bullock commissioned Sarasota architect Gary Hoyt to draw up renderings for town center concepts around the Longboat Key Publix. commodated through the town codes and Comprehensive Plan.

Staffers have also met with officials from Sarasota County — the county completed a concept for Bayfront Park and owns the 3.88-acre Albritton property that’s adjacent to the park. Staff will compile a report with material from the county and the University of Florida, which provides planning services to the town on an as-needed basis, which will be completed later this year.

“Sarasota County and the University of Florida (UF) will look

at studies from other communities to see what’s working and what isn’t,” said Interim Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray at the committee’s Dec. 17 meeting. “We need to identify recreational trends for the baby boom generation.”

Town staff is also holding discussions with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) officials to determine what the agency would allow on the FDOT-controlled Gulf of Mexico Drive to improve mobility.

ULI panelists made it clear in

The ULI panel presented the following basic recommendations Oct. 25, to the Longboat Key Town Commission: • Build the community together • Adapt to a changing market • Focus on the future • Relax rental restrictions • Implement early actions • Complete the town center • Locate the community/ cultural center at the town center • Improve mobility October that none of the recommendations can be implemented until the town and its residents agree to work together.

“It’s clear to the panel that the residents and business owners all love Longboat Key,” said ULI panel Chairman Kamuron Gurol. “But divisions and disputes have increased and prevented community adhesion. The Key will be stronger if everyone can work together to face challenges ahead, regardless of which area on the Key you live.”

— Robin Hartill

“Divisions and disputes have increased and prevented community adhesion.

The Key will be stronger if everyone can work together to face challenges ahead, regardless of which area on the Key you live.” — ULI panel Chairman Kamuron Gurol

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

3A

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

COLONY CONUNDRUM Some would argue there’s no But the settlement leaves out bigger issue on Longboat Key Colony Lender LLC, the largest than the shuttered Colony Beach creditor in the bankruptcy case. & Tennis Resort, its rapidly deteIn December, May said he is riorating state and its impact on wrestling with confirming a setneighboring property values. tlement plan that gives $3 milUnfortunately for lion to Klauber, while Key residents, it’s Colony Lender LLC is been an issue since left in limbo. the first lawsuits The association OVERVIEW: Colony were filed in 2008 has urged May to parties, town and the resort closed consider that Colony residents, staff and in 2010.

Lender would either commissioners Longboaters can receive fair-market hope 2014 will be only hope that 2014 cash value for its asthe year of resolucould be the year sets within a year of tion for many of the that matters most — the settlement closissues surroundthe year that issues ing in March or reing the shuttered among the Colony ceive the deed to 2.3 resort. parties are settled acres of land in the PLAYERS: Colony and Colony unit middle of the shutBeach & Tennis owners choose a tered resort.

Resort Association, developer to revital“One thing that still Colony unit owners, ize the property and bothers me is if I conlongtime Colony restore the tourism firm the plan, Klauowner Dr. Murray property to its forber and investors get “Murf “Klauber, mer glory. money that’s spendColony Lender LLC, A big first step in able and protected other Colony parthat process comes from collection,” ties, U.S. BankJan. 27, in a Tampa May said last month. ruptcy Judge K. courtroom.

“That’s taking a right Rodney May, Town U.S. Bankruptcy away from Colony Manager Dave BullJudge K. Rodney Lender.”

May is considering ock, Key residents Colony Lender a Colony settlement principal David SieTIMELINE: A and bankruptcy regal told May in Debankruptcy judge is organization plan cember “it can’t be expected to rule on for longtime Colony right to sell all the a Colony settlement owner Dr. Murray assets, not pay your Jan. 27. In March, “Murf” Klauber’s debts and leave with the commission Colony entities. $3 million,” referencwill hold a hearThat settlement ing Klauber’s right to ing to review code would give $3 mil$3 million as part of violations in each lion to Klauber and the settlement. building to deterdistribute $2.3 milColony Lender LLC mine whether each lion to a U.S. bankattorney Michael Asstructure meets the ruptcy Chapter 7 saf also said there criteria for nuitrustee to pay crediwas still a fairness issance and dangertors. sue that needs to be ous buildings and An amendment resolved. needs to be torn to the settlement “This is like somedown. reveals that Colony one saying they are Beach & Tennis Regoing to buy your sort unit owner and house eventually, but developer Andy Adams and not tell you what they are gohis entities have agreed to resolve ing to pay or when they are going issues with the proposed settle- to pay you,” Assaf said in Decemment. That agreement also calls ber. for giving $400,000 to be paid As town leaders and residents to creditors, $75,000 to Carolyn wait for a ruling, they’re strugField through the Field Trust and gling with the state of the prop$25,000 to Adams through Break- erty and what to do about it in the pointe LLC. interim.

The settlement also absolves At a Dec. 11 special meeting the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort at Town Hall, Building Official Association of a $25 million judg- Wayne Thorne and Town Manment for damages Klauber won ager Dave Bullock recommended in a bankruptcy appeals court last the existing buildings be torn year. down. They cited a public-safety

A bankruptcy judge is expected to rule on a Colony Beach & Tennis Resort settlement Jan. 27.

BREAKDOWN

File photos

Town Manager Dave Bullock told commissioners last month he is “trying to find a logical way to deal with a multitude of issues this collapsing development gives us.”

The Town Commission will hold a public hearing 9 a.m. March 4 to review the state of all of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort buildings and decide whether they meet criteria to be torn down. issue as they showed pictures of the buildings falling down.

Commissioners approved a four-month extension of the grandfathered tourism units at the shuttered resort at that meeting, making the latest deadline April 30. Because the Colony’s 237 units were built on 18 acres before the town created its tourism resort commercial classification that allows for just six units per acre, 129 of the resort’s 237 units are considered grandfathered, or legally non-conforming. The town would have deemed the property’s tourism use abandoned Aug. 15, 2011 — one year after the resort closed — if the

commission hadn’t granted a series of extensions.

“We have to think about town citizens who live nearby as a result of the decision by the collective Colony to let these buildings to continue to conduct a small implosion,” Bullock said. “It’s my opinion I will be here this time next year having this same discussion with the difference being the buildings will be in a state of further deteriorated condition.”

But the commission also learned Dec. 11 that it couldn’t legally make a teardown the condition of a tourism unit extension, as Bullock proposed.

Every unit owner and inter-

ested Colony party will be invited to a 9 a.m. March 4 hearing that will also be open to the public.

At that time, the commission will review a building-by-building summary of the property to determine whether each structure meets the criteria for nuisance and dangerous buildings and needs to be torn down.

Thorne said there are 782 items that “meet the conditions of being dangerous structures” and 177 “serious issues” that need to be addressed.

Bullock noted that Colony Beach & Tennis Association attorney Jeffrey Warren said at a recent bankruptcy hearing that the buildings will be torn down eventually.

“I’m trying to find a logical way to deal with a multitude of issues this collapsing development gives us,” Bullock said in December.

The commission also mandated last month the association increase a bond the town can use to make improvements to the property from $50,000 to $250,000 despite objections from Warren.

Mayor Jim Brown said the town is not happy waiting for the property to be restored and on Dec. 11 urged parties to take action.

“Everyone’s been fumbling around with this extremely valuable asset that’s now harming our community instead of helping it,” Brown said.

— Kurt Schultheis

“Everyone’s been fumbling around with this extremely valuable asset that’s now harming our community instead of helping it.”

— Longboat Key Mayor Jim Brown

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4A

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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of The Sarasota-Manatee Originals The Observer has partnered with The Sarasota-Manatee Originals and is producing an online video series.

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Scan th e to watch QR code or visit o the video YourObs ur website, e InTheKit rver.com/ chen.

THIS WEEK

The chefs at Salute! show us their recipe for agnolotti, a pasta filled with ricotta cheese and spinach in a light cream sauce.

WEATHER PHOTO SUBMISSIONS: Click the “Contests” tab on YourObserver.com, located in the upper-right hand corner of the homepage, to submit your sunrise, sunset or other weather-related photos, and it could be printed in an issue of the Observer!

THE GOOD NEWS SERIES: Visit YourObserver.com/TheGoodNews to learn how donors, volunteers and beneficiaries connect through Gulf Coast Good, an initiative of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. And, learn how you can become involved!

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

CORTEZ BRIDGE

The new year won’t bring a new Cortez Bridge, but it will bring traffic delays that come with a $4 million repair project that’s scheduled to begin April 28 and be completed in early 2015.

In 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will also continue a Project Development & Engineering (PD&E) study of the bridge that began in File photo January 2013 and will eventually result in The Cortez Bridge connects mainland a decision for the long-term future of the Manatee County to Bradenton Beach. bridge.

The PD&E study team is reviewing reAccording to FDOT, the bridge is currently safe for traffic but has outlived its placement options, including a low-level 50-year design service life by seven years. drawbridge, mid-level drawbridge and high-level fixed-span deThe latest survey of the signs. It’s also studying a 57-year-old bridge took place rehabilitation project that in April 2012, according to could extend the bridge’s FDOT’s website. At the time, OVERVIEW: A $4 service life by approximately million repair projthe bridge received a sufficien25 years and a no-build alect for the Cortez cy rating of 21.7 and a healthternative that would require Bridge is scheduled index score of 75.65, both on a continuing maintenance to to begin April 28 100-point scale. and be completed keep the bridge safe for anA health rating below 85 in early 2015. Plans other 10 years. generally indicates that refor a new bridge FDOT will hold a public pairs are necessary, although are also being disworkshop in early 2014 and it doesn’t mean the bridge is cussed. a formal public hearing in unsafe. The lower the rating, the summer. the better chance it is that rePLAYERS: Florida The agency will use the inplacing the bridge would be Department of put to make a recommendaTransportation, Key more economical than repairtion to the Federal Highway residents ing it.

Administration, which will In April and May, FDOT TIMELINE: FDOT have the final say about the surveyed residents and stakewill continue to bridge’s future. holders of areas surrounding gather public input Expect the Cortez Bridge’s the bridge about whether they about the bridge’s future to be a topic of disfavored a rehabilitation or refuture. It will hold cussion beyond 2014: The placement of the structure. a public workshop PD&E study is scheduled Approximately 51% of the in early 2014 and a to continue through spring 850 respondents favored formal public hear2015. further rehabilitation of the ing in the summer.

— Robin Hartill bridge, while 43% favored replacement.

BREAKDOWN

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

5A

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

INSURANCE COSTS Longboat Key commissioners rates 25% for second homes and worry that rising flood and wind commercial properties. insurance costs will force people But policyholders have reto sell their homes and move to ported that their rates are rising the mainland. astronomically, whether they are They have reason for concern full-time residents or not. after Congressman Buchanan, who Vern Buchanan, Rsupported the act’s Longboat Key, lobapproval when it bied unsuccessfully passed in July 2012, OVERVIEW: Longbefore the holidays tried to get the act boaters have seen to encourage Consuspended to reflood insurance and gress to approve a turn rising insurance wind insurance poliglitch bill to stave hikes back to normal cy premiums double off insurance costs levels while alternaand even triple in that have more than tive modifications some cases. But tripled for some polwere made to the one local insurance icyholders.

NFIP and FEMA that agent says relief is The Federal Emerdid not deter buyers on the way, and opgency Managefrom buying homes tions are opening up ment Association’s on or near the water. to reduce premiums.

(FEMA) National It did not work, alPLAYERS: Longboat Flood Insurance though the LegislaKey property owners Program (NFIP) ture may consider a went through an future bill this year to TIMELINE: Ongoing overhaul after Suget increases under issue perstorm Sandy control. caused major deCongress adstruction in the Northeast journed for the year without last winter, both to the area agreeing on action to susand the NFIP, which is responsi- pend large insurance hikes in ble for paying out claims. flood insurance premiums.

That overhaul and the BiggertHowever, a large bipartisan Waters Flood Insurance Reform group in the House and the SenAct of 2012 are now creating ate is still pushing measures to problems for property owners by slow the effects of the bill. jeopardizing some individuals’ In the interim, Key residents ability to stay in their homes. and other property owners near FEMA began to reduce areas it the water are left to wonder how covers and went through a series much worse it is going to get. of evaluations for certain coastal George Ceshker, of Secur-All areas, including Longboat Key, insurance company on Longboat which led the program to raise Key, said he has one customer in

Key residents such as Mayor Jim Brown worry that rising insurance costs will force residents seeking affordable insurance to leave the island.

BREAKDOWN

File photo

Tropical Storm Andrea caused flooding problems in June in neighborhoods like Longbeach Village and Sleepy Lagoon. Rising flood insurance premiums have Longboat Key residents concerned.

Country Club Shores who saw his flood insurance premium increase from $2,154 per year to $3,900 per year. That customer was also forced to purchase and submit new elevation certificates.

For another Country Club shores home, the FEMA policy premium went from $2,100 annually for federal flood insurance to $7,000.

But Ceshker says at the end of 2013, his company secured the ability to write equivalent flood policies for older homes from an A-rated carrier at about half the cost of the federal program and that his customers are seeing re-

lief.

“Up until last month there were no other options than the federal flood insurance program for these homes,” said Ceshker.

“Other options are beginning to open up.”

Wind policies, though, are still a concern.

Some policies have risen 15% to 25% in the last two years, and the price to insure properties on the Key is becoming costlier every year.

Even Longboat Key’s mayor is seeking to sell his home because insurance costs are too high.

Mayor Jim Brown saw his wind

insurance premiums for his home in Longboat Key Estates rise from $9,600 a year in 2011 to $55,000 in 2012 before he found a cheaper policy for $28,000 a year.

“Everyone’s insurance is going up dramatically, and it’s going to cause a real estate problem on coastal areas such as Longboat Key,” Brown told the Longboat Observer in August. “If people can’t buy real estate on Longboat Key or other coastal communities because they’re scared of insurance costs, we’re going to stop being able to sell our houses out here.”

— Kurt Schultheis

127108

127014

“Up until this month, there were no other options than the federal flood insurance program for these homes. Other options are beginning to open up.” — George Ceshker, of Secur-All insurance company on Longboat Key

6A

Give the Gift of Good Health!

THE FINAL BILL

This month, the last of the town’s three bond.” pension plans will freeze. Taxpayers, as a The committee recommended to the result, will have what Town Manager Dave Longboat Key Town Commission that the Bullock sought for future employee ben- town continue to budget pension debt efits since he began pension modification and also address the issue annually. discussions with employees in May 2012: Bullock has said he’s comfortable with a predictability. budget policy to pay off penBut taxpayers are still on the sion liabilities, but warned hook for benefits that past and that if state actuaries ever present employees already request the town close the OVERVIEW: The town earned through the three plans and pay off the liwill freeze the last plans. And, later this month, abilities, “then that’s what of its three pension the town will learn from its we’ll have to do, and a bond plans this month. actuaries the amount of unwould come back into play.”

Now, it will have to funded liability it faces. Past Bullock first proposed determine how to estimates place the amount at freezing pension plans in pay down its penapproximately $28 million.

May 2012. sion debt estimated The town will then have to The town’s firefighter at $28 million. determine how it will pay off union ratified a contract in PLAYERS: Town that debt.

February 2013 that enrolled Manager Dave BullTown staff and the town’s Inemployees in the Florida Reock, Longboat Key vestment Advisory Committee tirement System (FRS).

Town Commission, have recommended budgetGeneral employees now Investment Advisory ing annually for an amount receive an automatic town Committee, above the town’s required contribution of 10% of their town emcontribution instead of asking salaries in a new 401(a) and taxpayers to approve a bond to ployees a match of up to an addipay off the debt. tional 3%. The town’s police “No one is saying we have union agreed on a contract to pay it all now and fund the that includes a 401(a) opburden all at once,” said comtion similar to what general mittee member and comemployees received. mission candidate Armando “This is extremely imporLinde in October. “The bond market tant for our long-term financial viis in disarray, and interest rates will con- ability,” said Bullock. tinue to rise. I suggest we forget about the — Robin Hartill

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

ELECTION WATCH

The Longboat Key Town Commission me, because his reported views are basicalwill have at least one new face following ly a negation of the work the commission the town’s March 25 general municipal has been doing for the past four years, and election. what I see as the spirit and deVying for the District 3 sire of our community,” Gans seat, which Vice Mayor David said.

OVERVIEW: The Brenner will vacate after four Gans’ switch leaves Country town’s voters will years, are At-Large CommisClub Shores resident Armando pick two commissioner Terry Gans and Bayou Linde, a retired economist who sioners and deterresident Ray Rajewski. serves on the town’s Investmine the future of Gans originally planned to ment Advisory Committee and the Zoning Board run for another at-large seat Firefighters’ Retirement Sysof Adjustment in but opted to run against Rajewtem Board, to face off against March. ski, who was previously unchalL’Ambiance resident Irwin Paslenged, after reading Rajewski’s tor, a retired CEO, who serves PLAYERS: comments in a Nov. 14 Longas vice president of the Islandboat Observer article titled “ULI side Property Owners Coalistudy: worth $133,816.35?” in tion. which Rajewski said: The commission selected “It was worth it, because we Gans for the at-large seat folCommissioner now understand we have allowing the resignation of ComTerry Gans most a perfect island. The recmissioner Hal Lenobel in July ommendations they came up 2012. with, for the most part, are so In the town’s general mufarfetched I don’t know how nicipal election in March 2013, you implement anything. We Pastor challenged Gans for the Ray Rajewski already have a town center. It’s remaining year of the term. called St. Armands Circle. That’s Gans won by just 27 votes. where you go to walk around, Rajewski ran for Brenner’s see residents and get a cup of District 3 seat in March 2012 coffee. The other way to answer and lost by 90 votes. is, it’s a waste of money. If that’s Voters will face another Armando Linde all they can come up with, it tells choice when they cast their me we have a pretty nice place ballots March 25: They’ll have with not a lot to improve upon.” to decide whether to delete Gans said he chose to run for from the town’s charter the the District 3 seat because he requirement that the town Irwin Pastor couldn’t let Rajewski’s position maintain a permanent Zoning go unchallenged.

Board of Adjustment, a pos“In that edition (of the Longsibility the commission began boat Observer), the comments attribconsidering because of the board’s uted to Rajewski about the ULI study and longstanding difficulty to obtain a quorum.

Longboat Key served as a wake-up call to — Robin Hartill

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At Longboat Key Club & Resort 220 Sand Point Rd., Longboat Key, FL 34228 FREE afternoon session to the public. Nominal Charge for Physicians.

Seating is limited, pre-register online at www.cardiologycenter.net/pages/registration or contact Cardiovascular Health Assessment Center Phone (941) 366-9800

Free for Nurses & Medical Students but you must pre-register.

Mahfouz El Shahawy

MD, MS, FACP, FESC, FASH, FSCCT, FAHA, FACC,

Jay N. Cohn

MD, FACC, FAHA,

Program Co-Director Professor of Medicine, Director Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention University of Minnesota Medical School, Cardiovascular Division, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Program Director Clinical Professor of Medicine, Universities of Florida and South Florida, Medical Director, Cardiovascular Health Assessment Center, President, Cardiovascular Center of Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida 10th Annual Symposium faculty is composed of 10 of the nation’s leading and distinguished professors in CARDIOVASCULAR PREVENTION from 10 of the most prestigious institutions in the country such as Univ. of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Emory, Baylor and much more, including the current president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. To be held at the Longboat Key Club & Resort, one of the top 10 beach front resorts in FL.

Our Cardiovascular Health Assessment Center Mission is: “ To promote early detection, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, including stroke, and to achieve the highest health quality for all.”

Be Good to your Heart!

The first 50 people who register and attend the symposium will get free cardiovascular health screening.

(Blood pressure, blood sugar and lipid profile check). The tests will be performed by the experienced staff of the Cardiovascular Health Assessment Center. Screening will start February 4th, 2014. Call now for appointment.

Learn more at

WWW.CARDIOLOGYCENTER.NET For Details and online registration: www.cardiologycenter.net/pages/registration or CALL (941)366-9800

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

Observer opinion | our view LONGBOAT

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944 Editor / CEO / Matt Walsh mwalsh@yourobserver.com Publisher / Lisa Walsh lwalsh@yourobserver.com Chief Digital Officer / Emily Walsh ewalsh@yourobserver.com Executive Editor / Kat Hughes khughes@yourobserver.com Deputy Executive Editor / Jessica Luck jluck@yourobserver.com Managing Editor / Kurt Schultheis kschultheis@yourobserver.com News Editor / Robin Hartill rhartill@yourobserver.com Community Editor / Kelsey Grau kgrau@yourobserver.com Managing Editor/Design / Nancy Schwartz nschwartz@yourobserver.com Managing Editor/Diversions-Season / Stephanie Hannum, stephanie@yourobserver.com Arts & Entertainment Editor / Mallory Gnaegy mgnaegy@yourobserver.com Black Tie Assistant Editor / Heather Merriman hmerriman@yourobserver.com Director of Advertising / Jill Raleigh jraleigh@yourobserver.com East County Advertising Manager / Lori Ruth lruth@yourobserver.com Sales Manager / Penny DiGregorio pdigregorio@yourobserver.com Sales Manager / Rosemary Felton rfelton@yourobserver.com Senior Advertising Executive / Laura Ritter lritter@yourobserver.com Advertising Executives / Robyn Didelot, rdidelot@yourobserver.com Patti Duff, pduff@yourobserver.com Laura Fernandez, lfernandez@yourobserver.com Beth Holman, bholman@yourobserver.com Beth Jacobson, bjacobson@yourobserver.com Robert Lewis, blewis@yourobserver.com Suzanne Munroe, smunroe@yourobserver.com Brand Marketing Manager / Leslie Gnaegy lgnaegy@yourobserver.com Sales Coordinator/Account Managers / Lori Downey, ldowney@yourobserver.com Susan Leedom, sleedom@yourobserver.com Rachel Livingston, rlivingston@yourobserver.com Classified Advertising Sales Executives/ Maureen Hird, mhird@yourobserver.com Deedie Parker, dparker@yourobserver.com Director of Creative Services and Information Technology / Kathy Payne, kpayne@yourobserver.com Assistant Creative Services Manager / Brooke Schultheis, bschultheis@yourobserver.com Advertising Graphic Designers / Monica DiMattei, mdimattei@yourobserver.com Marjorie Holloway, mholloway@yourobserver.com Jim Knake, jknake@yourobserver.com Chris Stolz, cstolz@yourobserver.com Luis Trujillo, ltrujillo@yourobserver.com Director of Digital Sales / Kathleen O’Hara kohara@yourobserver.com Interactive Art Director / Caleb Stanton cstanton@yourobserver.com Digital Marketing Consultant / Brandon Steinert bsteinert@digitalobservermedia.com Digital Content Producer / Alex Mahadevan alexm@yourobserver.com Chief Financial Officer / Laura Keisacker lkeisacker@yourobserver.com Controller / Lisa Schwenk lschwenk@yourobserver.com Office Coordinator / Donna Condon dcondon@yourobserver.com

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Realities of a town center It’s uplifting to think of a town center for Longboat Key; to think of another new and fresh addition. Longboat Key needs that.

The new Publix store is a start, to be sure, but the island could use more to create a sense that rejuvenation and revitalization are underway. That’s why it’s appealing to envision the creation of a town center in the area outlined in yellow in the accompanying Google aerial photograph.

The buzz is palpable — reports and talk of a new community center, medical facilities, steak restaurant, perhaps a roundabout. It would be interesting to conduct a serious contest for the best town-center development ideas.

But alas, there is always reality.

When it comes to completing large-scale developments, there are always multiple components that must fall into place, not the least of which are these two crucial elements: ownership and capital.

Who owns the property?

Experience has shown when big development visions occur, it’s essential there be a single owner who controls the land and is committed to the vision. Just look at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, and the tangled spaghetti ball that exists because of the 200-plus unit owners. Or take St. Armands Circle. To persuade all of its many property owners to move in the same direction for the benefit of the Circle is the proverbial exercise of herding cats. There are always strays who refuse to go along.

In this case, along Bay Isles Road, the number of land owners is far fewer, but a challenge to be sure.

Count them: the town (i.e. taxpayers); Longboat Key Equities (the Signature Sotheby’s building, 540 Bay Isles Road); Corp Real Estate of Richmond, Va. (the SunTrust building, 510 Bay Isles Road); the U.S. government (Post Office); and investors Joe Wolfer (the undeveloped property); and Howard Rooks (the Plaza restaurant).

Oh, let’s not forget the nonprofit Longboat Library Inc., which holds a lease on its building next to Town Hall, nor Publix Super Market, which owns the Shoppes of Bay Isles, the renamed Avenue of the Flowers center.

Now put all of those owners in a room and ask them to play nicely — for the good of the town and its future. Right.

It’s never that easy.

Or put yourself in Wolfer or Rooks’ shoes.

If you owned their properties, you would act as any property owner would: in your self-interest, careful to protect the value of what you own or interested in selling at a fair price. In the case of the latter, Wolfer has been a ready seller, just not at the price a buyer so far has been willing to pay. As a longtime Longboater, he knows the value of Longboat dirt, has the wherewithal to hold and isn’t interested in a fire-sale price.

Rooks, a longtime real estate investor, is similar.

Next, put yourself in the shoes of a developer with a grand vision. To execute it, every smart developer knows every piece of the project must make economic sense.

You especially cannot overpay for the land; in fact, it always works best if you can buy at a discount.

Therein is one of the major obstacles to creating any type of town center — the price of the land.

Here’s another obstacle: the post office.

Pre-internet and pre-postal automation, Longboat Key’s post office made a lot of sense for the residents of Longboat Key. Not so much now. Postal volumes are declining and will continue to do so, making the post office property underutilized real estate.

And if truth be told, in its current size, it’s a luxury for Longboat Key residents.

But try downsizing, cutting back or taking away altogether Longboat’s beloved post office. We can already envision the emotion-charged, packed public hearing at Temple Beth Israel. Yikes.

Or what about swapping out or moving the four northern public tennis courts? Say the town offers a swap with Wolfer’s property, which likely would include an offer of

Post Office Tennis Ctr.

Office bldg.

Wolfer Property

LBK Library Town Hall Restaurant SunTrust

Publix

cash to Wolfer.

It wouldn’t be a precedent. The town did a land-density swap with Jerry Ansel in the early 1990s, resulting in what eventually became Joan M. Durante Park in exchange for rights to build the Promenade and two Water Club towers.

The point here is money. Taxpayer money. How much would be required for land swaps, re-routing roads, building roundabouts, installing proper drainage and elevations and building a community center?

We remember, of course, how Longboat Key residents gasped at the idea of committing taxpayers to $6 million for a proposed community center at Bayfront Park and Recreation Center. Voters slammed that door shut decisively.

Not to be a Negative Nabob here. An attractive town center in the area between Gulf of Mexico Drive and Bay Isles Road would be a great addition to Longboat Key. But when you look at the landscape — i.e. the properties and their owners — the thought of the Town Commission, town administration or ULI advisory panel spearheading the development of a town center is, well, a nice dream. Or would it be a nightmare?

Can you imagine? It brings to mind those

COST OF EDUCATION

In two months, Sarasota County voters will vote on a referendum to renew the one-mill public-school property tax. Over the next few weeks, we’ll provide information that may help you decide how to vote.

For instance, below is the cost per pupil and student-teacher ratios in Sarasota County:

Per-Pupil Pupil/Teacher

Cost Ratio 2009 $10,725 15.4 2010 $10,427 15.0 2011 $10,500 14.9 2012 $9,819 15.0 2013 $10,017 14.4

In contrast, the average per-pupil tuition in Catholic parish elementary schools is $5,387. The secondary school mean freshman tuition is $10,228 per pupil.

grueling public hearings over the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s proposed expansion a few years ago, with seven commissioners offering seven opinions on whether there should be two or three buildings and whether they should be three stories or five.

Suffice it to say, creating a new town center would require a lot of passion and a lot of capital. The passion of a visionary developer who, above all, believes in Longboat Key; who owned and/or controlled all of the land; and who has the patient capital to carry it to fruition.

He must be out there somewhere.

+ 911: Worth the price

One of the characteristics that always has distinguished Longboat Key from other communities is taxpayers’ willingness to pay the price for that extra level of public service. It’s important.

That’s why town commissioners should just cut short the study of whether to give up the town’s own 911 service in favor of adopting Sarasota County’s 911 service.

Don’t switch.

Sure, it probably makes economic sense.

It’s more costly to invest in the technology, provide the manpower and operate a system for 6,500 residents than it is to have one for 355,000 residents. Bulk is always less expensive than custom.

But this is what separates Longboat Key from most other places. Longboat residents place a high priority on public safety and first-class service, and they’re willing to pay for it. They choose to live on Longboat Key in part because of that. They want firefighters to be trained paramedics. They want police officers to respond to the snake in the toilet or the raccoon in the garage.

They want police cruisers tailing suspicious motorists cruising Gulf of Mexico Drive at 3 a.m.

Not to denigrate any of Longboat Key’s neighbors, but take a ride to Siesta Key. Or read the Cops Corners of the Longboat Observer and Pelican Press. There’s a difference. You can see it, and you can feel it. And to a large extent that difference is in the level of public service. It’s like the difference between a big corporation and a small, family business. The former is often cold and robotic; the latter typically caters far more to your individual needs.

When Longboaters call 911, they want the person on the other end of the call connected to the Key. It’s worth the price.

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

9A

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

CHECKOUT TIME

Call it the anti-Islandside reno- to the south of the existing tower vation-and-expansion plan. will change. The property will get a The Longboat Key Town Com- new lobby building, a new restaumission approved the the Long- rant/meeting space building and boat Key Hilton Beachfront Re- the new hotel tower, where all 85 sort’s renovation and expansion rooms will have views of the Gulf. plan at its regular The plan’s complimeeting Monday ance with town codes night (see Page 16A). drew praise from The process though, Planning and ZonOVERVIEW: The didn’t look anything ing Board members Longboat Key Hilton like the one that unDec. 17, when they Beachfront Resort is folded when the comunanimously recomseeking to close for mission approved the mended a site-plan 16 to 18 months to $400 million Longboat amendment to the renovate the resort Key Club plan with 23 commission with one and add 85 addidepartures from town condition: that the tional tourism units. codes after at least two applicant work with dozen public hearings Florida Department PLAYERS: Ocean — a decision that the of Transportation Properties Ltd., 12th Judicial Circuit (FDOT) officials to get Longboat Key Town Court overturned. a southbound decelCommission That’s because the eration lane to allow TIMELINE: This year $30 million plan that motorists to ease into Delray Beach-based the lane before makOcean Properties Ltd., ing a turn into the which also purchased hotel. Commissioners the Key Club in 2012, submitalso hope FDOT will considted in September doesn’t seek a er a crosswalk on Gulf of Mexico single departure from town code.

Drive in front of the hotel to ease The site-plan application sub- safety concerns. mitted Sept. 4 calls for redevelopThe Hilton is the first applicant ing existing Hilton buildings and to take advantage of 85 of the the 102 rooms that currently sit town’s pool of 250 tourism units on the site, while adding units in a that voters approved in 2008. new tower on the property.

The project has been in the As part of the project, the ex- works for more than four years. isting tower will be gutted and The resort first submitted an apremodeled, the pool area will be plication to the Planning & Zoning completely redone, and everything Department for 85 additional units

The Hilton project is the first to ask for additional tourism units.

BREAKDOWN

File photo

The Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort will close after the season for an 18-month revitalization project. in August 2009, the initial deadline the town set after voters approved the units.

The Hilton never completed that application.

But, in 2012, hotel officials be-

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The town lost 142 tourism units when the Longboat Key Holiday Inn closed in 2003.

In its place, construction began on the luxury, 29-unit Positano condominium, where sales have ranged from $2,025,000 to $4.05 million since they hit the market in 2007.

Many Key residents and businesses say the resort’s closing changed the island dramatically, resulting in fewer visitors to the island.

The resort was a higher-priced Holiday Inn with Gulf beach access. It had an indoor playroom and swimming pool, along with an upstairs bar area called the Crow’s Nest where people could watch their children in the pool while they drank a cocktail.

“We love Longboat Key, and our project estimate for this project now sits at $30 million. When you spend that type of money, you are going to get a first-class resort.” — Ocean Properties Vice President Andy Berger

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gan meeting again with town staff, citing improvements to the overall economy and hospitality industry.

Town staff also recommended approval of the site-plan amendment Dec. 17, noting it doesn’t ask for any departures from codes.

“When you think about it, we lost 142 hotel rooms in this same general area when the Holiday Inn closed,” said Senior Planner Steve Schield, at the Dec. 17 P&Z Board meeting. “We are kind of putting many of those units back in the same location where we lost them.”

The Hilton is currently accepting reservations through April 30. Ocean Properties could break ground in May and anticipates the resort will be closed for 18 months during construction.

Ocean Properties Vice President Andy Berger made it clear at the Dec. 17 meeting that his company is ready to get started.

“We are very excited about this project,” Berger said. “We love Longboat Key, and our project estimate for this project now sits at $30 million. When you spend that type of money, you are going to get a first-class resort.”

— Robin Hartill

More rooms

10A

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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Times, they are a changing. And that Management Plan, which hasn’t been upgoes for the town’s beach-management dated since 2008. plan and how Longboat Key’s coastline The town paid Jacksonville-based Olwill be maintained moving forward. sen Associates Inc. $121,800 to perform Longboaters can circle Jan. 21 on their the assessment. Kevin Bodge of Olsen Ascalendars to see how much that beach sociates is reviewing the town’s coastline plan is going to change and if and will make recommena beach project is happening dations to the town later this in 2014. At the Longboat Key month that include whether Town Commission’s 1 p.m. he believes the town needs OVERVIEW: At the Jan. 21 workshop, commisa sand project at this time Longboat Key Town sioners are expected to review and how big that project Commission’s 1 a report and hear recommenshould be if it needs to be p.m. Jan. 21 workdations on the future of the performed. shop, commissiontown’s beach plan and future A shoreline survey of ers are expected to beach projects. the entire Key’s coastline, review a report and Rising beach-project costs complete with digital aerial hear recommendapersuaded commissioners to photos, has also been pertions on the future nix a beach project that was formed, and results show of the town’s beach slated for 2012. that much of the Key’s plan and future In June 2012, Town Manager coastline doesn’t favor a beach projects movDave Bullock received direcbeach project. ing forward. tion from his seven commis“Much of the current PLAYERS: Town sioners to cancel the summer analysis and data gathering Manager Dave beach project that came with a would directly support an Bullock, Public price tag 40% more than town update to the town’s beach staff expected. That project Works Director Juan management plan,” Bullock cost was $13,290,525.50. wrote to commissioners.

Florensa, Longboat Bullock explained that the Public Works Director Key taxpayers demand to rebuild the NorthJuan Florensa said it makes TIMELINE: A reeast’s coastline after Supersense for the town “to get vamped beach storm Sandy caused wideanother fresh set of eyes project could be spread damage in October looking at its beach plan.” proposed this year.

2011, among other variables, The new study is the latled to the lack of bids and the est shift in the town’s beach one overpriced bid. project strategy.

Commissioners agreed with BullSince the 1980s, the town has paid ock’s plan to possibly re-bid a beach for its own beach projects through beach project this coming year that could also bonds approved through referendums to use approximately $8 million in federal obtain the quality of sand it wants while reimbursement dollars the town received not to waiting for federal dollars to fund last year from sand losses from Tropical beach projects.

Storm Debby.

Bullock noted that communities all Bullock will also bring to commission- around Longboat Key have access to feders a multi-year strategy for commission- eral dollars. Anna Maria Island is currenters for their review Jan. 21 that proposes ly undergoing a beach project using fedthe town be considered for federal money eral dollars, and the city of Sarasota will for future beach projects. use federal dollars for future Lido Beach That strategy will come, in part, from a projects. second opinion about its current Beach — Kurt Schultheis

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For Marty Rappaport and the St. ArDowntown Economic Development mands Business Improvement District, Coordinator Norman Gollub has become 2014 could be the year a growing problem partially responsible for overseeing this is finally addressed: restaurants. issue, and he’s encouraged both boards Rappaport has led the charge against to take a holistic approach to gauging what he believes to be a problematic whether a problem exists. Gollub has number of restaurants occubeen working toward idenpying the retail space on St. tifying an optimal balance Armands Circle. Rappaport of businesses in major areas points to a consultant’s 2005 in the city — including St. OVERVIEW: The St. report that said the growing Armands Circle and downArmands Circle presence of restaurants could town — and recommended Business Improveharm the district’s reputation the BID and DID fold their ment District and as a shopping destination. efforts into his.

Downtown ImproveNow, the focus on addressIn December, Gollub took ment District boards ing this subject has again bea public step toward trying have both expressed gun in earnest. Over the past to quantify whether there an interest in limitseveral months, the BID has was a problem within these ing the amount of discussed its options for mandistricts. Gollub invited retail space that aging the tenant mix on the residents to respond to a restaurants occupy Circle to reduce the number 16-question survey about in each district. of eating establishments going downtown business, includPLAYERS: The St. forward. ing questions regarding the Armands BID, the Since the summer, members tenant mix.

DID, Downtown Ecoof Sarasota’s Downtown ImIn the first months of 2014, nomic Development provement District board have the city will hire a consultant claimed a similar problem exCoordinator Norman to help complete Gollub’s ists downtown. In October, a study regarding the retail Gollub joint meeting of the BID and mix in St. Armands Circle TIMELINE: A report DID saw both groups agree and downtown. That study on the city’s tenant that some action needed to be should be completed — with mix should be finaltaken, and that a consultant recommendations for imized by March or should be brought in to evaluplementing its findings — in April ate whether there really were March or April, Gollub said. too many restaurants downFor all parties involved, town. Both groups agreed it the matter is particularly was a pressing issue. urgent this year, because a “If downtown or St. Armands major source of competiturns into a giant food court, tion in the form of The Mall they’re going to lose their viat University Town Center is brancy,” Rappaport said. scheduled to open in OctoCity staff members have ber. pointed out some of the chal“Understanding the shoplenges the two boards face. Propertyping habits and preferences of the rights laws make it difficult to place community is an important first restrictions on property owners, and the step to downtown planning, especially as general public would have to get behind regional competition continues to grow,” any restaurant-reduction efforts if the Gollub said.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

2014 ISSUES TO WATCH

OVERVIEW: The Longboat Key Town Commission announced in November it did not want a cellular tower. Town staff and the town attorney are now working to craft an ordinance that states the town does not want a tower with language that will not cause legal issues and open up the town to a lawsuit.

PLAYERS: Longboat Key Town Commission, Town Manager Dave Bullock, Key residents TIMELINE: The commission is expected to review ordinance language sometime this year that urges for telecommunications fixes that don’t include a cellular tower.

The cities of Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach are preparing to install cellular towers in their Anna Maria Island towns in 2014 to enhance cellular communications.

But to the south, the town of Longboat Key announced in 2013 it will not follow with a tower on its barrier island.

In November, the Longboat Key Town Commission declared it does not want a tower and expects applicants to come forward with an alternative technology to enhance communications on the Key. Co m m i s s i o n e r s want staff and the town attorney to craft an ordinance that says they don’t want a tower without starting a legal nightmare among cellular carriers who might question the legality of such an ordinance.

At the commission’s Nov. 13 regular workshop, during which the commission could not vote, all seven commissioners said they prefer never to see a cellular tower on the island. Five out of seven commissioners directed staff to come back to them at a later time

with a revised ordinance that states a tower is not allowed on the Key unless there’s no other way to improve telecommunications.

It’s the first time the commission has reached a consensus or had such a discussion in 10 years of debates about telecommunications.

“We are far enough along in the process that the cell tower is no longer a solution,” said Commissioner Pat Zunz Nov. 13.

Commissioners Phill Younger and Jack Duncan agreed, urging other commissioners to make their opinions known through a show of hands.

Mayor Jim Brown called for the consensus.

“Why are we playing around with this for the last 10 years or so?” Brown asked Nov. 13. “I don’t want a tower. I don’t know why we can’t just put language in there saying that.”

Brown and Commissioners Terry Gans, Duncan, Younger and Zunz raised their hands in agreement.

Only Vice Mayor David Brenner and Commissioner Lynn Larson did not raise their hands. But they,

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too, agreed they would rather not see a tower on the Key. “The only problem I see with this is if we go on record saying, ‘No tower,’ I’m concerned about the legality of saying we are outlawing cell towers,” Larson said at the workshop.

Gans also expressed concerns.

“I don’t want a cell tower,” he said. “But I want residents and visitors to be able to communicate island-wide.”

Acting Town Attorney David Persson has asked for time to review the legality of such a statement in an ordinance.

Town Manager Dave Bullock is also addressing the legality of an ordinance that would address telecommunications without a tower. He will utilize the help of a consultant and report his findings back to the commission later this year.

Staff will draft an ordinance that includes a hierarchy urging applicants to place antennae on existing Key buildings and structures or use technology such as Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) to improve reception. Commissioners want to eliminate camouflage towers from the list.

At the November workshop, Pers-

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son called the commission’s consensus “a watershed moment for the town.”

“For the first time, there’s a clear direction as to what this town wants and what it wants to do on this issue, so thank you,” he said.

The decision was made after The Longboat Island Chapel membership voted 52-16 in April in favor of letting a cellular-tower lease on its property expire rather than approve a three-year extension for a 150-foot tower on its property.

Jim Eatrides, owner of Alpha Omega Communications LLC, and Kevin Barile, a project partner with Ridan Industries LLC, had been working on placing a tower on the north end of the Key for more than four years to bridge a cellular-coverage gap on the north end.

For those residents who lived near the proposed tower, though, the chapel membership’s decision was a victory.

“The vote is a lovely thing,” said Doreen Erickson in April, who, along with her husband, Gus Sclafani, has opposed a tower from the start. “No one wants a tower near their home, where they work or where they worship.”

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The Town Commission will review ordinance language this year that states the town is not interested in cellular towers as a reception fix.

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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COPS CORNER LONGBOAT

DEC. 17 CAR WASH CONFUSION 12:40 p.m. — 400 block of GMD. Rescue. Gas station employees had trouble communicating with a 75-yearold man but eventually figured out he wanted a car wash.

The man appeared confused and had trouble putting his car in park when employees went to help him.

Police learned the man is being treated for dementia and completed a report for medical review. The man’s son drove him home.

DEC. 18 GO FISH 6:46 p.m. — 700 block of Penfield St. Suspicious Circumstance. A woman saw a man driving a car without its lights on near unoccupied residences. The man told her he is a commercial fisherman who lives on the Key and was looking for mullet splashes. The woman didn’t believe him and wrote down his license plate number.

Police traced the vehicle to a nearby home. They did not receive an answer at the door.

DEC. 19 IOWANNA GO HOME 9:41 p.m. — 3700 block of GMD. Disturbance. A man pointed out a woman on a bicycle to police and said she had gotten into an argument with her family. The woman told police she doesn’t like it here and wants to go back to Iowa. Her brother, who was spending the night at her home, said the argument was about her refusal to take her medication. The woman told police she doesn’t like the medication and it’s not the same kind she took in Iowa.

DEC. 20 OPEN-DOOR POLICY 10:37 p.m. — 500 block of Bay Isles Road. Security Check. Police found the door of Longboat Key Town Hall unlocked during a security check.

DO THE TWIST 11:55 a.m. — 2100 block of GMD. Welfare Check. A woman was twisting side-to-side while walking, then lay down on a bench. Police asked to speak to her and attempted to ask her if she needed medical help, but she said she didn’t want to continue the conversation and said she was going to the library and a drug store.

DEC. 27 PROBATION PROBLEMS 5:43 p.m. — 500 block of Ranger Lane. Assist Other Agency. A probation officer asked police to arrest a man for violating his probation terms that prohibit him from being drunk. Police had checked on the man earlier that day, after his roommate said he had been drinking alcohol for six days straight and hadn’t been out of his room during that period. The man said he had a cold and had had a drink earlier that day and the day before. Police returned and arrested him.

DEC. 31 CAPTURE THE FLAGS 9:55 a.m. — 6700 block of GMD. Larceny. A property manager reported that two U.S. flags were stolen from the condominium. Police were unable to find any witnesses or evidence.

DEC. 28 BOARD MEETING 4:35 p.m. — 500 block of Bay Isles Road. Code Enforcement. A town employee called police about three men who were attempting to skateboard at Town Hall. The men had cameras set up in preparation for videoing their stunts. They left after police verbally warned them.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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CRIME STATS

by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor

by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor

Commission approves Hilton Colony vandalism cited for crime hike Beachfront Resort project The Longboat Key Hilton will undergo a $30 million expansion and renovation project that will begin after the season and open in 2015.

It’s official.

The Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort will undergo a major facelift and renovation project this summer and reopen in fall 2015.

The Longboat Key Town Commission approved the project at its Monday night regular meeting. The Hilton will also attain 85 of the town’s 250 tourism unit pool as part of the $30 million renovation and expansion project.

The six commissioners in attendance voted to approve the project. Mayor Jim Brown was ill and unable to attend the meeting.

Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd., owner of the Hilton and the Resort at Longboat Key Club, submitted a site-plan application in September for its long-anticipated project.

Commissioners asked that the project include a deceleration lane for southbound motorists entering the Hilton off Gulf of Mexico Drive and also recommended a crosswalk on Gulf of Mexico Drive.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) must approve both recommendations.

The Hilton is the first applicant to take advantage of the townwide 250 tourism-unit pool that’s been waiting for applicants to seek additional units since 2008.

The site-plan application submitted Sept. 4 calls for redeveloping existing Hilton buildings and the 102 rooms that currently sit on the site, while also acquiring 85 of the town’s additional tourism units that would be used for a new tower on the property.

The application states: “The Longboat Key hotel must be completely redeveloped and modernized to attract the affluent, upscale visitors who historically supported the local economy of Longboat Key.” Coral Gables architect James Wurst, whose firm designed the original hotel, called the existing hotel and future hotel “unique.”

“You won’t see another hotel like this anywhere in the world,” Wurst said. “It’s a beautiful property we want to update for the future.”

The project will begin after season and take 18 months to complete.

Town Manager Dave Bullock and town planning staff

worked with Hilton project engineers as needed throughout the summer to help move the process along. The application doesn’t require any departures from town codes.

Earlier this year, the commission approved an ordinance that modifies the outline development process (ODP) that distributes the pool of 250 tourism units. And, in May, Planning and Zoning Board members reviewed code and Comprehensive Plan changes that allowed the Hilton to seek a fifth floor and an additional 15 feet in height as part of its project through the site-plan process.

Also at the meeting, commissioners learned the town missed a Dec. 31 deadline imposed by the Sarasota County Elections Office to provide ballot language for its March election on a referendum question to ask voters to eliminate the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA).

The ZBA has had trouble holding meetings for months because not enough of its members are in town. The commission will discuss the issue and how to proceed at its Jan. 21 regular workshop.

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Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire 11:26 p.m. Jan. 3 at Sea Gate Club condominium, 2524 Gulf of Mexico Drive after a resident pulled the fire alarm.

Firefighters determined the fire was contained to an air/ heating system within a unit on the 12th floor. Residents waited in the building’s community room until personnel declared the building safe.

Longboat Key Fire Rescue announced this week it will offer home inspections to residents.

The inspections will analyze homes and identify hazards with an inspection report that will list recommendations.

Call 316-1944 for more information. the structure of the department and gave promotions to experienced officers.

“The 2013 calendar year has been challenging and yet productive,” Cumming wrote. “We’ve made important progress this year building what will be the foundation for future improvements.”

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Longboat Key Police Chief Pete Cumming released crime statistics for 2013 revealing that vandalism and trespassing offenses are up 54% and 32% respectively compared with a year ago. In the report released Jan. 2 to Town Manager Dave Bullock, Cumming attributes the increase in offenses to the condition of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort.

Cumming also reported that traffic stops are up 27.5% in 2013 compared with a year ago. He credits the August installation of the Key’s license plate recognition cameras for the increase in traffic stops. There were 1,536 traffic stops in 2013 compared with 1,204 traffic stops in 2012.

The department has also worked with the Planning, Zoning and Building Department to create the position of a codeenforcement officer who will be supervised by the police department.

“This reorganization will minimize duplication addressing code violation and provide a more efficient level of service,” said Cumming in the report.

In 2013, Cumming also noted his department cross-trained patrol officers to supplement marine patrol officer duties through an in-house program, added another police boat and reorganized

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Approved as is Approved with noted changes Need updated proof sent

Courtesy photo

The six socialized feral kittens are available for adoption to loving owners who are willing to keep them indoors or in a caged lanai.

Signature

Thank You!

A Key couple socialized a litter of young felines that are now ready for adoption.

Walter and Grace Hackett have nine feline lives at their home.

That’s because in addition to the three cats they own, they’re currently caring for six socialized feral kittens that Grace rescued earlier this year.

Now, the kittens love to play and be petted, and the Hacketts hope other loving households will adopt them.

Grace Hackett first noticed a skinny gray cat in March, while jogging on Longboat Key, that reminded her of her old cat, Sister, who liked to eat corn on the cob.

From friends, she learned about the Animal Rescue Coalition (ARC), which offers trap-neuter-return programs. She borrowed a trap in hopes of catching the cat, whom she nicknamed “Mama Grey.”

She caught the cat once and rushed home to get a towel, but when she returned, someone had released the cat, probably thinking she was caught in a trap meant for a raccoon.

Throughout the spring and summer, Hackett continued setting out the trap but only caught opossums and raccoons before eventually trapping a few tabby cats.

Mama Grey finally surfaced with six kittens in a neighbor’s backyard in the fall.

With help from Mimi’s Rescue founder Emily Aftandilian, Hackett was able to capture five of the six kittens and begin the process of socializing them. She also captured Mama Grey and took her to a veterinarian to be spayed.

The Hacketts purchased a cage, meant for a dog, and started taking the kittens outside on field trips to visit Mama Grey.

Three weeks into the socialization process, a neighbor spotted Mama Grey with a sixth kitten.

Hackett released the five kittens onto her lanai, and Mama Grey came to the front door. Hackett scolded the cat for not bringing the sixth kitten and told her she would leave the lanai door open all night.

Mama Grey didn’t disappoint: The kitten was waiting for Hackett at 6:15 a.m. the next day.

At press time, the kittens were approximately 14 weeks old and available for adoption, preferably in pairs. Hackett thinks that they’re bound to be special, given Mama Grey’s personality.

To inquire about adopting the kittens, email Hackett at graceohack@comcast. net. If you have questions or concerns about other animals in need of help, contact the Animal Rescue Coalition, animalrescuecoalition.org, for local resources.

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Six rescued kittens seek loving homes

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Sara Bay…”Golf is our passion… Is it yours?”

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

in memoriam

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor

Friends, family honor Claire Hunter at service More than 75 people attended a memorial service and witness to the resurrection for longtime Longboat Observer co-owner Claire Hunter, who died Dec. 15.

She was 84.

Hunter married her husband, Ralph, shortly after he founded the newspaper in 1978. The couple owned and operated the Longboat Observer together for the next 17 years.

The service took place Dec. 28, at Christ Church of Longboat Key, Presbyterian.

Tables of Hunter family pictures and Longboat Observer memorabilia that included former articles and Longboat Observer playing cards (the Hunters were avid bridge players) greeted attendees as they entered the church.

During the memorial service, the Rev. Bruce Porter called Hunter “a modest,

sweet woman whose smile could light up a room.

“We give thanksgiving for her love of Longboat Key and the community,” Porter said.

Porter noted that Ralph Hunter chose the first reading for the service from the New Testament book 1 Corinthians, which says: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

Although the Bible passage, Porter said, is meant to discuss spiritual love, he said it also was a testament to Claire and Ralph Hunters’ love.

“The Hunters were a team who co-founded a paper on this Key and had a deep love and respect for each other,” Porter said.

Guests shared memories of Hunter at a reception in the church fellowship hall after the service.

OUR TOWN

Longboat Observer founder Ralph Hunter smiles as he shares memories of his wife, Claire.

Photos by Kurt Schultheis

Observer Media Group Chairman David Beliles, center, with retired Longboat Observer Senior Editor Dora Walters and retired Senior Advertising Executive Wendi Simons Left: Photos, old newspapers and Longboat Observer memorabilia tell the story of Claire Hunter’s life at the Dec. 28 service.

+ Beverly Peterman turns the page on her Key life

>> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A

After 18 years on Longboat Key, Beverly Peterman and her husband, Ira, are starting a new chapter: They’re moving back to Connecticut to be near family.

The couple has been active in many local organizations, especially at Temple Beth Israel. Beverly was on the board of the Education Center of Longboat Key and Sarasota Ballet and started a monthly book club on the Key. To honor her, the book club held a special lunch Tuesday, Dec. 14. Members discussed Herman Koch’s “The Dinner” over lunch at Café L’Europe on St. Armands Circle.

“We plan to continue what Kelsey Grau Beverly started,” said Susan Beverly Peterman, seated, center, celebrates with Landau, a member of the her book club. book club.

+ Calling all angels at Frosty Frolic Send me an angel? How about six?

Linda Weber and Jean Zakovec sparkled in angel costumes at last month’s Frosty Frolic, earning them a spot in our “Spirit of the Season” contest. But they weren’t the only angelic attendees at the event.

They were part of a larger group that also included Isabella Paspa, Cindy Dasta, Jean Tarsy and Mary Lou Decker, each who looked as if she were sent from heaven at the holiday celebration.

Courtesy photo

Isabella Paspa, Linda Weber, Cindy Dasta, Jean Tarsy, Jean Zakovec and Mary Lou Decker

All Angels by the Sea The Episcopal Church on Longboat Key

563 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key

Visitors & Residents Welcome

8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.

The Rev. David L. Danner, D. Min., Rector

St. Mary, Star of the Sea,

Communion & Healing Service 9:30 a.m.

An InterfAIth CommunIty ChurCh founded In 1956

CATHOLIC CHURCH Welcomes You to Mass

Sunday Worship 10 a.m.

The Rev. Dr. Vincent Carroll Senior Minister

WINTER MASS SCHEDULE

Saturday: 4:00 PM & 6:00 PM Sunday: 8:00 AM, 9:30 AM & 11:30 AM

6200 Gulf of Mexico Drive • Longboat Key, Florida 34228 Telephone: 383-6491 • web: www.longboatislandchapel.org The Lord’s Warehouse

THRIFT SHOP

4280 Gulf of Mexico Drive Longboat Key, FL 34228 383-1255

open Mon., Wed. and Sat. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Temple Beth Israel

in

A Center of Jewish Life and Learning in the Sarasota Area Share Shabbat and more: Friday Evening, 8:00 pm

U

s!

Temple Beth Sholom 941.955.8121

Last Friday of the Month, 5:30 pm Saturday Morning, 10:00 am

Please visit our Judaica Shop

567 Bay Isles Road • Longboat Key, FL

info@templebethsholom.com www.templebethsholomfl.org 1050 S. Tuttle Ave. Sarasota, FL 34237

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Confessions before all weekend Masses Msgr. Gerard Finegan, Pastor

Join us at TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM Sarasota-Manatee’s Conservative Synagogue

Jo

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Visitors Welcome

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Website: www.AllAngelsLBK.org

Sunday Services

130218

All are welcome. Please join us in worship!

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383-8161

The Rev. Dr. Taylor Hill

A WARM WELCOME AWAITS YOU

ONGOING PROGRAMS DAILY MORNING MINYAN Sunday-Friday, 8am MINYAN BREAKFAST Wednesdays, 9am SHABBAT SERVICES Fridays, 6:30pm Saturdays, 9am JUDAICA SHOP, Monday-Thursday, 10am-3pm IDELSON ADULT LIBRARY Monday-Thursday,10am-3pm

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

OVER $61 MILLION SOLD IN 2013 With career sales volume in excess of $1 billion, Roger has been named: #1 Realtor on Longboat Key and Bird Key in 2013, 2012, 2010 & 2008 #1 Realtor for all of Sarasota in 2013, 2012, 2010 & 2008 #1 Single Coldwell Banker agent in all of Florida in 2013, 2012, 2010 & 2008

ROGER SELLS BIRD KEY

$5,495,000

4 bedrooms, 4½ baths

New construction. Exquisite, bay front home built by Murray Homes. More than 5,500 square feet of indoor space includes spacious en-suite bedrooms, office, media room, kitchen/family room, garages for three cars and more.

GRAND BAY GrandBay263.com Gulf to Bay! 2BR/2½BA plus den upgraded Cayman plan is a statement of luxury waterfront living. Furnished. $1,575,000 GrandBay166.com Beautifully updated 3R/3.5BA Antigua features soaring views and upgraded kitchen with newer appliances. Includes 2 secure parking spaces. $1,395,000 GrandBay121.com Rarely-available 3BR/3.5BA Antigua in Building I offers panoramic views from at every turn, wraparound terrace and eat-in kitchen. $1,200,000 GrandBay324.com Enjoy views of Sarasota’s bay, downtown and Moorings Marina in this 3BR/3½BA Cayman in Building III. $999,000 GrandBay542.com 2BR/2BA, 4th floor, Bimini, custom details and views of the bay, golf course and downtown. Furnished. $679,000

PELICAN HARBOUR PelicanHarbourmh2.com Villa on the Beach! Rarely available 2BR beachfront Manor Home. Recent upgrades.

Enjoy the beach in your backyard. $1,495,000

THE PIERRE ThePierre602.com Enjoy sunsets from this 3BR/3BA Gulf front retreat with views of the beach, bay and Islandside golf course. $1,149,000

629RountreeDrive.com

$1,795,000

3 bedrooms, 3 baths

Boater’s paradise on deep sailboat water, with a newer dock and seawall. This spacious custom home offers formal living and dining rooms, an open kitchen overlooking the family room and breakfast nook. Deeded beach access.

LA FIRENZA

BIRD KEY

HAWKS HARBOR

398BobWhiteDrive.com Charming 4BR/3BA waterfront home offers southern views and recent updates. Sailboat water, a newer dock and lift. $1,195,000

AQUARIUS

LaFirenzas301.com Direct Gulf front, southern exposure 4,800+ sf penthouse with designer details. Extended wraparound terrace. 3 car garage. $4,995,000

COREY'S LANDING 3436MistletoeLane.com Light and open 4BR/4BA home situated directly on Sarasota’s bayfront, 2-car garage, boat dock and lift. $1,349,000

BUTTONWOOD HARBOR

AquariusClub402.com Wonderful 2BR/2BA beach getaway. You will adore Gulf sunsets from the terrace. $575,000 AquariusClub602.com Direct Gulf front 2BR/2BA 6th-floor residence abounds in far-reaching beach vistas. $649,000

COUNTRY CLUB SHORES 1015BogeyLane.com Stunning 4BR/5½BA plus den with views down the canal out to the bay. Upgraded finishes and designer features. $1,695,000 511BowspritLane.com Custom-built, newer 4BR/3.5BA waterfront home situated on an oversized lot. Offering a light and open layout, wonderful views, dock, lift and newer seawall. $1,095,000

L'AMBIANCE

FourWinslowPlace.com Light and open 3BR/2BA bay front home in this secluded community. Ideally located on deep bay water. $1,095,000

LambianceA301.com Panoramic Gulf views, marble and hardwood flooring, 4BR/4BA + bonus room. Custom LONGBOAT BEACHCOMBER II built-ins, hurricane shutters. $2,495,000 Lambiancel307.com LongboatBeachcomber11.com Building II, Areca plan, wonderful sunsets Walk out to the beach. 2BR/2BA ideal retreat views, expansive wraparound terrace. All new or rental. Furnished. $695,000 windows and sliders. $1,549,000

EMERALD POINTE EmeraldPointeSouth16.com Secluded 3BR/3½BA villa. 2-car garage.

Access to Bay Isles Beach Club. $699,000

www.rogersmarketupdate.com

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PENDING

QUEENS HARBOUR

7038HawksHarborCircle.com The epitome of luxury living rests in this private island. Nestled among lush landscape, this property offers almost two acres situated on the open bay. $1,990,000

MARINA TOWER MarinaTower304.com Wonderfully upgraded 3BR + media room/ 3½BA. Sweeping city and bay views. Two master suites. Two parking spaces. $1,499,000

PENDING

LONGBOAT BAYSIDE 7100LongboatDriveEast.com Bayfront Rustic Luxe! Upgraded 4BR/3BA home on deep-water dockage with multiple lifts offers two separate homes. $1,395,000

SEAPLACE Seaplaceg4109.com Walk out to the white powdery sands of the Gulf from this 2BR retreat. Recently updated.

One covered parking space. $449,000

3613FairOaksPlace.com 2BR+den/2BA, open pool deck, lake views.

2-car garage. Private beach access. $899,000

Roger has listed and sold more than $1 billion in local property.

ROGER C. PETTINGELL

LUXURY WATERFRONT SPECIALIST #1 SARASOTA REALTOR 2013, 2012, 2010, 2008

941.387.1840 roger@longboatrealestate.com

941.586.6668

www.longboatrealestate.com

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

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ROGER SELLS LONGBOAT KEY ESTATES

DEDICATED TO LUXURY ESTATES M OWNED AND OPERATED BY NRT, LLC

Neighborhood B U S I N E S S | C L A S S I F I E D S | G A M E S | K E Y L I F E | R E A L E S TAT E | S P O RT S | T R AV E L | W E AT H E R

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

DOWNTON FUN

REAL ESTATE

See this week’s standout local weather photo.

Cafe L’Europe hosts opulent dinner with ‘Downton Abbey’ theme.

PAGE 6B

Country Club Shores home sells for $760,000.

PAGES 8-10B

HOT LIST

WEATHER

PAGE 12B

by Robin Hartill | News Editor

SAVE THE DATES ’Tis the season — the social season, that is.

January through April is peak season on Longboat Key — the time of year when tourists, snowbirds and year-round residents converge at once on the island to flee the snowstorms up north to party in paradise.

Our calendars are getting fuller by the day for the 2014 winter/spring season.

Here, we pick 10 can’t-miss events.

Cheers to an eventful 2014.

GO FOR THE CURE GAMES DAY When: 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29 Where: Longboat Key Club Harbourside Dining Room, 3100 Harbourside Drive Put your game faces on for this year’s Game Day, which benefits Breast Health Sarasota Inc. The event features a buffet brunch and an afternoon of bridge, mahjong, canasta, gin, poker, Scrabble or whatever game you choose. The event is open to both men and women and Key Club members and nonmembers.

Last year’s Games Day showed it pays to play: The event raised more than $6,000 for breast-cancer treatment.

Cost is $40 to enter and $20 for brunch.

For information, contact Marion Levine, harbourkey@aol.com or Lorraine Kaplan, lorraineckaplan@aol.com.

TASTE OF THE KEYS AND FASHION SHOW

When: 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5 Where: Longboat Key Club Harbourside Dining Room, 3100 Harbourside Drive We’re not sure what will add more spice to this event: the tastings from 17 island restaurants plus wine and soft drinks attendees will savor — or the 12 Longboat Key “celebrities” who will grace the runway wearing fashions from Main Street Traders.

The Longboat Key Garden Club organizes the event to raise money for environmental scholarships for college students, grants, educational programs and camp scholarships for children.

Cost is $50, which is tax deductible.

Tickets are available at Design 2000, Exit Art in the Centre Shops and at the Chart House, Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Traders in Sarasota, and at the Harbourside Dining Room the night of the event.

We’re looking forward to an eventful season. Here, we choose our top 10 picks for the winter/spring season.

VALENTINE’S DAY IN LAS VEGAS When: 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 Where: Longboat Key Club Harbourside Dining Room, 3100 Harbourside Drive The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key will roll the dice with a new theme for its annual Valentine’s Day celebration. This year’s event will feature dinner, dancing and casino games.

If you hit the jackpot, you could win two grand prizes for long weekends for two to Las Vegas or the third prize of a Universal Orlando experience. Lazy Lobster will offer a raffle prize of dinner for 12.

Not the gambling type? This event is still a safe bet because it benefits local youths in need.

Tickets are $95.

Sylvia and Bob Farrington took a spin around the dance floor at the 2013 Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key Valentine’s Day Ball.

38TH ANNUAL HOME & GARDEN TOUR When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 1 Where: Various homes throughout the Key Cost: $25 The Longboat Key Garden Club is putting the finishing touches on this year’s Home & Garden Tour; as usual, this year’s event will spotlight unique residences on the Key. This year’s homes will include a “green” home in Emerald Harbor, a cottage in the Longbeach Village, a renovated home in Hideaway Bay and one or two Country Club Shores homes.

The event raises money for Garden Club programs and scholarships.

Cheryl Loeffler walks the runway at last year’s Taste of the Keys and Fashion Show.

SEE MORE EVENTS ON PAGE 2B

Discriminating Tastes Require Uncompromising Results You Expect More …

ERIC TEOH

MICHAEL RENICK

941-735-2199 Eric@TeamRenick.com

FOR BUYERS & SELLERS Serving Anna Maria Island • Bird Key • Bradenton • Bradenton Beach • Holmes Beach Lido Key • Longboat Key • Sarasota • St. Armands • Siesta Key

www.TeamRenick.com

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Like us on facebook.com/TeamRenick

941-400-8735 Mike@TeamRenick.com

2B

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

Lynne Koy

EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B FIFTH ANNUAL COMMUNITY JURIED EXHIBITION When: Saturday, March 1, through Wednesday, March 27 Where: Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art & Design, 6960 Longboat Drive S.

presents her

u

PREMIER COLLECTIONu

Check out work by local artists at the Fifth Annual Community Juried Exhibition at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art & Design.

The exhibition is open to all artists in the region. Prize monies will be awarded for Best in Show and first, second and third places for 2-D and 3-D artwork and photography. For detailed requirements, call 383-2345 or email lbkca@ ringling.edu.

D SOL

LONGBOAT KEY New Construction! 4 BD/5.5BA/5CG gated residence situated on over 1 acre of Gulf front property! Listed by Michael Saunders/Sold by Lynne Koy. $6,800,000

MASQUERADE: MARDI GRAS ST. ARMANDS STYLE

G

DIN

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LYNCHES PUB & GRUB ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATION When: Friday, March 14 through Monday, March 17 Where: Lynches Pub & Grub, 19B N. Blvd. of the Presidents, St. Armands Circle The luck of the Irish shines every year at Lynches Pub & Grub, and, this year, owners Chris and Ethna Lynch plan on four days o’festivities.

This year’s celebration is still in the planning stages, but the Lynches hope to get other Circle businesses involved in the celebration, according to Ethna Lynch.

Last year’s festivities drew more than 1,000 people and included bagpipers, step dancers and plenty of pints of green beer.

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 4 Where: St. Armands Circle The Fat Tuesday fun begins with a Mardi Gras “strut” around the Circle, lead by the Dixieland band Joe Bruno’s New Orleans Hot Dogs, the Mardi Gras king, St. Armands “celebrities” and the Sailor Circus.

Entertainment will continue on the Circle throughout the evening, with face painting, tarot card readers, palm readers, jugglers, musicians and a healthy helping of restaurant specials.

EN PROVENCE - 3BR/3BA condominium residence on the beach is an enchanted seaside hideaway with sweeping Gulf front views $3,495,000 G

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PROMENADE - Rarely available ‘E’ floor plan - Gulf and City views! Listed by R. Pettingell/Under contract $1,495,000

by L.Koy

BIRD KEY - Sprawling 3312 sq. ft. pool home on a large corner lot. 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths. $725,000

REPORT CARD FOR 2013: 37.5 MILLION IN SALES VOLUME THANK YOU TO MY LOYAL CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT! D

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BEACHES - Stunning full Gulf views!

Remodeled with updates galore! Fully furnished 2BR/2BA condo. $629,250

D

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PLAYERS CLUB - 2BR/2BA fully furnished LIDO REGENCY - 5th floor 2BR/2BA condo with stunning Southwest views of condo right on Lido beach, with direct the Gulf of Mexico! $562,000 Gulf views! Secure building. $549,000

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SUTTON PLACE - Mid-Key 2BR/2BA LONGBOAT HARBOUR - Canal front condo with view of Intracoastal and 2BR/2BA ground floor end-unit Sarasota Bay! $279,500 with updates galore! $239,000

lkoy@coldwellbanker.com

www.lynnekoy.com

Broker/Associate, CRB, CRS, GRI Previews International Property Specialist, Legends Society

DEDICATED TO LUXURY REAL ESTATE SM

Follow me on Facebook / Twitter LinkedIn / YouTube

You can search Lynne’s website in 13 languages – including English.

127064

INVOLVED CITIZEN: Sarasota Opera, SPARCC, Make-a-Wish, Meals on Wheels, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, Breast Cancer Awareness

Owned and operated by NRT, LLC

The Sarasota Open is now in its seventh year as top tennis players will battle for $100,000 in prize money.

This year’s tournament will bring several new additions.

The Paragon Art Festival will take place during finals weekend April 19 and April 20. The high-end festival is expected to draw an additional 10,000 to 20,000 patrons, according to the tournament website, sarasotaopen.org.

Also new this year is an Ultra VIP Area Experience for attendees and musical bands and entertainment throughout the event.

For tickets, call 809-8996.

Save Our Seabirds’ third annual bash benefits the birds.

The City Island bird-rescue facility treats approximately 2,000 birds per year, and the Sunset Soiree has become a major fundraiser for its efforts.

The event includes a catered buffet, entertainment, drinks and silent auction. Dress is sophisticated Sarasota casual.

Cost is $75. RSVP by March 14 by calling Save Our Seabirds at 388-3010.

When: Saturday, April 19 Where: Mote Marine Aquarium, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway

At The Chart House on Longboat Key

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

When: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 28 Where: Save Our Seabirds, 1708 Ken Thompson Parkway

MOTE PARTY ON THE PASS

941.387.1803

Tour Lynne’s properties at

When: Saturday, April 12, through Sunday, April 20 Where: Resort at Longboat Key Club’s Tennis Gardens, 3100 Harbourside Drive

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PEN

SOL

SEAPLACE - Fabulous Direct Gulf Views! 2 BR/2BA first floor walkout condominium. $375,000

SARASOTA OPEN

SAVE OUR SEABIRDS SUNSET SOIREE

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SEAPLACE – Expansive Gulf and sunset PLAYERS CLUB - Experience paradise PRIVATEER NORTH - 2BR/2BA views! 2BR/2BA condo with gorgeous with partial Gulf views from this condominium with partial gulf views $415,000 in secure entry building. $399,000 furnishings included. $501,000 2BR/2BA condominium.

PEN

Sophia Ashley, Madison Dworet and Isaac Ashley couldn’t mask their excitement at last year’s St. Armands Circle Mardi Gras festivities.

Isabelle Duke during last year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Lynches Pub & Grub.

This event features food, wine and beer stations by the Sarasota-Manatee Originals and live and silent auctions to benefit Mote’s ongoing care and reha- Susan and Cliff Scholz, Susan and Tim Clarke and bilitation for sick and injured Mickey Callenen attended last year’s Party on the Pass. marine life. Tickets are $85.

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

3B

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Laurel Oak Estates - Lake Front Custom built 4,300 SF home with 3 bedrooms and a possible 4th bedroom in the attached guest house with full bath. Pool & spa area with Annual $2,900 Per Mo. summer kitchen looks out to long lake and Seasonal $4,700 Per Mo. lush golf course views.$1,175,000

Seaplace - Longboat Key Completely renovated, fully furnished rental. Largest two bedroom, two bath ground floor apartment in a beachfront building.

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Water Club I - Pied-á-Terre Have a slice of paradise! Fully turnkey furnished 1BR/1.5BA apartment in a great location with easy access to the beach and amenities ready for immediate enjoyment, a rare opportunity! $599,900

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Marina Tower - Downtown Sarasota Exciting city living in this gorgeous townhome. 3,890 square feet with 3BR/3.5BA and dramatic interiors and views. Two garage parking spaces and excellent amenities. $1,499,000

On the Gulf - Longboat Key Gated privacy on 1.69 acres directly on the Gulf of Mexico.

10,000SF, 7BR/6.5BA with attached guest wing, plus 5,000 air-conditioned SF of play and storage area. $9,400,000

Eagles Point - The Landings Corner Penthouse apartment with unobstructed water views from every window. Beautifully furnished with 3 bedrooms, glassed-in patio and 10ft ceilings.

2 valuable parking spaces included. $799,000

Whispering Sands - Siesta Key Amazing Sunsets from this Southwest corner 2BR/2BA beach front residence completely renovated directly on one of Siesta Key’s most unique beaches. $745,000

Lido Regency - Bay and City Views Choice south corner two bedroom two bath apartment on the 10th floor with tons of space, oak wood floors, and spectacular Sarasota Bay and city views! $499,000

Grand Bay II Stunning Views Sunrises and sunsets from this beautifully furnished two bedroom plus den apartment at Grand Bay with gorgeous water views. Includes two valuable garage spaces. Shows like a model. $1,299,000

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La Bellasara - Best Downtown Views Completely turnkey furnished 8th floor residence with 3 full bedrooms + study, 12 foot ceilings, summer kitchen and private garage. $2,695,000

DING Siesta Key - Norsota Way Unique gated Bay front jewel walled-in for privacy with four bedrooms, modern bathrooms and kitchen, gleaming wood floors and a covered pool with glassed outdoor entertainment area. Private dock with 2 boat lifts. $2,150,000

Siesta Cove - Waterfront Short Sale An incredible opportunity to live in a premier neighborhood, on a superb waterfront lot in a gorgeous 4,869 SF home. Open waterfront views. $1,805,000

Ringling Pointe - Historic Sapphire Shores Stunning Direct Bay Front On 145 feet of deep water with 5BR/3.5 BA, a 2,200 SF master suite, 1,000 bottle wine room, private dock. $3,490,000

Phillippi Landings - Waterfront Value!

Turnkey furnished 2BR+ den/2BA Penthouse level apartment originally purchased for $773,100 includes private single car garage and premium deeded boat dock. $399,000

Islands West - Direct Gulf Front Beach, Views, Location and Opportunity! Magnificent Southwest Beach & Gulf Views from every room of this 6th floor 2BR/2BA residence. $649,000

Ritz Carlton Tower Residences - Sarasota Below pre-construction price! Best downtown price per SF of 3,751. 6th floor corner furnished apartment with gleaming wood floors 3BR + Den/3BA. 2 terraces for beautiful sunsets. $1,795,000

Country Club Shores - Direct Bay Front Lovely 3,700+ SF waterfront home at the end of a cul-de-sac with 3 bedrooms plus study/4th bedroom, stunning open Bay views, infinityedge pool and two car garage. $3,500,000

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4B

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

fitness | aerobic grandma

by Molly Schechter | Contributing Writer

New year brings fitness options for Longboaters This column heads into its 17th year with its most news ever about fitness classes. There is an exciting array of new formats, teachers and time periods at both the Longboat Key Education Center and Bayfront Park Recreation Center.

So, with no further introduction …

More big news here is a major wellness event scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18, “Body/Mind/Spirit Day of Discovery.”

It’s a smorgasbord of sessions, from “Meditation for Beginners” and “New Year Detox with Ayurveda,” to “Nia — the Joy of Movement” and “Writing to Heal, Focus and Become more Mindful.” The day includes a complimentary luncheon bufLongboat Key fet. Visit the Education Center’s Education Center website for full details and to Location: Second floor, Centre Shops, register for workshops.

5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive MOLLY The nuts and bolts: Advanced Phone: 383-8811 SCHECHTER registration is required for Website: lbkeducationcenter.org classes.

The winter term started Jan. 4 and runs Susan Goldfarb, who runs the Educathrough Feb. 28. Fitness classes are typition Center, is a rara avis. Custom does not stale her enthusiasm for finding new cally $88 for members and $104 for nonmembers for the term, but they may be ideas, topics or teachers.

“Sweet and Spirited Yoga!” on Tuesdays taken individually. For more information is a new yoga offering — a gentle class or to register, call the Education Center at that focuses on body awareness, align- 383-8811 or visit lbkeducationcenter.org. ment and deep, connected breathing.

Teacher Mary Kane is a reiki master, as Bayfront Park Recreation Center well as a longtime certified yoga instruc- Location: 4052 Gulf of Mexico Drive tor. Also new is “Qigong for Health & Vital- Phone: 316-1980 ity” with instructor Nancy Saum, a regis- Website: longboatkey.org; search “schedule tered nurse and a certified holistic nurse of activities.” who has completed the Institute of Integral Qigong and 200-hour tai chi teacher It’s a bad news/good news story here training. And, there are also new tech- because Longboat Key fitness mainstay niques in Ruth Fishel’s “Mindful Medita- Sherry Fideler has announced that this tion” class on Wednesdays. The Education is her final season. She and her husband, Center continues to offer yoga four days Craig, are relocating to Costa Rica. Fideler a week. began teaching at Bayfront Park in 1993, Not quite fitness-related enough to before it became a town facility in 1994. make the chart (on page 5B) but certainly She ran the place until 2000, when she wellness-related is “Culinary Healing Tra- shifted to full-time teaching. She has studitions,” with teacher Surapsari, from 11 dents who go back to her earliest days — a a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursdays for four ses- tribute in and of itself. One is Esther Wilsions starting Jan. 9.

ONE PROPERTY THREE OPPORTUNITIES

Fitness leader Sherry Fidellr will be leaving the Recreation Center at the end of the season after 20 years.

son, who says, “I’ve been taking aerobics classes since 1978, and Sherry is the best instructor I’ve ever been to.” Fideler will teach her regular schedule throughout the 2014 winter season.

Barbara Anderson and I continue our established classes at Bayfront Park, and Gail Condrick offers nia here, as well as at the Education Center.

The good news is there are four new classes from a highly qualified teacher with 32 years of experience. Mirabai Holland fell in love with Longboat Key while visiting her parents and now lives here.

Her “Moving Free®” class is a fusion protocol from the National Arthritis Foundation. “Ballet Fusion™” is a barre class that utilizes a chair; it’s for both students who have never done ballet as well as those who have some ballet experience. “Pumping the Prime™” is the youngest-oriented option. It is offered at 5:15 p.m. to accom-

• • • • • •

Mary Kane is introducing “Sweet and Spirited Yoga!” at the Education Center.

Jumping in with both feet, Mirabai Holland is launching four new classes at the Recreation Center.

modate working people. You can sample your choice of one of Holland’s classes for free.

The nuts and bolts: Rec Center classes are “walk in” — no reservations needed.

Fees range from $8 to $10 for members and $13 to $17 for nonmembers. Membership is still the best bargain on the Suncoast: $25 for residents, $35 for offisland residents and $45 per couple. The schedule is online at longboatkey.org; search “schedule of activities.”

Molly Schechter is an ACE-certified personal trainer with a specialty in olderadult fitness plus YogaFit Instructor Training, SCF Yoga Fundamentals I and II and Power Pilates™ Mat Certifications.

She teaches classes at the Bayfront Park Recreation Center and the Longboat Key Club. Email her at mschechter@YourObserver.com.

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** To be eligible for the closing cost discount you must be an existing BankUnited accountholder. Discount on closing To learn more loan about amounts our home mortgage stop into your costs is only applicable to first mortgage purchase or refinancing transaction greaterproducts, than $150,000. local branch, call Home Mortgage at 941.592.7649 Fee reductions are those in effect as of October 10, 2013 and are subject to our change withoutCenter notice.

Cannot be SSvirsky@BankUnited.com BLeereveld@BankUnited.com or visit us at www.mortgages.bankunited.com. combined with any other offers or specials. ** Tolimitations be eligible for the closing discount must be This an existing All loans subject to credit and property approval. Other restrictions, and cost fees mayyouapply. is BankUnited not a accountholder. Discount on closing costs is only applicable to first mortgage purchase or refinancing transaction loan amounts greater than $150,000. commitment to lend.

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

FITNESS CLASSES ON LONGBOAT KEY FOR THE 2014 WINTER SEASON

RC = Bayfront Park Recreation Center, EC = Education Center

Day Time Class

Venue

CARDIO (AEROBICS)/STRENGTH COMBO Tues.

8 a.m.

Cardio Bootcamp RC RC Tues., Thurs. 5:15 p.m. Pumping the Prime ™ NEW 8 a.m.

Cardio Strength RC Thurs.

8 a.m.

Power Hour Plus RC Sat.

SPECIALTY Mon., Fri. 10 a.m.

Young at Heart RC 5:15 p.m. Ballet Fusion NEW RC Wed.

MIND/BODY Mon., Wed. 9:00 a.m.

Easy Yoga EC Tues.

9:00 a.m.

Sweet and Spirited Yoga! NEW EC 10:30 a.m. Joy of Stretch Yoga RC Tues.

Wed. 9:00 a.m.

Mindful Meditation (90 min.)

EC Wed. 10:00 a.m. Tai Chi Jan. 8 -to Feb. 12 RC Wed. 11:30 a.m. Nia RC 9:00 a.m.

Gentle Kripalu Yoga EC Thurs.

10:30 a.m. Joy of Stretch Yoga RC Thurs.

Fri. 9:00 a.m.

Qigong for Health & Vitality NEW EC 11:20 a.m. Moving Free ® NEW RC Fri. 9:30 a.m.

Nia - The Joy of Movement!

EC Sat.

PILATES

Pilates Mat Tues., Thurs. 9:15 a.m.

Beginner/Intermediate RC

Teacher Barbara Anderson Mirabai Holland Barbara Anderson Barbara Anderson Sherry Fideler Mirabai Holland Susan Goldfarb Mary Kane Molly Schechter Ruth Fishel Fideler Gail Condrick Emme Shapiro Molly Schechter Nancy Saum Mirabai Holland Gail Condrick

Molly Schechter

WEIGHT TRAINING Mon., Wed. 7:30 a.m.

Muscles & More RC Sherry Fideler 8:45 a.m.

Muscles & More RC Sherry Fideler Mon., Fri. 11:20 a.m. Skeletal Fitness ® NEW RC Mirabai Holland Mon. 8:45 a.m.

Muscles & More RC Sherry Fideler Wed. 7:30 a.m.

Muscles & More RC Sherry Fideler Fri. *See article for single-session workshops and special programs

COMMUNITYCALENDAR WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8 ‘The State of Health Care in America’ Lecture — takes place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church, 563 Bay Isles Road. Dr. Harry Simmons, founder and past president of the National Coalition on Health Care, will speak. The event is free and open to the public. Call 383-8161.

THURSDAY, JAN. 9 Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key — meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s Tavern & Whiskey Bar. Attorney Joel Walters, partner at Walters, Levine, Klingensmith and Thomison, will speak. Cost is $10 and includes a breakfast buffet. Call Donna at 388-2847.

Republican Club of Longboat Key — meets at 11:30 a.m. at the Longboat Key Club Harbourside Dining Room, 3100 Harbourside Drive. All Longboat Key Town Commission candidates are invited to speak. Cost is $25 for members; $28 for nonmembers. Call Ruth Strauss at 3835349.

MONDAY, JAN. 13 All Angels by the Sea Memoir Class — takes place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on alternating Mondays at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church, 563 Bay Isles Road.

David Rice, a Yale University graduate and teacher for more than 20 years, will lead this free class. Call 383-8161.

‘The International Conference on Positive Aging: Voices of Innovation and Community’ Forum — takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. at Longboat Island Chapel’s Aging in Paradise Resource Center, 6200 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Tom Esselman, president and CEO of the Institute for the Ages, will speak about the institute. Call Donna at 383-6493.

535 SANCTUARY DRIVE #708

$1,799,000

What: Support local artisans and shop owners at the Longboat Key Winter Festival. Featuring a wide variety of antiques, collectibles and jewelry, attendees will find sidewalk sales, live entertainment and food throughout the day. Parking and admission are free. Contact Stephanie at 383-1901.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12 Where: The Centre Shops, 5380 Gulf of Mexico Drive

TUESDAY, JAN. 14 Longboat Key Democratic Club — meets at 11:30 a.m. at the Longboat Key Club’s Harbourside Dining Room, 3100 Harbourside Drive. Sarasota County Schools Superintentendent Lori White and Florida Senate Democratic candidate Greg Para will speak. Cost is $25. Call Murray Blueglass at 383-4899.

92nd Street Y Broadcast — begins at 8:15 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road. The temple will host the broadcast of “LIVE” from New York’s 92nd Street Y. Jane Pauley will discuss her new book, “Your Life Calling,” with Tom Brokaw. For information, visit tbi-lbk.org.

Key of Sea Chorus — meets from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays, at The Players Club, 1401 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The group sings Broadway tunes and golden oldies and is seeking new sopranos and altos to join. Cost is a nominal fee. For information, contact Judie at 383-4664.

SELLING LONGBOAT KEY REAL ESTATE FOR OVER 34 YEARS

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Longboat Key Winter Festival

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3240 GULF OF MEXICO DRIVE #605

$429,000

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Gulf Front Listings

Bayside Listings

L’AMBIANCE - #303, 3rd floor 3BR/2Full/2Half bath ‘Sabal’ residence with direct Gulf views. $1,595,000

530 HARBOR POINT RD - Freshly manicured canal front lot in Bay Isles Harbor Section. $1,495,000

LONGBOAT KEY TOWERS - #804S, Elevated 2BR/2BA end residence with open floorplan and panoramic views. $1,195,000

1400 HARBOR SOUND DRIVE - Vacant lot with picturesque waterway view to the Bay. $1,395,000

360 NORTH - 280 N. Shore Road #6, Three levels of splendor amid the northernmost beach of Longboat Key. $995,000

GRAND BAY #354 - 3BR/3FULL/2HB, 5th floor residence with panoramic views to the east and west. $1,195,000

LONGBOAT KEY TOWERS - #1003S, 2BR/2BA residence on the south tower’s 10th floor with endless views. $949,000

GRAND BAY #344 - Bay, golf and mooring views from this 2BR+Den/3Full/2Half Bath, 4th floor residence. $1,090,000

LONGBOAT KEY TOWERS - #802N, Stunning 8th fl, 2BR/2BA residence with east and west balconies. $990,000

BIRD KEY - 339 Bob White Way - 4BR/3BA furnished pool home with 540 sq. ft. Florida room, situated on a garden lot. $849,000

SEAGATE - #14D, 2BR/2BA with direct, elevated Gulf views from this 14th floor, finely detailed home. $749,000

COUNTRY CLUB SHORES 572 Ranger Lane - 2BR+Den/3BA canal front pool home with boat dock. $769,000

SEAPLACE - #G3-102, 3BR/2BA ground floor, corner residence with a tropical westerly view. $529,000

2043 HARBOUR LINKS DRIVE - 3BR/2.5BA courtyard villa with 2-car garage and pleasant golf course views. $499,000

SUNSET BEACH - #1401 Furnished 2BR/2BA, 4th floor home with poolside and Gulf views. $499,000

LONGBOAT KEY MOORINGS - The west coast’s largest marina has a 45’ slip just for you! $74,500

BEACHPLACE - BLDG 11-#202 2BR/2BA unfurnished residence with 1 covered/1 uncovered parking space. $419,000

SHORT SALE - 1646 Laurel Street - 1920’s Renovated home in downtown’s Historic Laurel Park. $549,000

2252 HARBOUR COURT DRIVE

$999,000

ALREADY UNDER CONTRACT!

Happy holidays from my family to yours.

Bruce Myer Longboat Key’s Top Realtor

• First in Number of Homes Sold • First in Sales Volume of Homes Sold • First Class Results Source: Mid Regional MLS for Longboat Key,, 2012

LONGBOATKEYFORSALE

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coldwell banker residential real estate | 201 Gulf of Mexico Dr. | Suite 1 | Longboat Key, FL 34228

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

SWANKY SOIREE

Robert and Noelle Haft

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

by Heather Merriman | Black Tie Assistant Editor

Photos by Heather Merriman

Sarasota Yacht Club hosts a ‘roaring’ New Year’s gala Dolled up and ready for an evening of celebration, members of the Sarasota Yacht Club gathered for the annual New Year’s Eve gala Tuesday, Dec. 31. The event was Gatsby-themed, and everyone was dressed to the nines in ’20s attire.

The ballroom was dec-

Will Deane and Sonia Turrill

by Kelsey Grau | Community Editor

Cafe L’Europe transforms for a night of 1920s fun

Tom, Nikita and Harry Anand

Angel Santiago and Jillian Nelson

dinner at downton

Linda Apple and Donna Brierton

Photos by Kelsey Grau

Café L’Europe and WEDU invited guests to don their finest furs and sparkling jewels Friday, Jan. 3, for dinner, cocktails and entertainment, all inspired by the popular show “Downton Abbey.” Set in the early 1920s, “Downton Abbey” is the story of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants.

The lifestyle and opulence depicted in the show and represented in the dinner transported guests back in time for the evening. The event benefited WEDU.

orated in white and feathers, and The Peter Salomon Orchestra performed live swinging music. After cocktails, dinner and dancing, the guests made a champagne toast at midnight as balloons dropped from the ceiling, celebrating the start of 2014.

Gurminder and Tricia Bedi

Eleanor Williams and Danee Barnett

PENTHOUSE W/BAY VIEWS! 3-4Br/3.5Ba/2CG overlooking bay & city vistas w/diagonal tile, crown moldings, wood cabinets, granite, SS appls. & 2 pvt balconies in an inclusive downtown bldg w/full amenities & great location in cultural district! MLS#A3982043 $800,000

Lindsey and Leslie Glass

Nancy Curry and Megan Willoughby

Tana Sandefur

Solve the puzzle by placing the numbers 1 through 9 in each row, column and box. See answers on page 13B.

HARBOR ACRES BAY FRONT! 4-5Br/3.5Ba/2CG w/Lr, Dr, fam rm, lg kitch. w/ctr island, bkfst nook, fp, wood flrs, quarry tile, vault ceil., crown moldings, built-ins, hurricane windows & doors, French doors, 2 lanais, deck, pool, spa & 2 SBW docks/lifts!

MLS#A3984895 .......................$2,150,000

© 2013 Universal Uclick

BRAND NEW W/DIRECT GULF VIEWS! 3Br/Den/2.5Ba w/full renovations & redesigned flr plan, pvt elevator, custom cabinets, walnut flrs, quartz, granite, mother of pearl art, glass tile, balcony & garaged pkg in gated comm. on LBK w/amenities!

Offered at $2,250,000

BURNS COURT VILLAS! Downtown 3Br/2.5Ba/1CG townhome w/pvt elevator, granite, wood cabinets, travertine tile, wood flrs, crown moldings, 10FT ceil., fp, built-ins, Viking ss appls (gas), penthouse level Mbr w/jetted tub in gated comm. w/ amenities! MLS#A3988579 $800,000

Improve your

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DOWNTOWN VILLA! 3Br/2.5Ba & loft, maintenance free townhome w/tray ceil., crown moldings, built-ins, wood lam, tile, bamboo, wrought iron, gas fp, granite, wood cabinets, Kitchen-Aide SS appls., jetted tub, pvt garden & comm. pool next to Laurel Park MLS#A3986512 $550,000

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UPDATED DOWNTOWN SARASOTA! 3Br/2Ba/2CG open plan w/pvt balcony, diagonal tile, hardwood flrs, modern kitch.w/granite, wood cabinets & SS appls., MBr w/2 walk-ins, pvt laundry & bonus storage in a secure renovated bldg w/ amenities! MLS#A3990047 $475,000

FRANCES CARLTON Downtown 1-2Br/1Ba w/historic designation, Lr, Dr, den/study, wood flrs, ceramic tile, carpet, custom cabinets, French doors, Palladian windows, pvt laundry & pool views in secure bldg w/ amenities; courtyards, pool & assigned parking! MLS#A3974837 $184,000

Saturday, Jan. 18 • 9-11:30 am

UPDATED & FURN SEASONAL LBK RENTAL! Beachside 2Br/2.5Ba/bonus rm/1CG open plan w/views, granite, wood cabinets, crown moldings, tile, French doors, SS appls., pvt balcony, personal laundry & storage in resort-like comm. w/ amenities! MLS#A3989706 $4800/m

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

TWELFTH NIGHT

7B

Top 1% Producer in Real Estate Sales for Sarasota & Manatee County!

by Kelsey Grau | Community Editor

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WESTON POINTE WITH BOAT DOCK Dee and David Rice play percussion in the concert.

Stunning 3 Bedroom Bright and Open Behind the gates with private outdoor living area. $1,075,000

Sylvia Thompson and Dale Hooey provide the entertainment at the concert.

All Angels jingles into new year at Epiphany concert The congregation of All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church gathered Sunday, Jan. 5, for a seasonal concert and party in honor of Epiphany. After the performance, attendees enjoyed refreshments, conversation and a few carols next door in the activities hall.

Don and Barb MacLean

Pat Anderson, Jan Webb and Lynne Woo

BEACH FRONT ESTATE $3,795,000 100’gulf front estate plus guest house. Beach sunsets & superb privacy.

LIGHTHOUSE POINT SPECTACULAR $5,500,000 Private master + 3 guest suites. Fabulous indoor/outdoor living.

Shelia Cruickshank, Allison Jones and Daphne Walker

HIDEAWAY BAY SAILBOAT WATER $1,500,000 5BR custom family home w/dock for 50’ boat.

WESTWAY ESTATE ON NEW PASS $8,500,000 4BR home + 4BR guest house. 210’ frontage with dock.

MICHAEL

MOULTON

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LIS NE W

CASEY KEY - Spectacular extensively remodeled gulf to bay residence on 1.25 acres. A3968932 $4,595,000

$3,850,000 COUNTRY CLUB SHORES $2,495,000 LIGHTHOUSE POINT CUSTOM HOME 4BR custom home w/designer finishes. Deepwater dock w/lift. Exquisite 5,000 SF waterfront 4BR home w/ dock.

TING

BIRD KEY - Beautifully renovated 4BR canal front residence incl. the kitchen, bathrooms and flooring. A3980659 $1,750,000

RITZ BEACH RESIDENCES - Elegantly designed 3,300sf 3BR condo with a large terrace. A3981649 $2,795,000

WATER CLUB - Direct Gulf front 3,400sf 3BR furnished condo in a premier complex. A3957287 $2,500,000

TESSERA - Downtown bayfront 3 bedroom furnished residence rarely available. A3988085 $1,500,000

COUNTRY CLUB SHORES - Canal front lot in this desirable south end LBK neighborhood. A3986400 $575,000

130188

440 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, FL 34228 Office 941.383.7591 | Mobile 941.928.3559 | SarasotasFinestProperties.com

BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME $925,000 Wide canal lot on Dream Island Rd. A boater’s paradise.

SLEEPY LAGOON BAYSIDE ESTATE $2,525,000 Approximately 2 acres, gated drive, tennis, deepwater dock.

BAYFRONT POINT 4BR ESTATE $8.200,000 One private acre+ separate guest house. Boat docks.

L’AMBIENCE GULF FRONT 3BR CONDO $2,750,000 Southern exposure. Elegant designer upgrades.

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$1,600,000 - $2,400,000 DREAM ISLAND ROAD $1,624,500 GRAND MARINER BAYSIDE Luxury 3,200 - 3,600 SF 3BR condos with boat docks.

4BR canal home on sailboat water w/dock & lift.

8B

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

real estate | transactions

By Adam Hughes | Research Editor

Country Club Shores home sells for $760,000 Lido Surf and Sand

The following residential real estate transactions took place between Dec. 16 and Dec. 20.

A home in Country Club Shores tops all transactions in this week’s real estate.

Geza and Ilona Benko, of Longboat Key, sold their home at 531 Chipping Lane to Victor and Anamaria Mitchell, of Castle Rock, Colo., for $760,000. Built in 1967, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,341 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $350,000 in 1995.

Ahamed Moideen sold his Unit 219 condominium at 1104 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Francis and Lisa Thompson, of Chevy Chase, Md., for $370,000. Built in 1976, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,456 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $620,000 in 2005.

ST. ARMANDS

Sarasota Harbour

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. sold the Unit 35 condominium at 763 John Ringling Blvd. to Chloe Trautman, trustee, of Champaign, Ill., for $208,000.

Built in 1963, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 816 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $420,000 in 2006.

Seaplace

Gestion Danielle Luc Inc. sold the Unit M1-109H condominium at 2045 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Mary and Frank Schreck, of Buffalo, N.Y., for $501,000. Built in 1974, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,265 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $450,000 in 2009.

Sea Pines

Dennis and Deborah Grotke, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 21 condominium at 6945 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Judith Krasnow, trustee, of Hinsdale, Ill., for $480,000.

Built in 1973, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 1,170 square feet of living area.

It previously sold for $181,000 in 1993.

Fairway Bay

RJB Enterprises LLC sold the Unit 442 condominium at 2020 Harbourside Drive to Jay and Elizabeth Berke, of Scarsdale, N.Y., for $365,000. Built in 1984, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,192 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $360,000 in 2009.

Pelican Harbour and Beach Club

Frank and Ellen Kaman, of Sarasota, sold their Unit X-2 condominium at 4234 Gulf of Mexico Drive to John and Anna

Kurt Schultheis

This home at 531 Chipping Lane in Country Club Shores has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,341 square feet of living area. It sold for $760,000.

Curtis, of Sugarland, Texas, for $320,000.

Built in 1973, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 1,150 square feet of living area.

It previously sold for $14,400 in 1999.

Sutton Place

Ralph and Regina Reeves, of LaGrange, Ga., sold their Unit TU-10 condominium at 523 Sutton Place to Maria Puszkar, of Nutley, N.J., for $205,000. Built in 1972, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,930 square feet of living area.

BIRD KEY

Robert and Marilyn Radakovic, of Sarasota, sold their home at 516 S. Spoonbill Way to Bruce Roberts and Margaret Markland, of Sudbury, Mass., for $679,000. Built in 1965, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,895 square feet of living area.

It previously sold for $520,000 in 2009.

...

Lawrence Klepetko, of Sarasota, sold the Unit 401 condominium at 1770 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Robert Marie and Helene Provencher, of Quebec, Canada, for $475,000. Built in 1970, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,413 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $204,000 in 1994.

The following residential real estate transactions took place between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27.

A condominium in Sanctuary at Longboat Key tops all transactions in this week’s real estate. DoubleDay Farm II LLC sold the Unit A-401 condominium at 535 Sanctuary Drive to Christine Rupp, trustee, of Fort Wayne, Ind., for $1,675,000.

Built in 1990, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 3,115 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $1,349,000 in 2004.

Lido Beach Club

Marina Bay

LIDO KEY

Lido Harbour Towers

Eva Pilz, trustee, of Ontario, Canada, sold the Unit 307 condominium at 1212 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Pamela Pritchard, of Clear Lake, Iowa, for $370,000. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,421 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $66,000 in 1978.

Douglas and Cynthia Tibbetts, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 134 condominium at 2410 Harbourside Drive to Dean and Diane Fried, of Lakewood Ranch, for $1,475,000. Built in 1993, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 3,690 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $1.25 million in 2012.

LICENSED REAL ESTATE BROKER

1777 Irving St #A3985909 $799,000 Susan Fox

Sarasota 941-383-7591 941-544-6648

1135 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 404 #A3986439 $750,000 Janis Collier

Longboat Key 941-951-6660 941-313-1212

3070 Grand Bay Blvd # 641 #A3989376 $725,000 Carol Aviles

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-356-6777

250 Sands Point Rd # 5401 #A3921919 $699,000 Gail Wittig

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-228-1985

The Ritz-Carlton Beach Residences # 503 #A3981871 $2,950,000 Julia McClung

1485 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 207 #A3989980 $685,000 Jenifer Schwell

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-780-0968

4401 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 201 #A3989147 $624,900 Maureen Horn

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-539-3384

800 Ben Franklin Dr # 709 #A3986052 $600,000 John August

Lido Key 941-388-4447 941-320-9795

4600 Bay Shore Rd #A3983290 $599,000 Nancie Kalin

Sarasota 941-388-4447 941-928-8833

200 Cocoanut Ave # 4 #A3990074 $585,000 Nell Leffel

Lido Key 941-388-4447 941-356-6499

Sarasota 941-383-7591 941-932-0032

6821 Hughes St #A3982781 $575,000 Dana Westmark

Longboat Key 941-951-6660 941-356-5091

FAMILIAR FACES. EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Showcase your property to over 6,500 affiliate branches in 52 countries.

2109 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 1201 #A3957661 $549,500 Hannerle Moore

420 Golden Gate Pt # 300B #A3985992 $2,695,000 Sylvia Zimmerman

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-387-7300

888 Blvd Of The Arts # 406 #A3981731 $529,000 Audrey Singer

Sarasota 941-383-7591 941-383-7591

Sarasota 941-383-7591 941-350-5022

4485 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 503 #A3979554 $499,000 Steve Magner

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-376-8559

5265 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 308 #A3989789 $499,000 Eileen Burke

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-266-8949

230 Sands Point Rd # 3203 #A3989464 $455,000 Thomas Cinquegrano

Longboat Key 941-907-9595 941-284-5049

448 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # A305 #A3965898 $440,000 Diana Kryszak

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-993-4078

4540 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # Ph6-f #A3989868 $415,000 Sharon Freeman

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-545-0899

1930 Harbourside Dr # 124 #A3982406 $359,900 Saint Cacchiotti

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-809-0787

225 Sands Point Rd # 6103 #A3984812 $349,000 Ian Addy Pa

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-961-8850

1790 Pinyon Pine Dr #A3989904 $339,000 Jessika Arman

Sarasota 941-388-4447 941-587-4202

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

9B

michaelsaunders.com

Country Club Shores

Polymathic Properties Inc. sold the home at 561 Ranger Lane to Raul Rodriguez and Elsie Nieves, of Longboat Key, for $699,000. Built in 1968, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,015 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $525,000 in May.

Explore now on your phone or tablet.

Tiffany Plaza

Dorothy Johnstone, trustee, of Novi, Mich., sold the Unit 406 condominium at 4325 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Roose Ventures LLC for $515,000. Built in 1975, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,456 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $142,500 in 1980.

Portobello

Longboat Harbour North

Gerald and Carolyn Gornowicz sold their Unit PH-3 condominium at 4960 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Pol and Huguette Dessy, of Sparta, N.J., for $365,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 1,152 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $169,500 in 1999.

Windward Bay

Ethel Mulligan sold her Unit 306 condominium at 4960 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Paul Black, of Henderson, Nev., for $275,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 1,152 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $120,000 in 1986.

BIRD KEY

Marilyn Lawrence, trustee, sold the home at 601 N. Owl Drive to Jeffrey and Lisa Jackson, of Sarasota, for $1.15 mil-

2039 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 204 #A3972416 $330,000 Tom Delaney

4800 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 201C #A3986823 $324,500 Sharon Freeman

4830 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # V-11 #A3987845 $279,000 Bobbi Banan

1135 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 504 Longboat Key #A3971398 $3,500-$7,500/month, 30 day min Diann Thelen 941-552-4200

367 W Royal Flamingo Dr #A3988843 $3,195,000 Christine Del Monte

Bird Key 941-349-3444 941-266-6733

lion. Built in 1968, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,545 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $70,000 in 1972.

LIDO KEY

Lido Towers

Dorothy Ball, of Ontario, Canada, sold her Unit 408 condominium at 1001 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Ernest and Susan Ball, of Ontario, Canada, for $250,000.

Built in 1980, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,224 square feet of living area.

It previously sold for $98,000 in 1987.

1281 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 1104 #A3963869 $1,995,000 Hannerle Moore

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-387-7300

1281 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # 703 #A3982353 $1,849,000 Julie Jordan

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-388-4447

3532 Mistletoe Ln #A3981859 $1,795,000 Marcia Salkin

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-376-6121

561 Spinnaker Ln #A3975981 $1,690,000 Michael Moulton

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-928-3559

531 Yardarm Ln #A3980172 $1,649,000 Maureen Horn

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-539-3384

475 E Royal Flamingo Dr #A3983861 $1,630,000 John August

Sarasota 941-388-4447 941-320-9795

572 Gunwale Ln #A3980750 $1,499,000 Jenifer Schwell

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-780-0968

210 Sands Point Rd # 2507 #A3985077 $1,300,000 Ian Addy Pa

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-961-8850

2110 Harbourside Dr # 512 #A3987428 $825,000 Mel & Jan Goldsmith

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-356-6673

6560 Gulf Of Mexico Dr #M5842242 $750,000 Shelley Barker

Longboat Key 941-383-5502 941-706-5403

Lido Beach Club

Arlon and Debbie Brown, of Cincinnati, sold their Unit 909 condominium at 1212 Benjamin Franklin Drive to Robert and Joan Tufts of Osprey, for $675,000. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,812 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $547,500 in 2003.

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-545-0899

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-356-2659

RE N TA L

Longboat Key 941-388-4447 941-356-2659

RE N TA L

4700 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # D202 #A3986790 $285,000 Bobbi Banan

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-387-3990

File photo

Unit 401-A in Sanctuary at Longboat Key has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 3,115 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,675,000.

1104 Benjamin Franklin Dr # 619 Sarasota #A3967663 $3,500-$4,500/month, 30 day min Diann Thelen 941-552-4200

4390 Exeter Dr # 301 #A3983420 $289,999 Tama Traberman

637 Spanish N Dr #A3976185 $239,500 Maruta Miluns

Longboat Key 941-383-5502 941-225-3351

Longboat Key 941-383-5502 941-374-9702

RE N TA L

William Rademacher and Laura Rademacher, of Munster, Ind., sold their Unit A-302 condominium at 3235 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Chad and Deanna Stec, of Valrico, for $475,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,260 square feet of living area. It previously sold for $183,000 in 1992.

605 Jungle Queen Way Longboat Key #A3987356 $3,100-$4,500/month, 30 day min Diann Thelen 941-552-4200

VA C AT I O N R E N TA L S 4765 Gulf Of Mexico Dr # S401 #A3989517 $5,733,000 Nell Leffel

Mid Longboat 383.5502 • South Longboat 383.7591 • St. Armands 388.4447 Main Street 951.6660 • Palmer Ranch 966.8000 • Siesta Key 349.3444

Longboat Key 941-383-7591 941-932-0032

White Sands of Longboat whitesandsoflongboat.com 800.230.2428

129405

Veranda Beach Club verandabeachclub.com 800.411.5511

10B

UPDATED 1ST FLOOR 1BR/1BA W/LANAI Water view, four pools, fitness ctr., clubhouse, beachside facility w/restrooms, shower & storage. This condo is rented Jan.15 to Apr. 15, 2014. $220,000 Dorothy Cook #A3984549

These are the largest building permits issued by the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Department for the week of Dec. 20 through Jan. 2, in order of dollar amounts. (GMD = Gulf of Mexico Drive)

SPACIOUS 2BR/2.5BA TOWNHOME With private oversized garage in active tennis community is offered turnkey furnished. 10 Har-Tru tennis courts, 24 hour fitness center & Jr. Olympic pool. $229,900 Mary Moore & Dia Wilson #M5839653 !

ED UC D RE

FANTASTIC INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY This is the only unit offered for sale in this complex.

Updated, directly on the beach. Turnkey with upscale furnishings. Weekly rentals available. $249,900 Dia Wilson & Mary Moore #M5835428

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

BUILDING PERMITS

!

ED

C

DU

RE

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

TROPICAL PARADISE - BRADENTON BEACH Great income investment. Brand new furnishings. Pet friendly. Private beach access just steps away. Onsite cafe & gift shop. Daily rates available. $259,000 Mary Moore & Dia Wilson #M5835837

ISLAND STYLE INSPIRED 2BR/2BA UNIT Great rental income property was completely renovated in 2005. New kitchen & bathrooms. Oversized screened lanai for maximum garden view. $389,000 Mary Moore & Dia Wilson #M5835441

2BR/2BA FABULOUS Full Gulf front condominium. Great rental income potential. Updated, turnkey and ready for immediate occupancy. $649,900 Dia Wilson & Mary Moore #M5842686

BEAUTIFUL DEEP WATER LOT In the secluded community of Hideaway Bay. Cul-de-sac peninsula style lot with deep sailboat water on 3 sides.

Great location to build your dream home. $995,000 Kelly Belisle #M5836272

941.383.5577 • www.WagnerRealty.com 5360 Gulf of Mexico Dr. Suite 101, in the Centre Shops, Longboat Key

Permit

Applicant

Alteration

Mary Jane Cecka

$73,166.50

Amount

2425 GMD

Alteration

Chad Thompson

$46,750

3060 Grand Bay Blvd.

Alteration

Roberta Rutrough, trustee $45,000

2251 GMD

Re-roof

BBC Key LLC

$37,315

4380 Exeter Drive

Alteration

Louis Rowitz

$23,000

513 Yawl Lane

New dock

David Cohen

$20,000

5393 GMD

Sliding glass door Jean Baskfield

5265 GMD

Alteration

William DeJonge

$13,100

4500 GMD

Alteration

Jeffrey Mayper

$11,000

668 El Centro

Windows

Kenneth Fearing

$10,784

5230 GMD

Windows

Donald Chance

$7,200

2369 Harbour Oaks Drive Alteration

Jorge Reynardus

$6,000

5930 GMD

Pool

Sandra Dale

$5,550

510 Birdie Lane

Pool cage

Bart Alford

$5,258

3660 GMD

Windows

Bonnie Brodkin, trustee

$4,130

$16,000

4825 GMD

Windows

Helene Morgenstern

549 Cutter Lane

Garage door

Silvana Nandin

$2,353

3320 GMD

Windows

Gregory Ferris

$2,300

$3,260.89

130229

PENTHOUSE BAY VIEW LBK 2BR/2BA Designer furnished, boat docks, beach cabana, pets welcome. A must see. Great complex, shows like a model.

Best value on LBK. Hurry! $379,900 Marc Turner #A3926740

Address 605 Sutton Place

Discriminating Tastes Require Uncompromising Results You Expect More …

ERIC TEOH

941-735-2199 Eric@teamrenick.com

MICHAEL RENICK

941-400-8735 Mike@teamrenick.com

For Buyers & Sellers

Anna Maria Island • Bird Key • Bradenton • Bradenton Beach • Holmes Beach • Lido Key • Longboat Key • Sarasota • St. Armands • Siesta Key

You’ve found it …

$420,000

Anna Maria

Based Income Property – 5 Units Spectacular Ocean views from every apartment - corner lot! Great opportunity to live in one unit and make money renting the other units This is a must see for any experienced or new investor! Current Tenants have expressed a desire to remain MLS#: A3988421

Longboat Key Canal Front Villa Fully Furnished, Move-in ready 3BD, 2BA, Split Plan Attached Carport, Separate Inside Utility Room Windward Bay Offers: 2 Pools, 2 Tennis Courts, Fitness Ctr. 2 Marinas with available Boat Docks MLS#: A3978884

Windward Bay

$379,000

OUR HOUSE AT BEACH

$549,000

$359,000

Cute! Cute! Cute!

Direct Gulf View!

$430,000

Gorgeous Condo

$499,999

the one you’ve been search for! Located within the Villages At Pinetree Spruce Pine Enclave, Move-in ready 4BD, 3.5BA Home features over $109,000 in upgrades since 2010 Salt water pool with energy efficient heat pump MLS#: A3988637

$1,368,000

Siesta Key… Florida living at its finest! This 2 bedroom/2 bath condo looks out over the gorgeous beach. This unit offers many updates/upgrades. Whether you are looking for a primary home, second home or a great investment opportunity, you have found it here! MLS# A3989534

D

Direct Gulf View!

Seaplace Assoc. Longboat Key Condo (G7 Building) Watch the beautiful evening sunsets from your own Lanai Move-in ready 2BD, 2BA, Turnkey Furnished 2 Pools, 1 Kiddie Pool, 2 Hot Tubs, 3 Tennis Courts MLS#: A3979476

$399,000

This is the one you have been looking for! Seaplace Assoc.

Longboat Key Condo (G6 Building) Partially Updated, Move-in ready 2BD, 2BA Seaplace Offers 2 Pools, 1 Kiddie Pool, 2 Hot Tubs, 3 Tennis Courts, and more! MLS#: A3985138

Like us on facebook.com/TeamRenick

Great Price! Covered Parking! Great Opportunity!

Seaplace Assoc. Longboat Key Condo (G6 Building) Many Updates, Move-in ready 2BD, 2BA Offered Turnkey Furnished, Seaplace Offers 2 Pools, 1 Kiddie Pool, 2 Hot Tubs, 3 Tennis Courts, and more! MLS#: A3987966

www.TeamRenick.com

2BR/2Bath fully Renovated Condo with a Great Gulf View! Granite in the Kitchen & Bathrooms, Stainless Steel Appliances Upgraded Cabinets Throughout Seaplace Assoc. Longboat Key Condo (Top Floor, Desirable M1 Building) Offered Turnkey Furnished MLS#: A3989071

130382

SOL

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

ON THE

BUSINESSOBSERVER

By Robin Hartill | News Editor

+ Travel + Leisure names Key Club in top 500 resorts

Kelsey Grau

The episode of “Emeril’s Florida” that features Maison Blanche chef/owner Jose Martinez aired Sunday, Jan. 5, and Monday, Jan. 6, will re-air at 11:30 a.m.

Thursday, Jan. 9, on the Cooking Channel.

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse filmed the segment for the episode, titled “Coming to America,” in September at Maison Blanche. Lagasse sampled Martinez’s signature French cuisine with an American twist.

Martinez is one of three Florida chefs

LV7411

Brandy Coffey • 941-284-4474 Coffey & Company KW Realty

PRIVATEER SOUTH $529,000 Expansive Bay, City and Gulf Views 2/2 behind the MLS A3974667 gates of the Longboat Key Club.

LOCATION! VALUE! VIEWS! $541,900 Bay Club at Terra Ceia Bay. 9th floor penthouse.

3BR/2.5BA+den, private garage. 2,553 sf. Low fees, 1 year warranty, paid closing costs.

Jenine Meyer • 941-266-8303 Michael Saunders & Company

Joe Romanowski • 941-721-6280 Royal Palm Real Estate, Inc.

+ Mediterranean restaurant to open on St. Armands Mediterranean restaurant Blu Kouzina will open in February at 25 N. Blvd. of the Presidents on St. Armands Circle, in the former Square on the Circle space. The location will be the second Blu Kouzina for owners Dennis and Effie Tsakiris, whose other restaurant is in Singapore.

Restaurant meals are prepared with organic extra-virgin olive oil imported directly from the couple’s private olive grove estate in their native Greece.

BEACH VIEWS SUNSET BEACH $549,500 Views of Turquoise blue waters from this 2 bedroom condo. The condo has been remodeled beautifully. www.longboatlife.com for info.

MLS A3957661

GORGEOUS BAYOU $1,350,000 Overlooking Crane’s Bayou & Buttonwood Bay w/deep sailboat water, this 2-story, 4BR home is a boater’s paradise www.longboatlife.com MLS A3981543

Hannerle Moore • 941-387-7300 Michael Saunders & Company

Hannerle Moore • 941-387-7300 Michael Saunders & Company

LV7360

+ Maison Blanche owner featured on ‘Emeril’s Florida’

who moved to Florida from other countries who is featured on the episode.

Lagasse also filmed a segment for a future episode at Beach Bistro on Holmes Beach.

Pam Hagan • 941-400-6682 Waterside 7 Realty

LV7410

File photo

727 SPANISH S DR. $299,900 2/2 villa in Yacht Club! New roof, windows, washer.

Deeded beach access & 40 slip deep water marina!

Great rental history. Must see!

MLS A3987983

LV7352

The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce began its move to the Centre Shops Jan. 2 and aims to be “assembled, organized, networked and clean” by Jan. 10, according to a notice sent to members.

The chamber signed a three-year lease in December for Unit 102 of the Centre Shops of Longboat Key, 5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

The chamber had operated out of Mediterranean Plaza since March.

FIRST LONGBOAT $199,000 Expansive water views. Community offers beach and boat docks. Great rental history!

MLS A3955775

LV7425

Longboat Key Chamber Executive Assistant Victoria Jacobson, Executive Director Gail Loefgren, Rick Bergere and President Yvonne Schloss move the chamber into its new location Friday, Jan. 3.

+ Longboat Key Chamber moves to the Centre Shops

Maison Blanche chef/owner Jose Martinez and his wife, Victoria, with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse during the September filming of ‘Coming to America.’

DISTINCTIVE PROPERTIES FOR SALE

LV7362

Travel + Leisure magazine named the Resort at Longboat Key Club in its annual listing of the top 500 hotels and resorts worldwide.

The Key Club was one of three Ocean Properties included on the list.

Sunset Key Guest Cottages, a Westin Resort, in Key West, and the Sandpearl Resort, in Clearwater, were also recognized.

Other recent honors the Key Club has received include the AAA FourDiamond Award for the 30th consecutive year; Condé Nast’s “Top 40 Florida Resorts”; Tennis Resort’s Online “Top 25 Gold Metal Tennis Resort Worldwide”; Successful Meetings “Pinnacle Award”; The Knot “Best of Weddings” 2013; TripAdvisor’s “Certificate of Excellence”; and the “Florida Clean Marina” award for the 11th year.

11B

Living and Working on Longboat Key for 40 Years

Cathy C. Meldahl, P.A. Your Longboat Key Community Realtor

IT’S STILL MRS. ROGERS’

NEIGHBORHOOD Grande Dame of Real Estate 39 Years of Experience

Advising, Buying, and Selling with a Personal Touch!

941.284.7373 annetterogers@michaelsaunders.com

94064

Licensed Real Estate Broker 130342

Hannerle Moore • 941-387-7300 Michael Saunders & Company

Showcase YOUR Listings

Here

ONLY $75

Publishes Twice Each Month in The Longboat Observer Call your advertising rep for details 941-366-3468

Michael Saunders & Company, Longboat Key South • 440 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, FL 34228

Hannerle Moore • 941-387-7300 Michael Saunders & Company

LV7412

941.724.7228 CathyMeldahl@michaelsaunders.com

BAYFRONT ESTATE $8,700,000 5BR Mediterranean masterpiece w/ magnificent pool/ patio, kitchen, fireplace & multiple terraces for enjoying outdoors. Designer upgrades throughout. MLS A3957281 Reid Murphy • 941-232-3304 Developers Realty, Inc.

LV6572

Licensed Real Estate Broker

LV7361

Michael Saunders & Company

MAGNIFICENT VIEWS $1,995,000 Furnished, 3 bedroom Water Club penthouse with fabulous beach and bay views all the way up to Tampa Bay. www.longboatlife.com for info. MLS A3963869

130033

3174 Gulf of Mexico Dr. Longboat Key, FL 24228

LONGBOAT KEY TOWERS $1,495,000 Direct beachfront w/3 bedrooms & 2,593 sq. ft. This condo has walls of windows, crown moldings & builtins www.longboatlife.com for info.

MLS A3987049

LV7111

130200

• Consistent top producer on Longboat Key • In-depth knowledge of the real estate market • Active in our community with Longbeach Village Association Longboat Key Historical Society Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce Longboat Key Center for the Arts Longboat Key Garden Club

12B

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

OBSERVER WEATHER

Do you love taking photos? We want your best photos of sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, etc.

Submit your local weather photos for a chance to have your photo published in the paper!

See all of the winning photos each week by visiting The Observer’s Facebook page.

TEMPERATURES

Record Temperatures High

Low

High

Low

Tuesday, Dec. 31

68

60

87 (1990)

29 (1926)

Wednesday, Jan. 1

73

60

85 (1991)

30 (2001)

Thursday, Jan. 2

77

60

84 (1973)

28 (1918)

Friday, Jan. 3

60

45

85 (1989)

30 (1979)

Saturday, Jan. 4

68

45

83 (1982)

28 (1928)

Sunday, Jan. 5

79

57

84 (1966)

28 (1918)

Monday, Jan. 6

73

45

85 (1990)

26 (1999)

Average Gulf water temperature: 62

MOON PHASES Jan. 15 Full Jan. 23 Last Jan. 30 New Feb. 6 First

SUNRISE / SUNSET

Sunrise

Sunset

Thursday, Jan. 9

7:22a

5:53p

Friday, Jan. 10

7:22a

5:54p

Saturday, Jan. 11

7:22a

5:54p

Sunday, Jan. 12

7:22a

5:55p

Monday, Jan. 13

7:22a

5:56p

Tuesday, Jan. 14

7:22a

5:57p

Wednesday, Jan. 15

7:22a

5:58p

TIDES

Highs

Thursday, Jan. 9

 Barbara Thurston submitted this sunrise photo, taken near Emerald Harbor on Longboat Key.

Scan the QR code on your smartphone to submit your weather photos!

Or visit YourObserver.com and click on the “Contests” tab.

3

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6:32p

1:59a

12:08p

10:21a

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3:15a

12:57p

Saturday, Jan. 11

11:35a

8:14p

4:15a

2:01p

Sunday, Jan. 12 ­12:11p

9:00p

5:02a

3:04p

Monday, Jan. 13

12:36p

9:41p

5:41a

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Tuesday, Jan. 14

12:55p

10:19p

6:13a

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1:12p Wednesday, Jan. 15

10:55a

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ACROSS

Edited by Timothy E. Parker

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7:56a

Friday, Jan. 10

CREATURES LARGE AND SMALL by Rob Lee

O B S E RV E R C RO S S WO R D

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Lows

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1 Madrid home 5 Early Irish alphabet 10 “Little Pigs” number 15 Ask for divine guidance 19 Imitative sort 20 Camel kin 21 Den din 22 “General Hospital” regular Sofer 23 Blue-eyed feline 25 Greek column style 26 Concerning the ears 27 Movie workplace 28 Tony Shalhoub TV series 29 Neon tetra, for one 32 Reykjavik is its capital 34 Await judgment 35 “___ you kidding?”

36 After taxes 37 Relative of a canary 38 “What Kind of Fool ___?”

40 Appear to be 43 Kindles, as interest 45 Gangster movie lead-spitter 47 Lennon’s bride 49 Part of a Three Stooges routine 51 Brought action against 52 Thai monetary units 54 Rosemary or basil 56 Ford model 58 Traditional cold remedy 59 Room at the top of stairs 61 Tailless burrowing creature 64 Their identities are unknown 65 Honorific for McCartney 66 Wish one could

take back 68 Enact 70 ___ Cooper (compact car) 71 With arms and legs extended 74 Oscar-winning Thompson 75 Loud speaker 77 The final word in many movies 78 Any ship at sea 79 Robin Hood’s friend ___ Tuck 80 Sheep with massive horns 82 Rich dessert 84 Laid eyes on 85 “Jane Eyre” writer 87 Blast of wind 88 Irregularly notched, as a leaf 89 Santa ___, Calif.

91 Bivouac item 93 Power-drill accessory 94 “To ___ is human ...”

95 Clothing retailer since 1969 97 Roman 1102 99 ___ and don’ts 101 “Love Boat” bartender 105 ___ and abet 106 Annoy by persistent faultfinding 108 Hillside on a Scottish golf course 110 “Great Expectations” girl 112 Koala, by another name 116 “Fifteen Miles on the ___ Canal” 117 “Danse” step 118 Chemical ending or compound 119 “... but I could be wrong” 120 Striped sea

predator 123 “___ Wonderful Life” 124 Talk show host Gibbons 125 Totally pointless 126 Tip-top 127 Evened, as a score 128 Pele’s first name 129 Concluded 130 Worst place in a race

48 Food morsel 50 Boys, women, men and girls 52 Madonna hit, “La Isla ___” 53 One making amends 55 Hunting canine 57 ___ gin fizz 58 Meats for bad actors?

60 Prompter’s offering 62 Groups of troops 63 Wrapped Tijuana treat DOWN 65 100-meter race, e.g.

1 Black currant flavor 67 Bloomingdale’s in wines Manhattan setting 2 Individually 69 36 inches 3 Two-___ (Miata, 71 Alone e.g.)

72 Animated Woody 4 Set, as a detonator Allen character 5 “Maximus to 73 Area in an Elvis Gloucester” poet tune Charles 76 Encino neighbor 6 “A Touch of Class” 79 Types of pure iron star Jackson 81 Blossom holder 7 Cabbie 83 Chafe 8 Physician’s org.

84 Busy bug 9 Certain finish 86 SASE, for one 10 Certain electron 89 Dry, red wine tubes 90 Rudolph’s bright 11 Basketball rim feature 12 Indian noble 92 Dalai Lama, for one 13 “All My Children” 95 “___ to the Limit” role (Eagles hit) 14 Steep slope (var.)

96 Conditional release 15 High-ranking from prison teacher, for short 98 Your financial 16 Personal personnel advisor advises it 17 Aromatic seed 100 Composed 18 Pricey vessels 102 Andes native 24 Originates 103 Smoke detectors, 30 They work with e.g.

MDs 104 Pallbearer’s burden 31 Salmon-fishing 107 Injured in the spear bullring 33 Firefly 109 “The Sopranos” 34 Car air freshener chef Bucco shape 111 Begat 39 Sweater material 113 Cheerful 41 North Pole 114 “This ___ on me!” assistant 115 Clown of renown 42 Critically injure 116 “Heavens to Betsy!”

44 Animal raised to 121 Country lodge run 1,320 feet 122 “2001” computer 46 Airport worker’s org.

01-09-14

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Items Under $200 For Sale

Condos/Apts. For Rent

ADVERTISE YOUR MERCHANDISE with the total value of all items $200 or less in this section for FREE! Limit 1 ad per month, 15 words or less. Price must be included next to each item. No commercial advertising.

Ad runs 2 consecutive weeks in 1 Observer.

(No phone calls please.)

(Please provide your name and address) Email ad to: classified@yourobserver.com Online at: www.yourobserver.com Or mail to: The Observer Group P.O. Box 3169 Sarasota, Fl 34230 CLUB CHAIR: yellow velvet. Desk, brown braided rug, coffee table, lamp, end table, $25/ea.

302-275-6785.

BEACHPlACE, lBk. Casual beachfront living in 2BR/2BA, balcony condo. Olympic pool, health club, tennis courts. Available June through December, $2500/mo. Also available January through March, $5000/mo. Call for info. Contact Elizabeth/NYC. 212-570-2950.

COUCH AND chair. Bamboo style with foot stool. $150. Call 3047801391.

GLASS TABLETOPS (4): heavy, 42” round, 42” oval, 36” square, 25” square, bevelled. $30/ea.

941-387-8148.

Autos Wanted WE BUY CARS. TOP $$ PAID FOR YOUR VEHICLES. Call Hawley Motors, 941-923-3421.

Boat Slips For Rent/Sale 45’ BOAT Slip for rent: Longboat Key Moorings.

941-812-3395 NEW YEAR, New LOW rents from private owner in high and dry Marina. Excellent boating location.

We will beat all prices! Call 941-544-5597.

LBK PORTOBELLO BEACH FRONT: 2BR/2BA Condo on 4th floor.

For details and Virtual Tour, visit: www.BeachAbodeLBK.com Phone 815-919-5357.

LBK: TIFFANY Plaza Beachfront Condos, 1st floor, 2BR/2BA, W/D in units, walk out to beach.

Furnished, heated pool, covered parking. 1 mo. min. 941-383-3338.

Condos For Sale

BY OWNER: INN ON THE BEACH: LONGBOAT KEY CLUB. Private club suite, turnkey, tennis, Golf course view, 650/sq.ft. $349,000.

708-267-6704.

FREE! What every Real Estate buyer or seller needs to know!

Go to: www.yourmarketupdate.com MARINA BAY: Largest condo under 1 million.

3BR/2.5BA, 3,100 sq. ft. Incredible views. Brooke O’Malley, CLUB REALTY. 941-726-2677

Homes For Sale ***DISTRESS SALE*** Bank Foreclosures. Free list of Foreclosure Properties. Receive a FREE daily list by email.

Lots/Acreage For Sale

2003 HURRICANE: 17’, 115 hp. Yamaha. $1500.

863-412-1796.

BIRD KEY. Prime Sarasota Bay lot. SSE exposure.

Waiting for your dream house. For sale by owner.

No brokers please. 631 Mourning Dove. See our lot on www.forsalebyowner.com. $2,800,000.

941-388-7832

Season is here and very busy. We really need your boat. www.Islandboatsales.net Call Dave, (owner) 941-228-3489.

Furnishings BRAND NEW Serta Queen Pillow Top Mattress Set Willing to sacrifice for $150! (941)387-4810.

WYLAND DOLPHIN Glass Top Coffee Table.

Great price! 863-412-1796.

Garage/Moving/Estate Sales LBK: SANDS POINT 1BR/2BA, annual, unfurnished. Behind gates at Islandside. Water view.

Non-smoking, No Pets. $2000/month.

941-383-3702.

General Merchandise THRIFT SHOP: Longboat Island Chapel, 6140 Gulf of Mexico Dr. Open Mondays, Wednesdays & Saturdays, 9a.m.-1p.m.

Volunteers welcome! 941-383-6491.

Merchandise Wanted SENIOR LOOKING to purchase precious metals, time pieces, coins, jewelry and antiques. Please call Marc, 941-321-0707.

Storage STORAGE FACILITY Boat/ RV/ Trailer. Secure facility, low monthly rentals, Clark Rd area.

941-809-3660, 941-809-3662.

Help Wanted GROUNDSKEEPER - Ringling College, full-time with benefits, to perform landscape maintenance.

For more information and to apply on-line https://ringling.simplehire.com. EOE.

in the

Vacation/Seasonal Rentals

WANTED LUXURY ANNUAL RENTALS

LONGBOAT HARBOR TOWERS: Unit 805.

2BR/2BA, beachfront condo. Wonderful sunsets.

Recently remodeled. Large pool, exercise room.

Available February 1, 2014. 2/month minimum. $4700/mo. 719-201-8801.

For Qualified Waiting Clients Contact - Sarasota Luxury Rentals 941-225-1356 email: info@sarasotaluxuryrentals.com Personalized attention with professional honest advice.

25 Years Experience - References available

Vacation/Seasonal Rentals A BEACHPLACE LBK Condo. Beachfront, 2BR/2BA. Elegantly furnished, internet access, heated pool, covered parking, exercise room.

Available May, June, Aug., Sept., Oct., Dec., 2014.

Non-smoking/ pets. By owner. 941-383-1884.

Exceptional Vacation Rentals Since 1994 Homes & Condominiums Studios to Six Bedrooms Beachfront, Intercoastal or Garden Excellent Service & Staff FloRIDA VACATIon ConnECTIon www.Flvacationconnection.com 941-387-9709 877-705-2460

http://www.BradentonDistressedHomes.com

Boats

ChitwoodCharters.com Cruise or Fish Hyatt Sarasota Docks 32’/53’ Yachts - 2hrs./2 months 941-383-5232

Real Estate Wanted

Open House UNIVERSITY PARK COUNTY CLUB

BY OWNER 3BR, 2BA, Pool/ Lanai, Study/ Den, Liv. Rm. with w/b fp, 2 Car Garage, $259,000 or Best Offer INSP 10a.m.-5p.m. Saturday/ Sunday Home Will Be Sold To Highest Bidder.

941-504-6388

LONGBOAT KEY. Gulf front, heated pool on beach, 1BR/1BA condo, full kitchen, dining, sleeps/4, king pillowtop. 617-328-7145, 857-939-1049.

ON THE Gulf w/pool. 1BR condo, sleeps 4. Nicely furnished, cable, phone, full kitchen, living, dining area, W/D in building. Weekly or Monthly. May through January. $1600/mo. 941-351-5101.

THE ULTIMATE VIEW OF THE GULF! Beautiful 3BR/2BA condo in small, intimate 11 unit building, ½ mile N. of Publix. Twenty feet from the beach!

All desired amenities, including pool, large balconies with full gulf view from each bedroom.

Ceiling to floor windows everywhere. One month minimum. Now renting for summer and fall 2014 & winter 2015. Available for personal viewing from 12-30 to 1-13. E-mail photos are available.

Phone 1-812-455-7237 or E-mail: rednose@evansville.net WEEKLY RENTALS. Luxurious, fully furnished 1 - 4 bedrooms. Condominiums and Cottages.

Beach to Bay. On-site management. Pools, tennis, boat slips. Visit: www.FloridaRent.com for information and virtual tours. 800-333-7335, 941-383-3117.

Weekly/ Monthly/ Seasonal Rates Beachfront, Bayfront and In Between Houses or Condos

LIDO BEACH CONDOMINIUMS Weekly - Monthly - Seasonal

Reservations 941-383-6127 Visa/ MC 800-352-0367

Resort Properties, Inc. Licensed Real Estate Broker Full Service Condominium Management

5360 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Suite 101 Longboat Key, FL 34228 Rental office 9a.m. - 5p.m. M-F

941-388-3921 - 888-388-3921 941-650-1857 Visit us at: resortproperties.pro

Ask about our special rates!

Wagner Realty Since 1939 www.wagnerrentals.com

LIDO BEACH Vacation paradise. 1 & 2 bedroom condos overlooking beautiful Lido Beach.

Weekly rates. Lido Dorset. Rental condo.

1-800-734-3370.

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CLASSIFIED LINE AD PRICE First 15 words ............. $17.50 per week Each Add’l word ...............................50¢ 15% DISCOUNT for 4 week Run Yellow color $5 per Week Border as low as $3 per Week

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Call: 955-4888

+TI[[QNQML[ Email: classified@yourobserver.com Online: www.YourObserver.com

You. SOURCE Your Neighbors.

YourCLASSIFIED Neighborhood.

YOUR FOR LOCAL ADS

This week’s Crossword answers

FIND IT! Classifieds HOUSE CLASSIFIEDS LP # 56733

This week’s Sudoku answers

HOUSE CLASSIFIEDS LP # 117730

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2013

This week’s Cryptogram answers

Your source for local Classifieds

1. In legal terminology, now and then we run into glaring redundancies - such as criminal lawyer!

2. Criminals can now get educated and even receive actual diplomas. The most well-established is the proverbial “third degree.”

Vacation/Seasonal Rentals

LONGBOAT OBSERVER THE LONGBOAT OBSERVER THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 Thursday, January 9, 2014

www.yourobserver.com Catering

Home Improvement/ Remodeling

HHHHH

ISLE TILE

BLUE DOLPHIN CAFE

FOR “QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE”

“Your Home by the Sea” www.casadelmar.net Weekly/Monthly Condominium Rentals 4 Night Minimum Reservations: 941-383-5549 Fax: 941-383-7925 Office Open 7 Days, 9a.m. - 5p.m.

4621 Gulf of Mexico Drive Longboat Key, FL 34228 Fully equipped 2BR/2BA condos with washer and dryer, and wireless internet in each unit.

Extra Large Heated Gulf View Swimming Pool!

OUR GUESTS RETURN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.

Adult Care Services A Lending Hand, Inc.

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNERS ARE BACK AT OUR LONGBOAT KEY CENTRE SHOPS LOCATION!!

FRIDAY **JANUARY 10**

4 LIVE MAINE LOBSTER 4 BLUE FIN CRAB CAKES 4 PRIME RIB 4 VEAL PICCATA ALL ENTREES SERVED WITH CHEF’S CHOICE STARCH & VEGETABLE

CNA SERVICES: will drive to appointments, meals prepared, every day chores. Experienced.

Call 941-792-5135.

COMPANION / HHA available for private care in your home. Part-time or Full-time. Experienced.

References. Call Elena 941-792-7357.

Air Conditioning GULFSIDE A/C & Heating, LLC. SALES & SERVICE, FREE ESTIMATES! 10 MINUTE RESPONSE. Visa/MC/Disc. Lic. #CAC1816929 941-962-6863.

Auto Transport SHIP YOUR CAR, TRUCK OR SUV anywhere in the United States. Great rates, fast quotes. Call Hawley Motors, 941-923-3421.

20 years design background.

Licensed - Insured - LBK Resident References upon request.

941-383-2659

JOHN GUBERNAT SERVICES Residential/ Commercial. Handyman Repairs, Roof Repairs, Coatings, Painting, Power Washing, Property Management, Home Watching. LBK Resident. Lic./Ins. 941-962-4867.

YOUR PERSONAL BOOKKEEPER, LLC Gail Sunray, Owner Personal & Business Bookkeeping Accounting/ Taxes I come to your home or office.

4 Bill Paying & Account Reconciliation 4 Organizing Personal and Business Files 4 Budgets & Financial Reports 4 Federal and State Tax Returns

STEVE ALLEN FLOOR COVERINGS PROFESSIONAL TILE & MARBLE INSTALLATION

HOMEMADE PIES! AND MUCH MORE... JUST ASK...

FRIDAYS NOW OPEN 8A.M.-8P.M. FULL MENU AVAILABLE BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER 383-3787 CALL FOR RESERVATIONS BEER & WINE AVAILABLE

Cleaning

Provides home healthcare from as little as 4 hours to 24/7 care.

For more info Phone: 941-809-3725 License #230506 & #30211577

Floors, bathrooms, showers, backsplashes, patio and pool decks.

Personal Services DO YOU NEED A PERSONAL ASSISTANT? Transportation, Personal Errands/Shopping, Doctor Appts, Housesitting, Social EventsTheater, Dinner etc. Light meal preparation/ housekeeping. Call Ms. Schwabe 941-932-2732.

30 YEARS experience. We take pride in pleasing customers. Homes, schools, churches, resorts, offices. 941-756-4570.

BLUE FISH CLEANING INC. 941-705-3812.

Insured, Bonded. Affordable reliable home cleaning, $60, 2 cleaners, 2 hours.

BRAZILIAN CLEANING Service by Maria.

Residential/ Commercial. Meticulous Cleaning.

Excellent References. Free Estimates. Reliable.

Lic./ Ins. 941-400-3342.

READY TO GET ORGANIZED? Organizing is my passion! Let me tackle your cupboards, closets, junk drawer, bathrooms, home office, laundry area, etc. A small project, a room, or your entire home.

Special January offer: Free consultation/needs assessment. Call Donna on LBK at 941-539-0254.

Computer Services Cmagik - LBK resident, servicing our island year round for over 12 yrs. Bachelors Degree with 20 yrs. experience, PC or MAC. Professional help with computers, iPad/iPhones and tutoring.

References upon request.

Call Cort: 383-3878, 587-5588 cmagik.com OWN A MAC/iPHONE/iPAD? MacTutor has 21+ years experience teaching Apple products.

I speak English, not “Geek”! (941) 812-3887 www.FLMacTutor.com

20 YRS. EXPERIENCE CALL FOR FREE ESTIMATE 726-1802 LIC/ INS

TILE TILE TILE All Variations of Ceramic Tile Supplied & Installed.

Free Estimates & Custom Designs.

Expert Marble & Travertine Installation Floor & Walls Grout Cleaning & Sealing Service Available

BONDED & INSURED Over 25 yrs. experience Telephone: 941-749-5646 yourbookkeeper@tampabay.rr.com

Pet Services DOGGY HOTEL/GROOMING. 24 Hour Daycare.

FREE Daycare with groom (we are the best).

3925 Brown Avenue behind Sleep King. doggyhotel.net 941-554-4620.

TIKI TIME PET SITTING! In-Home Pet Sitting! Leave your fur kids in their environment with trusted, loving care! Providing quality pet care for 10 years! No extra charge for multiple pets & Holidays! Excellent references.

480-694-0756 tikitimepetcare@gmail.com

Pressure Cleaning

Call Ashdown Flooring, Inc. LICENSED (941) 726-3077 INSURED

PRESSURE WASHING: Residential and Commercial. ECO Cleaning. Roofs, lanais, pool areas, etc. Roof coating also. 941-756-4570.

Masonry

Transportation

ALL TYPES OF MASONRY Specializing in concrete driveways, pavers, decorative concrete, stone work, patios.

Call for free and honest estimates.

941-525-2435

ISLAND SEDAN Serving Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, West Bradenton and St. Armands Towncar Service Rates: To or From: Tampa International Airport: $80 St. Pete/Clearwater Airport: $75 Sarasota/Bradenton Airport: $35 Call for rates to other locations Gratuities not included.

941-730-8803 islandsedan@gmail.com www.islandsedan.com

Painting/Wallpapering CARLO DATTILO PAINTING. Licensed & insured.

Interior/ Exterior painting including drywall repair and retexturing. Wallpaper installation & removal, pressure washing. Residential & commercial, condos. Honest & reliable. Free estimates.

941-744-1020. 35+ years experience.

RICK STEAKLEY PAINTING. Interior/Exterior.

Pressure Washing. Wallpaper Removal. Drywall Repairs. Reasonable. Reliable. Professional.

30+/years experience. References available.

Free Estimates.

Lic./Ins. 941-228-7605, rlsteakley60@gmail.com

Observer Classifieds.

It’s read everywhere.

Make Your Phone ring

Team Up With Classifieds

955-4888

Arriving

on your

screen

Winter

2014!

Reserved Space LP Reserved Space

LV7303

14B 14BYourObserver.com Classifieds

THE LONGBOAT OBSERVER LONGBOAT OBSERVER Thursday, JANUARY January9,9,2014 2014 THURSDAY,

Classifieds 15B 15B

www.yourobserver.com

BOAT SERVICES

YourObserver.com

KITCHEN/BATH REMODELING

PERSONAL SERVICES

DOCKSIDE BOAT REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE Take Control of Your Lifeâ&#x20AC;Ś Hire

Always reachable at

Providing personal and administrative support to individuals and small businesses.

941-966-0333

CARPET CLEANING

www.drgrabbars.com

SPINERGY STONE CARE SOLUTIONS

FREE

GRAB THIS DEAL

Buy 1 grab bar & get 1 FREE MASSAGE

941.387.0607

www.fatcatcarpetcleaning.com

Offering Swedish, deep tissue, and neuromuscular therapy Your home or my ofďŹ ce Private & Small Group Tai Chi & Yoga Instruction

INSTITUTE of INSPECTION CLEANING and RESTORATION

CERTIFICATION CERTIFIED FIRM

100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

941-753-7766

Lic. #MA34584

A Healerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Touch

COMPUTER

129055

Recommended by local prominent Doctors Serving Sarasota 14 Years

Introductory Massage Special

Bee Ridge & Tamiami Trl (Above Einstein Bagels)

941-920-0010

Pamela Miller

59

$

for 1½ hours

Gift Certificates Available

in the Service Directory Call today to reserve your space

1-877-308-7542 PLUMBING

MOVERS

MO V I N G

CHRISTIEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S 778-3924

128854

Dave McCarthy

PLUMBING

â&#x20AC;˘ REPAIRS & REMODELING â&#x20AC;˘ NEW CONSTRUCTION â&#x20AC;˘ EMERGENCY SERVICE â&#x20AC;˘ WATER HEATERS Family Owned & Operated â&#x20AC;˘ SEWER & DRAIN CLEANING 2 Florida State Cert. Master Plumbers #CFC1426596

Since 1975

LOCAL - LONG DISTANCE FREE ESTIMATES

Operator/Owner

129273

Friendly, Expert Computer Repairs

FURNITURE REPAIR

Day Same * e Servic

What ever â&#x20AC;&#x153;...ITâ&#x20AC;? is, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll MOVE IT! Call: 941-803-4959

OFF repair over $100

After

Moveitsuncoast@gmail.com

128967

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PERSONAL SERVICES

128270 38056

Licensed & Insured CNA on staff

Â&#x2018;Â&#x2018;Â&#x17D; Â&#x2021;Â&#x2026;Â?Â&#x2022;Č Â&#x2021;Â&#x2022;Â&#x2039;Â&#x2020;Â&#x2021;Â?Â&#x2013;Â&#x2039;Â&#x192;Â&#x17D; Č Â&#x2018;Â?Â?Â&#x2021;Â&#x201D;Â&#x2026;Â&#x2039;Â&#x192;Â&#x17D; 130369

WINDOWS

â&#x20AC;˘ Cleaning Home/OfďŹ ce/Rentals â&#x20AC;˘ Pre-arrival Services/Grocery Delivery â&#x20AC;˘ Courier Service (STA certiďŹ ed/IDC) â&#x20AC;˘ Pet Sitting/Groom/Vet Drop Off â&#x20AC;˘ General Errand Running â&#x20AC;˘ House Sitting/Vacation Home Check â&#x20AC;˘ Gourmet Meal Delivery â&#x20AC;˘ Anything you need, just ask!

941-807-6288

Â&#x2018;Â?Â&#x2021;Â&#x2022; Č Â&#x201D;Â&#x2039;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2021;Â&#x2122;Â&#x192;Â&#x203A;Â&#x2022; Č Â&#x2039;Â&#x2020;Â&#x2021;Â&#x2122;Â&#x192;Â&#x17D;Â?Â&#x2022; Č Â&#x2018;Â&#x2018;Â&#x17D; Â&#x192;Â&#x2030;Â&#x2021;Â&#x2022;

941-888-2988 FREE ESTIMATES rainscapeďŹ&#x201A;.com

suncoasterrandservices@yahoo.com

INSURANCE

INSURANCE

Lic./Ins. se Window Washin i r n Su d Pressure Cleanin g

Res./Com.

an

g

Environmentally Friendly

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Leave Your Dirty Windows To Usâ&#x20AC;?

941-447-0127 â&#x20AC;˘ 941-284-5880 â&#x20AC;&#x153;UP TO 25 STANDARD WINDOWS â&#x20AC;˘ $109.00â&#x20AC;?

SPECIAL

10%

Free Estimates

5.00

OFF + Additional $

For Senior Citizens Prices Include:

2 Bath Mirrors â&#x20AC;˘ 2 Fans â&#x20AC;˘ Tracks â&#x20AC;˘ Screens

INSURANCE

SECUR-ALL INSURANCE AGENCY LP Missing: # 130008

510 BAY ISLES ROAD, SUITE 1 â&#x20AC;˘ LONGBOAT KEY, FL (INSIDE SUNTRUST BANK)

CHUBB, AIG, UNIVERSAL, UNITED, TRAVELERS, SAFECO, PROGRESSIVE, CITIZENS, FLOOD. WE HAVE YOU COVERED!

Sell your service with success.

130008

941-383-3388 STOP BY AND MEET YOUR LOCAL AGENTS, SANDRA & GEORGE CESHKER

LV2215

128855

20 any irrigation

$

Before

*In Mo st Cases

128461

Maintenance - Repair -Installation

15% rain OFF sensors

POWER WASHING

Delivery â&#x20AC;˘ Transport â&#x20AC;˘ Hauling â&#x20AC;˘ Junk Removal

/54$//2 &52.)452% %80%243 s 777 0!4)/2%0!)23 .%4

A FULL SERVICE IRRIGATION COMPANY

5508 MARINA DR., HOLMES BEACH â&#x20AC;˘ OPEN SAT

MOVE IT! DELIVERY AND TRANSPORT

FurnitureSales Sales &&Repairs Furniture Repairs Cushions â&#x20AC;˘ Slings â&#x20AC;˘ Re-powdercoating #USHIONS s 3LINGS s 5MBRELLAS

IRRIGATION

DEPENDABLE & ON TIME BACKFLOWS

Team Up Today With Classifieds â&#x20AC;˘ 941-955-4888

PATIO REPAIRS, INC PATIO REPAIRS 941-504-0903

INSTALLATION & CERTIFY

Phone (941) 704-4278 Fax (941) 538-3781 dmccarthy114@hotmail.com

128281

Dave McCarthy

OR 778-4461

RESIDENTIAL/COMMERCIAL

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Will move anything from a couch to a householdâ&#x20AC;?

I.C.C 361253 â&#x20AC;˘ DOT 812623 FL MOVERS #IM1102

3 Document Creation 3 Special Projects

Grow your business

COASTAL MASSAGE THERAPY

128283

TILE / GROUT STAIN CONTROL

E-mail: jamerkt@comcast.net

License #MA34776

126468

CARPET / UPHOSTERY ODOR CONTROL

Office: 941.379.6302 Cell: 941.928.4325 www.yourveryownassistant.com

3 Record Keeping 3 2IĂ&#x20AC;FH 7DVNV 3 +RXVHKROG 7DVNV

128458

TRAVERTINE â&#x20AC;˘ MARBLE â&#x20AC;˘ GRANITE â&#x20AC;˘ SLATE â&#x20AC;˘ TERRAZZO Restorative Cleaning and Sealing / Stain Removal

3 De-cluttering 3 Organization

INSTALLATION

Judith A. Merkt

128464

128852

CERTIFIED & INSURED

128975

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Diversions YourObserver.com

A&E

Mary Jane Clark slays her readers with suspense.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

A&E

Spotlight: WBTTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drew Foster PAGE 4

HOME&GARDEN | HOME OF THE MONTH

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by Robert Plunket | Contributing Writer

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HOME&GARDEN COVER STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: SERIAL THRILLER

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

KILLER

“My main characters are resilient and strong. It doesn’t mean they aren’t worried, threatened or scared to death, but they figure it out and no one comes in and saves them,” Mary Jane Clark says.

INSTINCTS There’s almost always a smart, strong leading character who has to save herself in the face of a killer in Mary Jane Clark’s mystery thrillers.

W

Photo courtesy Harper Collins

hen actor and wedding-cake designer Piper Donovan came to Sarasota for a wedding one year ago, she witnessed multiple murders.

She’s headed to New Orleans this January, and she’ll take that mental baggage with her — Donovan always seems to be around when dead bodies appear. Luckily, Donovan is the fictional character in New York Times’ bestselling author Mary Jane Clark’s Piper Donovan Mystery Series. Clark is a part-time resident of Siesta Key who splits her time with Hillsdale, N.J. The fourth book and newest installment to her series, “That Old Black Magic,” will be released Jan. 21. It follows Donovan to New Orleans, where she guest bakes at a bakery in the French Quarter when a series of voodoo-related murders take place.

Clark says the location of her books is always important.

“New Orleans has everything you’d want to have in a mystery,” she says.

She was inspired after an American Library Association convention took place there following Hurricane Katrina.

“I remember being so touched because you could tell when you walked down the street and went into the little shops, that

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people were so glad that you had come,” Clark says from her Siesta Key apartment.

“I got this feeling, and really keyed into what they had been through and the hope and resilience of the people.”

In March 2012, right before she started writing, Clark went back for a visit. She saw the above-ground crypts, went on a voodoo tour, took a steamboat ride on the Mississippi and, of course, ate lots of food — to conjure just the right descriptions of the Big Easy.

Her actress daughter, Elizabeth Higgins Clark, inspired the main character of the series. A $75 Martha Stewart coffee-table book on cake decorating inspired the character’s career. She says her daughter and Piper Donovan are very similar.

“They know what they want. They have a good heart and a real sense of what’s right and wrong,” Clark says.

Clark sits comfortably atop a cozy denim couch surrounded by rattan furniture in her Siesta Key condo with a killer view.

Based on her beachy, relaxed appearance and upon a first introduction, she doesn’t seem like the type who spends her days thinking up gruesome black magic killers.

But, her bio fits the bill, or rather, kill.

First off, the name “Clark” might also

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

3

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Mary Jane Clark’s 5 favorite Sarasota spots: 1. Cà d' Zan 2. Standing at a sea turtle's new nest on the beach 3. Feeding the flamingoes at Sarasota Jungle Gardens 4. On a pontoon taking the Mote Marine/Sea Life Encounters cruise around Sarasota Bay 5. Watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from her condo on Siesta Key trigger the names Mary Higgins Clark (her former mother-in-law) or Carol Higgins Clark (her former sister-in-law) — two other famous writers. Although, Mary Jane Clark kept her name long before she started writing books, for her children’s sake.

Her former mother-in-law had some influence on Mary Jane Clark’s career.

“I always thought writing books was something mystical, like, ‘How could anyone write a book?’” she says. While the rest of the family was out waterskiing or having hot dogs on the deck, her former mother-in-law would be in her room working on her next book.

“I would see how hard she worked and I realized it wasn’t so much about the magic, but it was about the hard work,” Clark says.

More so than her former in-laws’ familial connection to writing, Clark herself grew up in an environment prone to suspense.

She grew up in New Jersey where her father, Fred Behrends, worked for the FBI on Russian espionage, kidnapping and extortion cases.

“He never would talk about his cases, but sometimes I’d read about them in a newspaper,” she says. “There was a feeling of suspense for what he did for a liv-

A shelf in Mary Jane Clark’s condo proudly displays her first 15 books. ing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that influenced me in going into suspense writing.”

But, it was media coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination that made her want to work in television news. She got her first job in New York at CBS as a desk assistant making $117 a week, working the overnight shift. She’d work her way up over the next 27 years, covering everything from hurricanes and shootings to politics and visits from the pope.

“Sometimes you’d think, ‘God, you couldn’t make this stuff up!’” she says about the content she was producing.

“That was so wonderfully fertile and showed me that if I could think of it, it could happen.”

She started writing her first book, “Do You Want to Know a Secret,” on the side of her CBS job. In 1991, she was newly divorced from her husband, David Clark.

She had a 5-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and a 1-year-old son, David, with Fragile X syndrome, a developmental disability.

Clark began working part time at CBS to be around for her son, and needed an additional means of financial support. She says she probably wouldn’t have started writing if it weren’t for her son’s birth — she wanted to secure a financial future for him. It grew into something much bigger

Photo by Mallory Gnaegy

than she thought.

“It was totally therapeutic for me,” she says. “Because my life was kind of spinning out of control, and in writing the story I could control everything that happened.”

She wrote 10 books while at CBS, and retired from the news career in 2007 as a producer. She now devotes her time to writing her successful thrillers.

Clark fits the recurring theme of her books: characters, mostly women, who find themselves in hard situations, but figure it out and save themselves.

“It may not be some killer with a knife hiding in your closet or anything that obviously dramatic, but I think everyone has ups and downs and hard things they have to get through in life,” she says.

IF YOU GO Luncheon with Mary Jane Clark When: Noon Wednesday, Feb. 19 Where: Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave. Cost: Tickets $25.

Info: Call 366-9000.

Courtesy photo

“That Old Black Magic” goes on sale Jan. 21.

Visit MaryJaneClark.com for more information.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: SPOTLIGHT

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Sarasota stages foster upcoming actor Actor David Foster is an example of what happens when a talented child grows up on the stages of Sarasota and then decides to pursue acting.

He has performed in national tours and received positive reviews as a director, but for the next month, he will perform in the city where he got his start.

He can be seen in Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s threeman play, “The Whipping Man,” through Feb. 2. He’s playing a Jewish Confederate soldier who returns home following the Civil War to learn it was destroyed and his family fled, and the only two remaining people who can help him are his former slaves who are now free. Foster calls it a “secrets play,” meaning the plot is well constructed with secrets revealed as the play goes on — it constantly surprises.

Although Foster is from Sarasota, he showed big ambition when it came to his career.

First, he didn’t go to just any college to study acting — he studied it at Juilliard. He isn’t one of those actors who has to work at a restaurant on the side. And he isn’t a “New York-based” actor who really live in Queens — he lives in Manhattan. He didn’t struggle for work upon graduation, either. Instead, he immediately joined a national tour of “West Side Story” for two years. He’s also met success as a director. Last summer, he and a producer took over Shelter Island Theatre Co. in Long Island, N.Y., and he directed “Much Ado About Nothing,” which garnered enough positive reviews that Foster will di-

IF YOU GO ‘The Whipping Man’ by Matthew Lopez When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 p.m.

Sundays. Runs through Feb. 2.

Where: Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Theater, 1646 10th St. Cost: Tickets are $29.50.

Info: Call 366-1505 or visit wbttroupe.org.

Photo by Mallory Gnaegy

“My plan was to go to school for theater or move to New York City and pursue acting, and I never had doubts that it would happen,” Drew Foster says. “There were always questions on what scale at which it happened, but whether I would be doing it was never a question.” rect a spring production and three more this summer.

But, he still thinks that some of the best shows in which he performed were here in Sarasota, when he was a child.

It all started in 1993, when a participatory children’s show at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall pulled him on stage to perform. He

enjoyed the experience so much his mother, Kim Raymond, enrolled him in Florida Studio Theatre’s youth acting program. When area professional theaters needed a child actor, such as in The Golden Apple Dinner Theatre’s 1999 production of “Camelot” and Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor”

— they cast Foster. Soon after, he was performing at Manatee Players, Sarasota Players and in the Island Shakespeare Festival on Anna Maria Island.

Foster worked with Howard Millman throughout his youth.

Millman is the former producing artistic director at Asolo Rep and is also directing “The Whipping

Man.” He contacted Foster about the latest role.

“It’s so wonderful to be woring with Howard again now that I’m an adult,” Foster says with a small chuckle. “When you’re a kid, adults are just adults.”

When he was a kid, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe wasn’t an equity house. Instead, it didn’t have a theater space. The theater at 10th Street, which it now owns, was a fencing academy then. The company has grown a lot in the time that Foster has been away.

“I think ‘The Whipping Man’ will be really great for this company, without sounding too presumptuous,” Foster says.

He thinks audiences will be impressed with the quality, the direction and the set.

“Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe constantly has to raise the bar on itself to grow the audience and have a footprint in the community theatrically, and this is the next step in its path,” he says.

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: BACKSTAGE PASS

5

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

The Alfstad family paints a collaborative vision “All in the Family” is more than The Ice House’s most recent exhibit, which features the work of Sarasota artists and the work of their fellow artist children.

But there’s another prominent family tied to this exhibit, which opens Friday, Jan. 10: the Alfstads.

Sam Alfstad and his daughters, Casey Alfstad and Annie Mayme Alfstad, are the reason The Ice House debuted in November.

In January 2013, Sam Alfstad, 67, moved to Sarasota to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He had previously worked in advertising as a creative director and eventually founded a market research company, eMarketer. When Casey Alfstad moved to Sarasota in summer 2012 to work in the arts (she was responsible for SRQ Magazine’s Saturday morning editorial cartoons), Alfstad decided to plant roots, as well.

Annie Mayme Alfstad, the 28-year-old business-minded daughter, was living in New York in 2012 working at eMarketer. The trio doesn’t remember the specific details, but somewhere along the line they began to envision founding a production company in Sarasota. On Nov. 25, 2012, they met at Sam Alfstad’s home in New York for a first official meeting.

“The thing that got us all excited was the concept,” says Annie Mayme Alfstad.

They pictured a production company that would re-imagine how to make and market art. They pictured a studio space where artists could collaborate on one topic.

“Most artists working independently go into the studio (to work),

IF YOU GO Sarasota artists: ‘All in the Family’ Featuring the work of the Andersons, Deans, Lindhardts and Strenks When: Noon to 6 p.m. from Friday, Jan. 10 through Sunday, Jan. 19 Where: The Ice House, 1314 10th St. Cost: Tickets are $25 for opening night gala, 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10. General admission is $10.

Info: Visit alfstadand.com.

Photo by Mallory Gnaegy

Casey Alfstad, Sam Alfstad and Annie Mayme Alfstad at The Ice House. Sculptural pieces by Mark Anderson on display in “Sarasota Artists: All in the Family.” then pop out with piece and say, ‘What do you think?’” says Alfstad. “And most people don’t know what to think.”

Alfstad says it’s like when he was a creative director and had to focus his artists on one idea — narrow confinement and collaboration was how the artists worked best.

In January 2013, the Alfstads rented a studio space at 1421 Fifth St. They gathered a group of local artists, freelancers and Ringling College of Art and Design students who began creating work in March 2013 for what would become “Reimagining Georgia O’Keeffe and

Alfred Stieglitz: 2014” (the February 2014 exhibit). That’s when Alfstad realized they would need a place to showcase the work.

Before that, The Ice House wasn’t even a thought.

The three Alfstads first envisioned a pop-up gallery, when Casey Alfstad stumbled across the old icehouse in the Rosemary District last summer. Back then, it was being rented as a furniture-upholstery and consignment shop. It had a contemporary feel — white 13-foot-high walls, cement floors and the perfect rough-aroundthe-edges quality reminiscent of major contemporary galleries in

Los Angeles and New York. It had a room they could revamp into an educational room to tell the story and context of the featured art.

“It was perfect,” Casey Alfstad says. And the Alfstads’ business plan worked out perfectly, too: Alfstad would oversee the whole company, Casey Alfstad would run the studio space, and Annie Mayme Alfstad would run the gallery.

“Reimagining Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz: 2014,” which opens Feb. 6, will be the Alfstads’ realized vision. There are about 15 visual and dance artists represented who use a variety of medi-

ums — seven are in house, others are local collaborative artists, and some are internationally based.

They created appropriations of the late groundbreaking artists’ (O’Keefe and Stieglitz) work using modern technology and techniques to create new pieces.

“We’re trying to re-imagine something that’s been there, but hasn’t been fully realized,” Annie Mayme Alfstad says of the model they’ve formed.

“It’s based on an ideal rather than a profit plan,” Casey Alfstad adds.

Just as the Alfstads combined their unique talents and visions to create Alfstad& Productions and The Ice House, the artists do the same.

“We think there’s room in the art world for other models and other ways to go,” Alfstad says.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: HIGHLIGHTS

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Super Strings have super experience with Itzhak Perlman

Toby Perlman interacts with the audience.

PMP/Suncoast Super Strings fill the first two rows of audience at the feet of Itzhak Perlman as the Winter Residency orchestra play on stage.

Camden Jenkins

Photos by Mallory Gnaegy

To have your wedding considered for publication in Diversions, please email stephanie@yourobserver.com the information below, in addition to 5 to 10 high-resolution photos.

Changing the World One Smile at a Time

Bride’s and Groom’s full names: Parents’ names: How the couple met: The proposal (details and date): The wedding (details and date): The reception: Honeymoon: Fun facts:

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

BrIdE’s pArEnTs: Carl and susanne Wise

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How tHey met: Both being at a point in their lives in which they were ready to meet “Mr. or Mrs. Right,” Dan and Courtney are happy to admit they met through eHarmony. At the time, Dan was living in Apollo Beach, so the two emailed back and forth for quite some time before they met in person.

The couple’s first date was Feb. 13, 2010, at Mediterraneo.

He tried to get her to go out of town one weekend, but Courtney’s focus was on her 4-day-old nephew. Because he couldn’t get Courtney out of town, Dan decided the morning of Feb. 13, 2012, that he had waited long enough and was ready to propose.

tHe weDDING: The couple was married at sunset March 1, at Ringling’s Cà d’Zan Mansion. Courtney’s tHe PRoPoSAL: 12-month-old nephew was even Dan had the ring three months part of the processional. The Rev. before he proposed to Courtney. Andrea Taylor, of St. Boniface

Episcopal Church, performed off the beautiful neutral colors of shoes once the dancing began. the ceremony. the Ca’ d’Zan. The evening featured a photo booth by Bash Booths so guests tHe ReCePtIoN: HoNeymooN: could take their photo home as The reception also took place Wanting to go somewhere nei- a favor, including a photo holder at the beautiful Cà d’Zan. Sarah ther one of them had been, the designed by Inkling-Print.

Tucker, of Sarah Tucker Events, couple decided to honeymoon The bride’s sister, Erika Wise Borwas instrumental in assisting on the islands of French Polyne- land, designed and created many with the look and many details sia. They became scuba certified of the paper items for the big day, of the wedding. The goal was to so they could dive on the trip. including the ceremony program, incorporate nautical elements table numbers and menu cards. that represented Dan’s passion FUN FACtS: The couple desired a smaller for fishing and softer elements To keep with the nautical theme, cake, because they wanted to to represent Courtney. The colors the bridesmaids wore matching have a dessert bar by Michael’s were a mix of navy, cream and lockets with tiny anchors inside and On East at which guests could gold. The couple wanted to play the groomsmen changed into boat choose their own sweet treat.

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January 2 was the culmination of what 25 students have been looking forward to since August. A huge tent on USF Sarasota-Manatee’s campus packed a full audience to witness the young musicians play under the direction of Itzhak Perlman. The mostly local students from different schools and of ages ranging from 10 to 18 auditioned in August and attended two afternoons of workshops Itzhak Perlman dir throughout the summer ec Suncoast Super St ts the PMP/ and fall to prepare a violin rings solo. They played Antonio Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 3, No. 6, movement through Jan. 4. Following an au1 and were accompanied by the dience Q&A relating to the Super Strings Program, the non-local PMP String Orchestra.

Typically, the tent hosts au- PMP String Orchestra continued diences that sit in on free par- its rehearsal. This group consists ticipatory rehearsals during the of students from as far away as Winter Residency from Dec. 23 Australia, Norway and Israel.

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// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: REVIEWS

Selling Sarasota Successfully

THEATER

Representing The Finest Properties In Sarasota

// ‘Loot’

MUSIC // Perlman Music Program 10th Anniversary Gala This is not a review. I wouldn’t attempt to review what is, in most ways, perfection. Rather, it’s the personal story of one of the most exciting, fun evenings of music in memory, and it all revolved around the 10th anniversary gala of the Perlman Music Program’s Winter Residency here in Sarasota.

Although the program involved open rehearsals, master classes and performances for a couple of weeks over the holidays, I’ll concentrate on the concert and gala that took place this Saturday evening at the Sarasota Opera House. The concert featured a bevy of super-talented string players between the ages of 12 and 20, with the internationally renowned and beloved violinist, conductor and singer (yes, singer), Itzhak Perlman.

What we heard at the gala concert is that PMP is doing everything right. The first part of the program was devoted to choral music under the direction of Patrick Romano. Singing string players? Yes. They learn to sing in a chorus so they can sing with their instruments. They learn to breathe and phrase and be great musicians.

These are string players, not singers. But the musicianship they learn from using their Godgiven instruments, the built-in ones, will make them finer players in the long run. (And there was, somewhere in that group, one soprano who had a real voice. Maybe she’ll become another Judith Blegen, the violinist-turned-Met

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“Loot” runs through Jan. 19, at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Call 351-8000 or visit asolorep.org/ conservatory for more information. make a nice comic duo portraying Hal, the rotten-but-honest son and Dennis, the oversexed undertaker, respectively.

Brian Owen puts in an inspired comic performance as Truscott of the Yard. Essentially, he’s a self-satisfied, self-righteous rotter: a man with no morals whatsoever, who’s bloatedly moralistic about it. On top of that, he’s a bloviating parody of Sherlock Holmes, complete with deerstalker, pipe and magnifying glass. Truscott starts off with a series of dazzling deductions, but he fails to notice the corpse in the room. It’s a brilliantly written character — and the comic mainspring of the play. Owen brings him to life.

Paul Herbig is fine as Meadows, Truscott’s robotic bobby sidekick, mangling the English language or suspects as the need arises.

Michael Frishman channels Mr. McLeavy’s increasingly tattered presence.

Nurse Fay (Olivia Williamson) cloaks herself in Heaven’s righteousness, as opposed to the State’s. She marries and murders for money while spouting sanctimonious drivel. Her walk doesn’t match her talk, but she never notices.

Speaking of talk, “Loot” is stuffed with savagely funny dialogue. Bad people say nice things and it’s funny; hypocrisy is the fuel of farce. Orton didn’t discover that fact. His genius was unplugging the machinery of moral punishment. In the world of his play, crime often pays. It does in the real world, too, after all.

That’s the uneasy joke at the play’s heart.

And the joke’s on us.

— Marty Fugate

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Opera soprano, who used her instrumental training to become one of the world’s finest singers.)

In the second half, the players did a memorable performance of Mozart’s exposed “Eine kleine Nachtmusik.” As Perlman said before he conducted the work, this may sound like simple music but it’s very difficult and very complex.

With Perlman’s help on the podium, the kids got it, especially the richness of the inner voices, and this was a beautifully crafted presentation.

They concluded with the outer movements of Mendelssohn’s great octet for strings in the orchestral version. Here, it was the lower voices that soared, especially in the final movement when the basses and cellos positively buzzed with passion and precision.

But now we come to the personal part. Toby Perlman and I were both at the High School of Music and Art in New York City at about the same time. That means we’ve known each other for more than a half-century. Her inspiration gave birth to the wondrous PMP. And the party that followed the concert, and included the faculty and students as well as sponsors and PMP Friends, was what making music is all about.

After a sumptuous dinner at Michael’s On East, the Perl-Tones — renamed the Try-Tones for this event — took the stage for some of the most cultivated Doo-wop in the history of music: Bass player Rachel Calin, violinist/singer Sean Lee and Merry Peckham (all faculty members) joined with choral director/Doo-wop soprano extraordinaire, Patrick Romano, and basso Woo-Woo-Woo specialist Itzhak Perlman for renditions of the 1956 best-seller, “In the Still of the Night,” and, our favorite, “Walk Like a Mensch.” Who knew?

— June LeBell

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Back in the mid-1960s, Joe Orton, the late, lamented, bad boy British playwright, burned up the theater world with three outrageous farces. (“Outrageous” used in its original, literal sense of inspiring outrage.) “Loot,” the current FSU/Asolo Conservatory production of one of his farces, shows us what the outrage is all about. The play is a slaughterhouse for sacred cows. These include dogged detectives, noble nurses, religion in general, Catholicism in particular, sexual repression, the sanctity of the British family and respect for the dead.

The plot? A young lad’s bisexual lover works as an undertaker at a funeral home next to a bank. The pair tunnel into the bank, steal a ton of loot and stash it in a wardrobe in the lad’s house. Unfortunately, a thuggish detective pokes his nose in, pretending to be from the waterworks to avoid the tedious paperwork of search warrants. Er, fortunately, the lad’s mum is dead — the victim of a serial killer nurse. To avoid detection, the lads stuff the money in the coffin, and they put the corpse in the wardrobe.

Corpse and money change places repeatedly. A glass eye rolls away. Human rights are abused, and common decency violated. This goes on for a while as Orton dials the outrage up to 11. Ultimately, the guilty are rewarded and the innocent punished.

This truncated summary may sound hilarious, but it doesn’t really say why it’s so hilarious on stage. Orton, for want of a better term, plays it straight. (His material reminds me of that Monty Python undertaker sketch where the bereaved son is informed they can bury, burn or dump his mother — and nobody ever cracks a smile.)

Director Jonathan Epstein plays it straight, too. No winking, mugging, elbows to the ribs or giggles. He offers us an absurd, amoral, bizarro-world universe where black is white, good is bad and up is down — and nobody seems to notice. (Except for the one innocent person who gets what’s coming to him.) Nobody in this comedy knows they’re in a comedy, and that’s why the comedy works. Bravo.

Epstein’s comic timing is equally sharp — a clockwork outrage, if you will. The reactions, pauses, double-takes and slow burns are all perfect. Kudos also for movement coach Eliza Ladd and fight choreographer Brian Nemiroff for the flow of bodies in space. This staging is as much a dance as a performance.

As to the second-year conservatory student actors, they all seem to be having the time of their lives.

Jory Murphy and Matthew Anderson

7

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// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: REVIEWS

MUSIC // The Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Just before the Christmas holiday, the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota had a particularly busy weekend; it produced three different programs in two days at the Historic Asolo Theater. We attended two of them: a semi-staged version of Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and a variety show called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” featuring “Annie” star Andrea McArdle. The performances shared some of the same singers and, except for a couple of imports such as McArdle, most of the talent was local and, for the most part, non-professional.

The afternoon performance of “Amahl,” for example, featured Le Voci di Venezia, an accomplished group of high school singers from Venice High under the direction of a rather self-effacing Stephen Johns.

These talented young students had a lovely blend, excellent diction and paid special attention to well-accented rhythms with a wide dynamic range. There were also some excellent, though unnamed, soloists.

“Amahl,” one of the wonders of mid-20th century television operas, didn’t come off quite so well, but it was still good to hear it again. Performed in costume with minimal staging and little theatricality or emotion, it was well sung, and we couldn’t help thinking it would have come off better in a simple concert setting.

Although Amahl is supposed to be a young shepherd boy, Andrea Guaita, a 12-year-old local girl who sings with the Sarasota Young Voices and plays violin with the Sarasota Youth Orchestra, sang the role attractively. She’s an exceptionally musical singer with good diction, and it will be interesting to follow her path. Deborah Berioli, a local soprano, sang the role of the Mother

Courtesy photo

File photo

“Annie” star Andrea McArdle performed in the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota’s variety show “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” at the Historic Asolo Theater.

Sarasota’s Maria Wirries, 16, was featured in two songs in the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota’s variety show “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

with a rich, mellow sound that managed the low tessitura of the part (originally written for a mezzo), quite well. Tenor Christopher Culpepper and baritones Anthony Offerle and Todd Donovan suitably performed the roles of the three kings, with 19-year-old Jose Guaita as the Page.

Pianist Mary Jeanne Moorman and flutist Michael Alegria, who offered clarity and support to the singers, accompanied the piece, originally scored for small orchestra.

And members of Le Voci di Venezia played the chorus of peasants.

“Amahl” is a particularly dramatic opera that, through Menotti’s music and libretto

(yes, he wrote it all), shows us one of the minor miracles of Christmas: a young peasant boy who, through faith, is able to cast aside his crutch, walk, run and even jump.

It has wonderful arias for almost everyone, tuneful, beautiful melodies that further the plot and take us to a time when miracles were both astonishing and commonplace.

It’s a beautiful story set to sublime music, and we commend the Artist Series for bringing it back to us and introducing it to youngsters who may not have encountered it before.

“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” which we attended the next evening, was

less than wonderful because, like many talent-show-type events, it was a hodgepodge of miscellany centering around popular Christmas songs performed by a muddle of performers, some more winning than others.

McArdle, who is now 50, has less voice than she had at 14 and seemed to have trouble not only sustaining her higher notes, but also making any real emotional connection with the audience. She’s professional.

She looks good. But there’s an emptiness about her performance that I found rather sad. What used to be remarkable and cute is now hollow and tired. Maybe it was a bad night for her.

Some of the other acts were more positive. A quartet of singers (Johanna Fincher, Amy Connours, Baron Garriott and Timothy O’Connor) from Gloria Musicae had an excellent blend and sound in a group of well-known carols, especially the Wilhousky setting of “Carol of the Bells,” which was originally arranged for a massive chorus and is particularly difficult for four solo voices.

Sixteen-year-old local superstar, Maria Wirries, was featured in two songs, including a lovely new work by James Grant called “Christmas Comes Tomorrow.”

Deborah Berioli returned with songs by Alec Rowley and Joaquin Nin, and Todd Donovan, who had played King Balthazar in “Amahl” the day before, was barely recognizable as himself in carols and pop songs.

The three distinguished pianists performing with the singers were Lee Dougherty Ross, Alan Corey and, doubling as pianist/ musical director, Steve Marzullo.

We should mention one funny moment when Berioli began one of a set of Nin’s “Villancicos” in a Spanish dialect. As do most of these charming songs, this one begins with the syllables “ah” and “ee” (spelled “A-iiii”). A gentleman a few seats away from us said rather loudly, “Can’t understand a word.” Ah, the joys of trying to impress an audience.

— June LeBell

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// HOME&GARDEN : HOME OF THE MONTH

by Robert Plunket | Contributing Writer (continued from page 1)

DREAMS FOR SALE Photos by Ryan Gamma

Architect Guy Peterson created a composition in mahogany and stone for the home’s exterior. The round cylinder at center contains one of two elevators; there’s air-conditioned parking for up to eight cars.

The main rooms open onto terraces overlooking the pool and the Gulf.

In the master bedroom: a fireplace, 14-foot ceilings, and expansive views of the beach.

O

A chickee hut, made in the traditional manner, provides shade for the swimming pool.

In addition to a room-size shower, the master bath boasts a stand-alone tub.

hana, the spectacular new home on Longboat Key, is more than the just the most expensive property in town.

It’s also a glimpse into Sarasota’s future, where one-of-a-kind showplace homes are already beginning to lure the world’s super rich to our corner of Florida.

Every day, it seems, writers and photographers show up to document the home’s design for the media. A TV crew from Qatar is preparing a feature. And real estate bloggers from all over the world are chiming in with gushing praise.

For Sarasotans, Ohana has

a special significance. Here is something new. It’s like a page is being turned, from the hermetically sealed Mediterranean mansions of the past to something much more elegant and sophisticated. Ohana celebrates two of Sarasota’s greatest glories — its modernist architecture and its beach lifestyle. Here, no matter the price of the home — and Ohana is listed at $22 million — chances are the lucky owner still has a little sand in his very expensive shoes. *** Ohana was built by a wealthy Canadian family who lavished

three years and a medium-size fortune on getting their dream home just right. They hired Guy Peterson — definitely Sarasota’s architect of the moment — to design the home, builder Michael Walker to execute the structurally complicated plans, and renowned landscape designer Raymond Jungles (yes, that’s his real name) to turn the two-and-a-half acres of beachfront into a tropical resort.

And “resort” is the key word here. Ohana feels like that exclusive getaway in the South Seas that you sometimes stumble across online: turquoise water,

white sand, and deceptively simple rooms that rely on nature for beauty. And as in a resort, separate areas create retreat-like spaces for privacy while others — the pool, beach, and tennis court — offer conviviality and recreation.

The original bones of the compound date back to the 1950s, with a 2,900-square-foot beach home. Peterson turned the structure into a Zen-like guest house, spare and elegant, with large expanses of glass that draw the sea oats and white sand indoors.

To one side is a large swimming pool, designed by Jungles, with a shallow “sunning shelf” and

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// HOME&GARDEN IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS ...

Photos by Heather Merriman

Handcrafted teak cabinets add warmth to the kitchen. Countertops are granite.

A tennis court and a private seawall are among the estate’s special amenities.

The main living area is elegant but informal. Across the terrace lies the master bedroom.

a deeper area for serious swimming. A chickee hut, the local equivalent of the classic tiki hut, covers a portion of the water.

The property contains several “chickees” built using the traditional methods and materials of the Miccosukee Indians — palm thatch covering a cypress roof structure.

Set a little further inland are the three new pavilions, elevated and connected by outdoor walkways.

Farthest south are a guest suite and staff quarters. Next comes the main living area, with a large gathering space more than 40 feet long. The surprisingly small — but very deluxe — kitchen opens off the living area, reinforcing the fact that this is a vacation home for family and friends. A wet bar and a “breakfast nook” — actually the size of a dining room — add flexibility to the space, and a semi-circular media room is tucked off to one side.

The northern-most pavilion is Ohana’s tour-de-force, featuring what may well be the most beau-

luxurious and deluxe, which repeat his design theme of wood and stone. The floors in most rooms are white oak set in borders of Philippine shellstone, the oversized interior doors are of Douglass fir and mahogany, and the vaulted ceilings are also clad in carefully detailed mahogany.

Built-in cabinets are teak.

And there are touches you don’t expect. The home’s glass walls are tinted so as not to confuse newborn turtle hatchlings with bright lighting. There is not just one elevator but two; the one in the master descends directly to the pool and garage. There’s airconditioned parking for seven or eight cars, and a catering facility on the ground level. The most surprising touch is the cleverly hidden powder room near the living area. Hidden behind a sculptural wooden panel, you’d never know it was there. *** Who will buy Ohana?

Realtor Deborah Beacham of Michael Saunders & Co., who

tiful bedroom in Sarasota. The ceiling soars more than 14 feet high and glass walls enclose three sides of the room. Because of the way the structure is situated, the view to the north encompasses several miles of white sand beach with no other houses visible.

The master bath is entered through large sliding doors set on ball bearings, rather like an elaborate barn door. There are his and her water closets, each with the “light box” walls that have become a Peterson signature. The bathtub is filled through a waterfall mechanism but it is the shower that provides the real wow factor: it’s 8 by 10 feet, with various sprays, some wall-mounted, and a programmed lighting and sound system. There’s even a window offering a view of the Gulf.

Ohana — it means “family” in Hawaiian — is a large home with many distinct spaces, and it was Peterson’s challenge to make everything seem part of the whole.

He has done this by using a limited vocabulary of materials, all

is handling the sale, feels it will be someone who, up until now, would have headed for Naples or Palm Beach. In the race to capture the high-profile celebrities and mega-rich CEOs, our neighboring cities to the south and the east have traditionally held the edge.

But maybe not anymore. Ohana is raising the bar. Sarasota is now firmly on the radar of the world’s rich and famous, drawn by our informality, our culture and our incredible beaches.

And our prices don’t hurt either. Even the rich love a deal.

Ohana, with its $22 million price tag, would easily cost twice that in Naples — if you could find something so unique.

White oak floors bordered by Philippine shellstone help unite the home’s design.

Most rooms are capped with vaulted ceilings and clerestory windows.

The doorway to the master bath: wood framed glass panels which slide on ball bearings.

For more information, call Deborah Beacham of Michael Saunders & Co. at 376-2688.

YOUROBSERVER.COM // See more photos of Ohana online.

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// FOOD&COOKING:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

COLUMN

TIDBITES

by June LeBell

THE BLUE ROOSTER CROWS

Contributing Columnist june@junelebell.com

SARASOTA WINS COVETED AWARDS

W

e’re sure you’ve heard that Business Insider recently named Sarasota as the No. 1 city, for its size, in music and nightlife. Now we’re pleased to report Florida Trend magazine honored 10 Sarasota restaurants with accolades in its annual Golden Spoon Awards, which recognizes the culinary and dining leaders in Florida.

Writing about Louies Modern’s Best New award in Florida Trend, Chris Sherman said it “… is hip casual and slamming. Bang into short rib burgers, 48-hour pork chops, wood-oven duck or ease into sweet potato taquitos or spaghetti squash pomodoro. Very smart drinking.”

Meanwhile, LM’s older sister, Libby’s Café + Bar, also earned a top honor when it was awarded its fifth Golden Spoon. Writing about Libby’s, Sherman said it is “the (Hillview) neighborhood’s staple for nouveau comfort foods, from sliders of Kobe meatloaf and Velveeta, truffled fries

A SPECIAL NEW YEAR’S TREAT FOR OUR READERS

I

n this new year, as we all scramble resolutions and eggs with equal ardor, I thought I’d share with you part of an email my friend and WQXR colleague, Robert Sherman, sent to me last year. Although Bob loves food, he’s not what you’d call a seasoned chef. Here’s what happened when he attempted what he thought was a fairly simple recipe for banana bread by his late wife, Veronica, who was a fabulous cook.

and pork filet mignon, to Gulf grouper and Mote caviar.”

We weren’t aware there was a “nouveau comfort food,” being old-school comf o r t , ourselves, but we’re certainly willing and happy to try it. Perhaps everything old really is new again.

About Shore Diner, another Best New restaurant, Sherman wrote, “St. Armands gets a colorful shot of hip Southern California retro and a fresh take on shop-n-chew retail. Sip rubyred cocktails and eat quinoa salad and lobster LGBTs à la Malibu on the patio after eying/buying harem pants, jams, tees and fedoras.”

In addition to Libby’s, Derek’s, Mozaic and Selva Grill also received Golden Spoon awards. After receiving numerous Golden Spoon awards throughout the years, Michael’s On East earned the Hall of Fame award.

And Carmel Café, Fleming’s and Roy’s, which all have restaurants in Sarasota, were named Best Brands.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ COMES TO TOWN

T

he “Downton Years” are being celebrated at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 17 with a glorious four-course wine dinner in the traditional English style at the magnificent Powel Crosley Estate, 8374 N. Tamiami Trail. Love the TV series? Eat like a Downton lord and lady with smoked duck breasts on puff pastry (with cranberry and mint relish, of course), leek and Stilton cheese soup and a choice of several other sumptuous dishes,

“I warmed up the lemon told me that there was a juice and milk, set it aside, tube inside the spout preand then put the bananas, venting all but a few drops eggs, sugar and butter (I going through. I had to only had 3/4 of a stick, spoon out the soured milk, but who’s counting?) in which by now looked rather the food processor. ‘Whirl curdled, and dump it in. for five seconds,’ it says, “I then read further: ‘Com‘adding soured milk Steven J. Sherman bine flour, baking soda, bakthrough spout.’ The food Robert Sherman ing powder and salt, and sift processor, however, has over batter. That stumped no ‘whirl,’ only ‘pulse’ and ‘dough.’ me, since I assumed the batter was Dough didn’t sound right, so I pulsed, the glop still in the processor, and I but the thing kept turning on and off, had no idea what sifting meant. I inso I couldn’t pour in the milk. Eventu- tuited that it must mean putting the ally I managed to do it, except nobody flour through some sort of strainer.

including a classic beef tenderloin and Guinness stout demiglace served with a puff pastry crust that will have you untying your corsets and loosening your knickers for a few days to come.

Be sure to make a resy, deah, at localwineevents.com/events/ detail/511731/sarasota-taste magazines-downton-abbey-winedinner or 366-7950, or the butler won’t let you in.

So I used a pasta drainer, shaking the flour through it into a pie dish, and (tried to) put it into the processor.

Maybe 2/3 of it went in, the rest landing on the counter, floor and my shirt.

The next line said, ’Add fruit and nuts.’

“Whoops, I had already done that.

So, I panicked, and seeing the remaining walnuts, threw those in. Next, it said, ‘Turn into a well-buttered loaf pan,’ but I couldn’t because I used up all the butter. So I sprayed some vegetable oil in the pan, instead, and started ladling in the goop from the processor, removing some globs of flour that had somehow escaped my sifting.

One of Sarasota’s newest and trendiest restaurants, The Blue Rooster, at 1525 Fourth St., started a Sunday gospel brunch a few weeks ago and, between its authentic Southern food and the live, traditional and contemporary spirituals and gospel music, the place is really rocking.

Fried chicken, brownsugar glazed ham, sweet catfish fingers, biscuits and red-eye gravy, cheesy grits and fried green tomatoes are just a few of the tasty treats you’ll scarf down while you wrestle with TBR’s signature brunch cocktail, the “Hail Mary,” and swing to the beat of Sister Tsa and the Spirit Singers.

If Sunday brunch ain’t enough, ya’ll, remember there’s Southern comfort food and more music — blues, jazz, bluegrass and soul — seven nights a week. Again, make a reservation at blueroostersrq.com or those low-country shrimp and grits will be kissing you bye-bye.

“I won’t bore you with the ghastly details of the mess I left behind, but I took the pan out of the oven, only burning myself slightly in the process, and it looks OK, except for being burned, and I’ll have to figure out how to remove another glob of unsifted flour at the top, that looks like a half-opened eye glaring at me. Maybe I could cover it over with whipped cream (if I had the cream).”

We don’t recommend you follow the above, but it works for a really good belly laugh and reminder that not everyone who loves to eat also loves to cook. Hooray for great Sarasota restaurants. Happy New Year!

Larry Coryell Sat, January 11 at 8 pm Larry Coryell has been described as fresh and exciting, giving jazz standards a unique treatment that only a true master can give.

Just Added The Jake Pinto Quartet Fri, January 10 at 8 pm Cynthia Sayer and Her Hot Jazz Trio Sat, January 18 at 8 pm Sun. January 19 at 2pm

Allan Vache – clarinet Jay Mueller – string bass, Jan 18 Don Mopsick – string bass, Jan 19

129686

552-5325 or GPACTIX.com

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You’ll never think of the banjo in the same way again once you’ve heard Cynthia Sayer sizzling in her eclectic repertoire that ranges from swing and hot jazz to tango, western, classical, and more.

Black Tie

INSIDE: New Year’s Eve Speakeasy Soirée PAGE 14

YourObserver.com

Itzhak Perlman and Jed Paradies

Co-Chairs Linda Ross, Kathy Horowitz and Diana Houston

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

Valerie Leatherwood and Janet Ginn

PERLMAN MUSIC PROGRAM

by Heather Merriman Black Tie Assistant Editor

Holly and Paul Miller with Robert Miller and Erin Ma

To celebrate The Perlman Music Program Sarasota winter residency’s 10th anniversary, the organization held a celebration concert and gala Saturday, Jan. 4.

To start off the evening, guests gathered at the Sarasota Opera House for the Celebration Concert, which featured a perfor-

mance by The PMP Chorus, led by Chorus Master Patrick Romano, and The PMP String Orchestra, led

by Conductor Itzhak Perlman.

Following the concert, more than 360 guests continued on to Michael’s On East for the Celebration Gala where they enjoyed a social hour, fine dining and got the chance to meet and mingle with PMP Winter Residency students, alumni, faculty and fellows.

The Perlman Music Program/ Suncoast board Chair Fran Lambert thanked the guests for attending the event and for their continued support of the organization, closing out her heartfelt welcome with, “Thank you for keeping the music playing.”

Kathy Horowitz, Diana Houston and Linda Ross co-chaired the event, which was dedicated to the late Dr. David Klein.

Photos by Heather Merriman

Max Winitz and Hayley Wielgus

Phil King, Ben Ellinor, Mark Keller and Dennis Stover

David Smith and JoAnn Vrofsky with Kathy and Jerry Jordan

Bonnie Bru, Chloe Thoniet, Cynthia McCague, Delin Bru and Randall Goosby

Mickey Fine with Judy and Jack Bloch

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY ‘SPEAKEASY SOIREE’ Benefiting Powel Crosley Estate Foundation Tuesday, Dec. 31, at Powel Crosley Estate

Bill and Carolyn McCree, Bob and Diane Subach and Joanne and Pete McCree

Mary and Ed Jarcy with Sandy Faignant and Daryl Flemion

Photos by Heather Merriman

 Tyler and Richeal Parisi

Adam and Patty Gayton

Dominique Bass-Terpstra, John Bradley, Nicole Water and Matt Horton

Katy and Chris Wilson

E EE! N O FR Y BU ONE GET

y. onl ne o h p by 014 or 2 e V c i Off de: E x Bo Co

Taste Of& FASHION TheSHOW Keys

e o t th e a Prom l b a l . i s va ffer .A o lue ther a v o r y e n s les th a l or lid wi a u eq ot va Of N

Presented By The Longboat Key Garden Club - Not Your Mother’s Garden Club: An Eco-Friendly Philanthropic Organization What: Restaurants From The Keys Present Tastings,

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2 Glasses Of Complimentary Wine Or Soft Drinks;

pReSenTS

Fashions Modeled From Main Street Traders

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS: Blue Dolphin Café Bridge Street Bistro Café L’Europe Chart House Crab And Fin Dry Dock Restaurant Waterfront Grill Harry’s Continental Kitchen Lido Beach Grille

Lido Beach Holiday Inn Longboat Key Club And Resort Longboat Hilton Beachfront Resort Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub Old Salty Dog Sarasota Yogurt Company The Feast Tommy Bahama Restaurant

Emcee: Matt Walsh Where: Longboat Key Club And Resort, Harbourside

UndeR The BIg TOp Tuttle Ave. & 12th St.

When: 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 5 Why: Proceeds Support Environmental Scholarships To College Students, Grants, Educational Programs And Camp Scholarships Awarded By THE LBKGC

CIRCUSARTS.ORg 941.355.9805

FOR INFO PLEASE CONTACT SUSAN LANDAU AT:

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PURCHASE TICKETS AT: Design 2000, Whitney Beach Plaza Exit Art, Chart House And Centre Shoppes Locations LBK Chamber Of Commerce, Centre Shoppes Main Street Traders, 1468 Main St., Sarasota

Night Of Event: LBK Club And Resort, Harbourside Foyer

The Circus Arts Conservatory is a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts educational organization

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FRI JAN 10 – SUN JAN 19

Models: Phyllis Black, Felipe Cava, Clyde Chapelle, Edith Barr Dunn, Juan Florensa, Victoria Jacobson, Andy Lappin, Jeff Mayers, Ben Moussa, Kip O’Neil, Richard Perlman, Fanny Younger

00

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

15

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

Sponsored by The Humane Society of Sarasota

FINE ART FESTIVAL Barry and Judy Fireman, Kate Riggs, Martha Murphy and Steve Riggs

61 RATEEDAR#T SHOWS

FIN TOP 100 IONALLY NAT Bridgette Herrerd, Syrena Jones, Jackie Rodriguez and Jennifer Depalantino

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WEST INDIES HOME COLLECTION WEST INDIES HOME COLLECTION WEST INDIES HOME COLLECTION WEST WEST INDIES INDIES HOME HOME COLLECTION COLLECTION WEST INDIES HOME COLLECTION

16

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY DEBUTANTE BALL Benefiting Sarasota Orchestra Saturday, Dec. 21, at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium

Co-chairs Bill and Debbie Partridge

 Mark and Robin Serbin

Lauren Jeffrey, Emily Schofield, Claire Cornetet, Kelly Pacifico and Taylor Karp

Sydney Edwards, Chloe Thacker, Emily Goff and Olivia Sinclair

Photos by Heather Merriman

Steve and Edie Watson with Dr. Mike Spellman

LEE WETHERINGTON BACK IN THE SADDLE! Florida Orthopedic Specialists provides expertise in a broad range of orthopedic treatments and dedication to the best patient experience. With a state-of-the-art facility featuring the latest in technology and a highly skilled team, you can expect unparalleled patient care.

Masterworks Series: “Superb, Sublime, Splendid ...”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10 WHERE: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall COST: $30 to $84 This showcase spotlights scores by composers whose names begin with the letter ‘S.’

OUR PATIENT

Lee Wetherington

“During a recent flight to Europe, my elbow had an unfortunate collision with a beverage cart, resulting in a large bone chip. By the time I arrived at my destination, fluid had accumulated and the pain was significant. Upon my return home, with an elbow three times its normal size, I was immediately seen by Dr. Sforzo, surgery was completed, and thankfully, I quickly resumed my normal activities. Dr. Sforzo is an outstanding skilled surgeon and coupled with his caring bedside manner is why I recommend Florida Orthopedic Specialists and Sports Medicine.” - Lee Wetherington

For a list of local ev ents, or to submit your own, visit ThisWeekI nS

arasota.com/calen da

r

CONSULTANTS FOR • PREMIER SPORTS CAMPUS AT LAKEWOOD RANCH • THE OUT-OF-DOOR ACADEMY • SARASOTA ORCHESTRA • IMG ACADEMIES CHRISTOPHER R. SFORZO, M.D. CHRISTOPHER L. DILLINGHAM, M.D. BOARD-CERTIFIED. FELLOWSHIP-TRAINED. ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS.

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5831 Bee Ridge Road • Suite 200 Sarasota, FL 34233

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941.378.5100 • fossm.com

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17

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

Merrin Overbech, Cami Berlin and Katie Molinari

Danielle Gladding, Leslie Jeffrey and Margaret Mobley

Hayden Richau and Rachel Cramer

urns Ret

Max Klauber, Josh Simon, Mary York, Alex Watson, Peyton Thomas and Philip Knowles

Emily Schofield and Kate Flanders

SPECIAL THANKS TO PRITCHARDS PIANOS

Keyboard Conversations®

WITH

JEFFREY SIEGEL

American pianist Jeffrey Siegel’s concert-with-commentary format in which lively, captivating remarks precede virtuoso performances of piano masterpieces.

Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014 - BACH AND THE ROMANTICS The exhilarating Chromatic Fantasy of Bach followed by works of later composers inspired by him - Mendelssohn, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Mozart.

Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2014 - MISTRESSES & MASTERPIECES Works of passion, love, and longing inspired by “significant others” in the lives of Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt.

Shows begin at 8:00pm in the Beatrice Friedman Theater on the Federation Campus. (582 McIntosh Road, Sarasota). Tickets: $36

Please visit www.jfedsrq.org/keyboard.aspx or call Jennifer New at 941.552.6304 to purchase tickets.

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

129917

www.TheJewishFederation.org

130372

Klingenstein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232

BLacKtroupe

West coast

18

theatre

DIVERSIONS

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

preseNtING proDucer Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee

Directed by Howard Millman

128668

PAID FOR IN PART BY SARASOTA COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX REVENUES

Get tIcKets NoW! 941-366-1505 WBttsrQ.orG

Carlos Toribio, Vanessa Montero and Joshua Lopez

Photos by Heather Merriman

ACHIEVERS SCHOLARSHIP PARTNERS HOLIDAY LUNCHEON

Verdi’s American Home

Benefiting YMCA Foundation of Sarasota Inc. Tuesday, Dec. 17, at Michael’s On East

Winter Opera Festival 2014 international soloists | Full orchestra | Professional Chorus | Historic opera House | real-time english Translations | Tickets: $19–$135

Il trovatore

The Barber of Seville

Verdi part of the verdi cycle

Feb. 8–Mar. 22

The Flying Dutchman

rossini

Feb. 15–Mar. 21

Wagner

Jérusalem Verdi

Jackie Dickinson and Fernanda Camarillo

Nola and Larry Hietbrink

part of the verdi cycle

Mar. 1–23

Mar. 8–22

(941) 328-1300 | SArASoTAopera.org Paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

SeASon SPonSor

128674

Sarasota opera House 61 n. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236

CABARET SUBSCRIBE NOW “Engaging”

- Sarasota Herald-Tribune

the

Prima Donnettes

by Richard Hopkins and Jim Prosser

“Delivered... with great spirit”

Kurt Stringfellow, Paul Bowman and Dale Berkowitz

Travel Expo

2014

- Total Theater

Liz Power and Susan Haefner. Photo by Maria Lyle.

Dominick Cicco and Sarah Hund. Photo by Brian Braun.

Featuring songs: “Take Me Home Country Roads,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” and “You’ve Got A Friend”

“Colorful”

Wednesday, January 15th 3-6pm Private Presentations: 3pm ............................................ Viking River Cruises 3:35p.................................Regent Seven Seas Cruises 4:10pm ................................................African Travels 4:45pm ...Compagnie du Ponant Luxury Yacht Cruises 5:20pm ..............................................Oceania Cruises

Serving Sarasota & the Keys since 1962

Hyatt Regency Ballroom 1000 Boulevard of the Arts • Sarasota

Open to the Public

Where do you want to visit?

- Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Richard Hopkins, Artistic Director

Sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the State of Florida.

366-9000 �oridastudiotheatre.org

1241 N. Palm Avenue, Downtown Sarasota

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TOO DARN HOT Brought to you by:

Azamara Cruises • Celebrity Cruises • Silver Seas Cruises • Exter International • Seaborn Cruises • Holland America Cruises Compagnie Du Ponant Luxury Yacht Cruises • Regent Seven Seas Cruises • Ker & Downey • Denihan Hospitality Group Princess-Cunard Cruises • African Travel • Windstar Cruises • Oceania Cruises • Viking River Cruises

415 St. Armands Circle | 941.388.4421 | www.starmandstravel.com

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

19

// BLACK TIE by Heather Merriman | Black Tie Assistant Editor

SOCIAL STUDIES: JEAN WEIDNER GOLDSTEIN Sitting on a couch in Designing Women Boutique, founder and CEO Jean Weidner Goldstein opens up about her life as a dancer, an entrepreneur and a newlywed.

GROWING UP we used to go on

family picnics and campouts — I love to fish; people think that’s so funny. I’m actually a bit of a tomboy. They had trouble putting shoes on me, but the next day I would be performing in a large production looking like a little princess; the day before I was covered in dirt, barefoot, up a tree. I’ve kind of kept that.

I STARTED DANCING when I

was 4 1/2 years old. I had a wonderful teacher, a brilliant teacher, who taught her students how to interpret and act, as well as dance — I was a full artist already as a young child. I loved the fact that my parents used to rehearse and coach us — they were very supportive. My mother made all of my costumes and taught my sister and me to sew. I can sew anything from a tablecloth to a wedding dress.

MY FIRST real professional job

was Stuttgart — they were the leading company in the world at that time. I took a big chance leaving my homeland, my family, my friends and my language.

I was working with a company composed of 17 different nationalities — it was like the United Nations of ballet. It was such an amazing experience; I loved my years there. The company had a wonderful musical reputation, I worked in the theater with the opera, the ballet, the dramatics, the symphony, with the artists on new productions. And we had huge budgets — real minks on stage.

It was incredible to be a part of that. I performed in all of the great opera houses of the world for 14 years. Every day when I got out of bed it was so exciting knowing that something great and incredible would happen that day.

IN BALLET, you work with designers all the time, and not just ballet designers. I can remember we had clothing designers that would take a stab at doing a ballet. I was always in the costume department — I loved watching the creative design of the production.

But I think it was also living between Paris and Stuttgart that spiked my interest in fashion. Everything was a cut above, everything was so beautiful, the streets, the buildings, the restaurants, everything — it was such an easy style. And my mother being an artist, watching her make my costumes and décor, learning from her at such a young age and being in two companies with the best design — I’ve always loved it. I’ve always been fascinated with sequins, crowns, I loved it and I can do it. I used to make my own costumes, sew on every sequin.

I HAD ALWAYS SHOPPED

at secondhand stores in Paris — not the mothball-smelling, grubby secondhand stores, high-end stores with secondhand designer clothing. There is a great deal of taste and style in this community, so I thought, “Let’s do something like that.”

I’M A HARD TASKMASTER

— as a dancer, you’re always correcting what you’re doing wrong.

I’ve come to work slightly different with people who aren’t professional dancers. The way I correct (and have been corrected)

Photo by Heather Merriman

any other person to do.” And I live by that. If you’re going to do this, I’ll do it too.

I’M PERHAPS BUSY too

oto Courtesy ph

is taken as criticism to someone else. People need that feeling that you are aware of what they are giving forth. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is knowing how to thank people. There are thousands of shoulders on which we stand and we must appreciate.

STRATEGIC PLANNING, that’s

how I handle my companies, my businesses. It’s like choreography — everything must be planned out, a business plan is all about organization, it’s as if you are putting together a choreographed dance.

MY DAD TAUGHT ME, “If

you’re going to lead, you can’t lead from the rear. You have to be up front, doing what you expect

much at times — too involved.

I’ve had to let go a little. Being newly married, I have to be able to devote a little more time to my husband — being with him, having fun together. It’s nice now with Skype and Facebook, I can be available for a meeting or whatever, but be anywhere.

WE ENJOY YACHTING. He’s

got a new boat that he loves and he is just enjoying it — I think if he had his way he’d never come back again and he’d be on the boat. We are going to spend a few months in the Mediterranean this summer, visit a few different places; the trip will really just evolve as we go.

ALFRED AND I have been married one year. He’s a great philanthropist. We’ve been friends for

25 years. He’s a brilliant man — he has a work ethic I understand.

I’VE COLLECTED vintage gowns for many years — I have a few of those. I love embroidery work. I was in Turkey and I bought this beautiful split sleeve jacket with heaving embroidery, on a heavy black base, just amazing. I’ve kept pieces for many years. But really, I’m a pant girl.

And I like a pant that can move, that I can move around in.

THERE ARE SO MANY wonderful people in this community — dedicated people trying to give back. And that’s a very American thing, giving back. You don’t see that in other countries, at least nothing like what we do in this country. I still sometimes shake my head and can’t believe the generosity here — and I believe, that if you took everything away that is volunteer-based, the country would come to a standstill.

FLORIDA STUDIO THEATRE AN. 25!

LOSE J MUST C

“Delightful”

- Sarasota Herald-Tribune

“Absurdly funny”

THURGOOD

- Sarasota Magazine

by George Stevens, Jr.

“Passionate performance”

Book & Music by ERIC IDLE Score by JOHN DU PREZ & ERIC IDLE

- Sarasota Herald-Tribune

“Charismatic, commanding performance” - The Observer

“You1241start laughing N. Palm Avenue, Downtown Sarasota and then you don’t stop”

“Strong, full of energy and zeal” - Sarasota Magazine

Montae Russell. Photo by Michael Henninger.

130289

family — my father came to Rhodesia, what is now Zimbabwe, during the war and never returned to England [where he is from]. My father was a professional soccer player before joining the Rhodesian Air Force.

130074

I COME FROM a very large

Richard Hopkins, Artistic Director

Sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the State of Florida.

- The Observer

“Spamalot gives new meaning to “LOL’” - Venice Gondolier

366-9000

�oridastudiotheatre.org

1241 N. Palm Avenue, Downtown Sarasota

20

DIVERSIONS

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

TM

b roa dway

bound

A

pops

series

concert

j A n u A ry 2 4 & 2 5 At the VAn Wezel heAr BroAdWAy shoW tunes performed By your

sarasota orchestra

With guest VocAlists from the neW york stAge

With Music from: phAntom of the operA

Les MiserabLes

BeAuty And the BeAst

And

much

tickets

more!

from

$32

941-953-3434

www.SarasotaOrchestra.org

5

th

AnniversAry

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1949 - 2014 Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

guest VocAlist susAn egAn