Builder Gibraltar Homes relieved of debt’s pressure

Gibraltar Homes, which has been struggling financially amid a general rebound in housing starts regionwide, this week completed terms of a gradual debt write-down tied to an unfinished Manatee County project.

Bougainvillea Place, an Ellenton subdivision, represents the homebuilder’s largest community under development. It also sells homes in Lakewood Ranch, also in Manatee County.

The renegotiated debt terms call for $6.8 million in loans to gradually be reduced to $3.9 million over four years, said Albert A. Sanchez Jr., Gibraltar’s president.

via Builder Gibraltar Homes relieved of debt’s pressure.

Remodelers are busy again in Southwest Florida

Home remodeling projects across Southwest Florida are on the rise, spurred on by a thin supply of houses for sale and an overwhelming number of underwater mortgages that have made it difficult for some homeowners to move.The trend has put hundreds of subcontractors in Southwest Florida back to work, boosted revenue for home improvement retailers and lifted sluggish property values that in many cases have been long overdue.

“I have been slammed the last six months solid — all remodels,” said Matt McMurtrie, owner of Sarasota’s Decadent Design and Remodels. “People are getting great deals on homes right now, and the cheaper they get the houses, the more money they have to play with and fix them up.”

via Remodelers are busy again in Southwest Florida.

Another local storage center is sold

A Buffalo, N.Y., company has bought a 73,276-square-foot storage warehouse at 530 Manatee Ave. W. for about $4 million.

Sovran Acquisition is a subsidiary of Uncle Bob’s Self Storage in Buffalo, which owns and manages more than 450 self-storage operations around the country.

The seller was Manatee Avenue Storage Partnership LLP, a Sarasota company managed by Richard B. Bennett, which paid $1.2 million for the Bradenton storage operation in April 1997.

via Another local storage center is sold.

Miami Condo Hits the Market for $27 Million

Venture capitalist Fred Drasner and his wife Lora have put their 9,000-square-foot condominium in Miami on the market for $27 million. Mr. Drasner is currently chairman of Miami venture capital firm Three Seasons Capital.Composed of three separate units that were put together, the property has four bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and is on the 54th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel, a resort complex in Miami.

It also has three private balconies, leather floors in some of the hallways and two kitchens.The dining and living room both offer ocean views through 10-foot floor-to-ceiling windows. The home also has a billiard room, an office with a coffered shallow dome ceiling, a home theater with sound-proof walls and a staff quarters and service area.

via Miami Condo Hits the Market for $27 Million.

Sales on Sarasota’s Westway Drive measure luxury market | HeraldTribune.com

In 2003, the $13.2 million sale of 1219 Westway Drive, a then-new 7,400-square-foot mansion and property next door, kicked off the region’s residential real estate boom and set a sales record.

For the next three years, the market soared, until a mammoth collapse slashed prices by 50 percent or more.

On Friday, the tony Lido Shores area showed that the luxury real estate market maintains some resilience — despite some downward price adjustments — when that same Westway Drive mansion, excluding the adjacent property, sold for $6.35 million.

via Sales on Sarasota’s Westway Drive measure luxury market.

Luxury Snaps Back

With their children through college, Myra McWethy and her husband Kevin decided to sell their three-bedroom Santa Monica, Calif., home in May and move to San Diego. Given the soft housing market, they weren’t sure how buyers would react to their $1.8 million asking price.

They found out quickly. Within hours of listing the property, they had an offer for $25,000 above their listing price. They soon had six others. “We got extremely lucky,” says the 55-year-old actress, who bought the home 10 years ago for $1.1 million

via Luxury Snaps Back.