Peek Inside the Most Expensive Home in Sarasota County Right Now

The luxury home and condo market is booming. The 18-story One Park condominium has already sold more than half of its multimillion-dollar units, and record-breaking sales prices just don’t surprise like they used to.

But this price tag just might.

At $25 million, it’s the most expensive listing the county has seen yet, beating out the previous highest listing yet, at $20 million. And if you’re into Bitcoin, the seller may consider them. It’ll cost roughly 833 of them, depending on their fluctuation.

“The goal is to set the record for the highest home sale in Sarasota County,” says Rinat Sikdar, an affiliated agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, who is representing the seller.

Is it feasible? “It’s roughly $2,600 per square foot, which is in line with luxury condos like St. Regis and Rosewood Residences,” he says, “but of course, they’re condos.”

And like those condos, this priciest of the pricey homes has yet to be built. Located at 2043 Alameda Ave. N., just north of downtown Sarasota in the historic Sapphire Shores neighborhood, it’s a spec home. (“Spec” is short for “speculative home”—a new, move-in ready house built on the speculation that it will sell.)

In late 2020, local entrepreneur and investor Janis Krums bought the property for $4,062,500 from Darrel E. Flanel, who relocated to Casey Key.

Currently, the 72,874 square-foot site is being cleared and split into two parcels. (Krums plans to build his dream home next door. It will be even bigger than this one and have a similar tropical-modern look.) Once upon a time, it had two homes on it, one built in 1951, the other built in 1950. They sold for $1.3 million in 2000.

Krums previously owned one of the largest bayfront homes on Bird Key, with lots of water frontage, sunset views and proximity to downtown. “He didn’t want to give that up,” Sikdar says. It took Krums more than a year to find a site that checked all those boxes. This one does.

At 9,600 square feet under air and situated on a 35,750 square-foot lot, the estate will have six bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and one half-bathroom. Glass walls will abound to ensure views of the outdoors and Sarasota Bay.

Inspired by an Aman Resort while traveling, Krums wanted a modern-tropical style and spent six months researching the architect who could deliver that best. That turned out to be award-winning architectural firm Choeff Levy Fischman, which services clients like Giovani Bernard, Asdrúbal Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez. The firm’s architecture fuses midcentury motifs with tropical elements, including South American woods and stones. The design process took another six months and the home will have a two-story waterfall wall at the entry, unobstructed views of the bay, a rooftop lounge, a theater, sauna and gym.

Based in Miami, the firm recently opened a new office in Tampa.

“We’ve had inquiries for homes like this and buyers ended up going to Palm Beach and Naples for homes of this caliber because there was no inventory here,” Sikdar says.

This debut project in Sarasota may mark a shift in the local market architecture and design, as the area draws more residents from South Florida and other residents traditionally attracted to Miami, such as New Yorkers and Bostonians, according to Sikdar.