Another luxury residential building going up in downtown Sarasota

The below article was posted in the Herald Tribune

7 One One

Downtown Sarasota’s burst of construction projects continued with Friday’s official ground-breaking ceremony for another luxury residential building. Called 7 One One Palm for its address, the occasion featured the obligatory gold-colored shovels as well as numerous executives and others involved in the project.

The five-story, residential mid-rise at 711 S. Palm Ave. only holds 16 units. Five residences are now under contract, with 11 available — priced from $1,049,000 to $1,299,000.

Patrick DiPinto, president of Sarasota-based Seaward Development and developer of 7 One One Palm, told the gathering that he and his partner, David Hargreaves, walked the neighborhood many times before deciding the property had an ideal site along what could be called Residential Row because of all its high-rise condo buildings, low-rise townhouses and mid-rise residential structures.

“7 One One Palm is a great alternative to the larger buildings in commercial centers that we now see going up downtown,” DiPinto said earlier. “Both our buyers and Realtor partners recognize how special our walkable residential location is; they value our intimate scale, floor-through residences, and semi-private elevator foyers which provide the intimacy of a single home.”

Pilings and and other foundation work are underway. Bonita Springs-based Gates Construction is the general contractor, working out of its Sarasota office.

Designed by Sarasota’s Mark Sultana of DSDG Architecture, the 16 units will offer floor plans ranging from 2,025 to 2,124 square feet under air. Each residence has three bedrooms, three baths, a west-facing terrace, 10-foot ceilings, Bosch appliances with gas cooking, Hans Grohe and Kohler fixtures, imported cabinetry from Cucine Ricci and oversized porcelain tile floors.

Amenities include garage parking, conditioned storage, oversized pool, spa, private cabanas, fitness center, gas grills, fire table and a Paw Park with a pet grooming station.

One of Sultana’s designs, One 88, earned the Best Residential Building/Complex in the January 2016 edition of SRQ Magazine. The five-story structure sits on Sarasota Bay at Golden Gate Pointe with views from the Ringling Causeway west to Bird Key.

Downtown residential ventures either recently completed or on the city’s list of pending projects will bring some 1,402 condominiums or townhomes into the urban core. With around 1,000 new residents flooding Florida every day, Sarasota is a popular destination for the monied class, Hargreaves said, making new million-dollar residences a good development investment.

Compared to South Florida and Naples, Sarasota offers more for the money, he said.

Construction on 7 One One Palm is expected to take 12 to 14 months, with completion planned in late 2018 or early 2019.

Seaward Development Buys Out Tiny Downtown Condo Building

This article originally appeared in Sarasota Magazine

BLINK AND YOU MAY MISS the pint-sized, five-story Versailles condominium building, sandwiched between the Royal St. Andrew and the pencil-thin Echelon that’s now rising on South Gulfstream Avenue across from Sarasota Bay.

But the little building brought big profits to its former owners after Seaward Development partners Patrick DiPinto III and David Hargreaves in December finished the nearly three-year process of buying out all 14 owners. Their plan: a 25-unit, 18-story luxury condo tower still to be named. While they work toward groundbreaking in the summer or fall of 2018, they’re renting out the units.

“What makes this parcel unique is that we have 100 feet of direct waterfront,” says DiPinto. “Many of our neighbors have significantly less. Most of the rooms in our new residences will have big direct water views of Sarasota Bay, Siesta Key, the Gulf of Mexico. The view is one of a kind.”

The location and views persuaded the developers to make offers the owners couldn’t refuse.

Wedding planner Bobbie Hicks bought her 1,629-square-foot, two-bedroom Versailles condo in 1994 for $120,000. She sold it to Seaward Development for $1,044,700. Located on the top floor, it brought a premium. A first-floor unit, in contrast, which sold for $210,000 in 2011 was bought for $725,000.

Although the price was irresistible, Hicks admits to mixed feelings about the deal. “I really wanted to be there forever,” Hicks says. “I loved my place; I was as happy as could be. It’s kind of heartbreaking.”

While she tries to console herself with her nearly tenfold profit, others are hoping to move in. DiPinto says word of mouth has brought “dozens and dozens of realtors to us with clients that wish to purchase units.” He anticipates floorplans of 3,750 to 5,000 square feet, offered at an average of $1,100 per square foot.

The Faces of Boutique Luxury Condo Development

This article originally appeared in Sarasota Magazine.

With a singular focus on quality and luxury, Seaward Development principals Patrick DiPinto and David D.R. Hargreaves develop boutique communities in the most sought-after neighborhoods in Sarasota. From their first project, Park Residences of Lido Key, to their newest offering on South Palm Avenue, 7 One One Palm, you’ll find an unparalleled attention to detail.

For over two decades, licensed building contractor DiPinto has developed and built hundreds of residential and commercial projects throughout Connecticut and Florida.

Hargreaves is a retired chief financial officer of a major public corporation who now invests in real estate. He brings a wealth of financial and management experience to the team. Both Hargreaves and DiPinto are proud to call Sarasota home.

400 Madison Drive, Suite 220
Sarasota, FL 34236
(941) 388-2021

Downtown Sarasota condo building boom continues

This article originally appeared on the Observer Website.


Seaward Development is under contract to buy out the owners of the Versailles on the Bayfront for a new project.


If you need any more evidence that downtown Sarasota has pent up demand for luxury condos, consider this: A local developer plans to buy out all 14 owners in a bayfront complex, and pay to knock it down — just to build a new one.

Seaward Development plans to redevelop the Versailles, built in 1974, into a new condominium with as many as 25 units and up to 18 stories, according to a zoning code confirmation letter sent to the city by Seaward principal Patrick DiPinto.

DiPinto, who is also developing the nearby Seven One One Palm, declined to comment until the deal with unit owners is complete.

“For the most part, there has been excellent absorption of almost everything that’s being built,” said Amy Drake, president of Property Perspectives, who is handling marketing and sales for the coming Seven One One Palm project and the 18-story Echelon on Palm — which only has two units remaining in inventory. “The demand for new construction is always there — buyers want the latest and greatest.”

Driving that demand is the preference for living in an urban setting on the waterfront, which the corridor between Gulfstream and Palm avenues provides.

Case in point: She has four buyers from Siesta Key, one buyer from Longboat and a buyer from Casey Key slated to move into the Echelon on Palm.

Further, the open, flowing design buyers favor just wasn’t around before the past several years.

“Even compared to the last building boom, the approach to architecture is very different now,” Drake said.

Just north of the proposed Palm Avenue projects, the 18-story, 17-unit Sansara has sales pending for 15 of its residences, said Michael Saunders & Co. Realtor Jonathan Abrams.

“The demand for new construction is always there — buyers want the latest and greatest.” — Amy Drake, president of Property Perspectives

Most of those prospective buyers are “switching seasons” — as in, instead of spending a few months here and the rest out of state, they are buying more permanent residences to stay for more than eight months.

“I think that paints a good picture of the luxury buyer finding Sarasota and wanting luxury here,” he said.

While luxury high-rise construction raises property values, it can create tension with nearby property owners, particularly on South Palm, where the onslaught of new construction triggered a lawsuit.

In May, the Essex House Condominium Association filed a lawsuit against the developers of Echelon, complaining the construction crossed onto the Essex House property line. Before it was dismissed in June, Essex residents posted three large canvas billboards decrying the construction in front of their building.

Although the Echelon construction has also affected the Royal St. Andrews condo complex — a crane dumped wet concrete onto the pool deck this summer — association manager Shelley Williams said she isn’t worried about the proposal to redevelop the neighboring Versailles building as long as contractors maintain a constant level of communication with the buildings along Gulfstream Avenue.

“They came right over and cleaned it up,” Williams said, noting the construction manager had early on established a relationship with her association.

There are more than 1,400 units across the city somewhere in development. That list includes large portions of Vue Sarasota Bay and Sarasota Bayside.

Drake said she expects the trend toward new luxury building to continue over the next several years, but predicts it will obviously level off as construction prices — particularly the cost of building a high-rise — climbs to pre-recession levels.

And don’t expect many more redevelopment projects similar to what Seaward is trying to accomplish, since Versailles is the last of the smaller condo developments overlooking the bay and therefore had fewer unit owners to buy out.

“When you get into these much older bigger buildings, that’s a very challenging thing to do,” Drake said.