SIESTA KEY -- Richard Dear, the owner of an island resort complex and popular bar, wants to unload the bulk of his real estate holdings and hit the high seas.
The Tropical Breeze Resort and The Beach Club are part of a $36.7 million package listed today by SKY Sotheby's broker associate David Jennings.
Dear, 41, said he wants to spend more time -- much more time -- on his 63-foot catamaran. In all, he's listing about $45 million of his $55 million in real estate holdings. The listing of the Tropical Breeze is thought to the highest in the Manatee and Sarasota counties' Multiple Listing Service.
""I decided to just totally trim my business way down, otherwise I'm going to be worried about things constantly,"" Dear said.
Dear's decision to sell could further erode the base of short-term vacation rentals available on what has been known as the most casual key.
Tropical Breeze is actually a collection of 1950s-era rental cottages strung out along Avenida Messina and Columbus Boulevard. Dear's 72 units are among a dwindling number available for weekly and nightly rental.
Dear said he's tired of the battle to keep up the properties, while Sarasota County zoning favors tear-downs and new construction.
Dear assembled Tropical Breeze after buying the Miramar Beach Apartments in December 1999.
""I'm just done,"" he said. ""All I've done for six years is try to preserve our way of life.""
The decision to sell the whole resort, plus two commercial buildings on Ocean Boulevard, came out of his move toward converting the rental units to condominiums. Too small to attract residential buyers, the 43 cottages would probably remain in a hotel or rental program, he said. Most of those are along Avenida Messina.
Jennings, the broker, said he would prefer to sell Tropical Breeze as a package, but it could be sold in five chunks: the condo conversions; a group of nine units; a group of 10 units; and the two commercial buildings at 5150 and 5151 Ocean Blvd.
The group of rentals on Columbus Boulevard didn't make sense for conversion, and a new owner might tear them down in favor of town houses, Dear said.
""A lot of people fear the neighborhood's going to change, that the old way of Siesta Key is changing. But that's the County Commission's fault,"" Dear said. ""There's so many rules because the county does not want these old properties anymore.""
Dear and two of his partners in the resort plan to keep a group of properties on Beach Road because it includes his and their first houses on the key. The units will be managed as vacation rentals, Dear said.
Dear kept investing in Siesta's party heritage right through October, when he bought The Beach Club building at the urging of three partners who wanted to turn the business back into a bar and and live music venue.
""Together we've been transforming it back to a fun place to go,"" Dear said.
Once most of the property is sold, Dear plans to take his boat through the Panama Canal, down to the Galapagos Islands and on to Tahiti.
He said his permanent address will remain on Beach Road, Siesta Key.
Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune