Sarasota mansion teardown part of a trend?
SARASOTA – Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s decision to raze a perfectly livable — and relatively new — St. Armands Key mansion may have set Southwest Florida real estate watchers abuzz, but the demolition won’t be the opening salvo of a new trend involving upscale homes, local professionals say.
More likely, analysts say, Vinik’s motive for razing the 6,100-square-foot mansion, completed in 2001, was that he treasured the waterfront site and simply has the financial means to scrape the site and rebuild.
Jeff and Penny Vinik paid $4.25 million for the home they are now turning to rubble, and neighbors say the couple intend to build a three-story house on the site, at 112 N. Washington Drive.
