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It has, well, everything

At a cool $20-million, this home on Casey Key is reportedly the priciest ever up for sale in the Tampa Bay area. Here's the peek inside you can't resist ...

By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published September 28, 2005

OSPREY - There is something surreal about standing in a sprawling, 15,000-square-foot mansion, with the gulf out front the color of opals and the bay in back the deep blue of sapphires, while Billie Holiday reminds us that God blesses the child that's got his own.

For most people, the music wafting from speakers hidden in the faux-painted walls might be as hard to take as the home's stratospheric price tag of $20-million.

But for those favored few with the cash to buy a new pleasure palace, the blues might sound just fine.

It is Annette Ayers' job to find the individual with the wherewithal and the wish to make her latest listing their home - or, more likely, one in a portfolio of luxe hideaways.

Ayers, who is in her early 60s, has been selling high-end waterfront properties in the Sarasota area for 18 years. Now she and her husband and partner Albert, both of whom work for Michael Saunders & Co., are handling the estate on Casey Key, about an hour south of St. Petersburg. At $20-million, the property is reportedly the highest-priced home to come on the market in the Tampa Bay area.

Ayers, her classically understated blouse and skirt accented by gold and diamond jewelry, acknowledged that an $18-million property is on the market in Longboat Key. And $20-million will barely get you a tear-down on the beach in Naples. But from Naples north, for the moment, her listing on Casey Key is setting a new benchmark.

"We're testing the water right now," said Ayers, who lives just a few homes away from the property. "There's really never been anything like this on the market."

Ayers might be forgiven the hyperbole. The house in question, with 27,000 square feet under the roof, sits on 2 acres stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Little Sarasota Bay. It has a sugar-white beach out front and a covered boathouse in back. The home and adjacent guest cottage have eight bedrooms, 111/2 baths, an indoor lap pool, a home theater with seating for 10, a 15-car garage and a master suite with his and her bathrooms.

"Everyone is asking for these," Ayers said as she showed off one of the owners' marble-laden baths with a Jacuzzi overlooking the bay. His and her walk-in closets and a gulf-view "sunset room" and office complete the owners' suite.

The Har-Tru clay tennis court, behind the resort-sized pool and next to the stone chess set and putting green, is self-watering. Inside, the wine room with walk-in cooler can accommodate 2,500 bottles from vintage years.

The kitchen, which is about the same size as the average Florida tract home, has a breakfast nook with a glass ceiling that seats 12, two Sub-Zero refrigerators, two Viking stoves and two sinks.

"So the caterer can work at one without bothering the family," Ayers explained, as if having a caterer is an everyday affair for most families. A Sub-Zero refrigerator and Viking range are in the guest cottage.

The home was built and completed in 2000 by Dawn and Henry "Ric" Duques, retired chairman and chief executive of giant credit-card processor First Data Corp. At the time, the couple's four children - including triplets - were in college. And the Casey Key property became the perfect spot for winter family gatherings. The four children's rooms off a spacious second-floor living area attest to frequent use.

"We're replacing the carpet," Ayers said as she stepped gingerly over a worn beige carpet. "I think this child had a dog."

But the rest of the home shows little sign of wear, thanks in no small part to two full-time staffers, including one who lives on the property. Ayers, who frets over a few leaves in the outdoor pool and the hired help's casual dress, said the Duqueses haven't visited the property since May.

"They just love traveling," Ayers said. And who can blame them? The Duqueses are among 200 residents aboard ResidenSea's World, an ocean liner for the superrich that wanders the globe year-round, from Crete in May to the Arctic in August. Ayers and her husband, who visited the Duqueses' floating home in June for a tour of the Mediterranean, understands the allure of such pampered globe-trotting. "It was like being queen for a day," she said.

Thanks to Ric Duques' business fortune - in 2001, his last year as head of First Data, he received compensation of nearly $96-million - the couple owns an apartment in New York and a home on the Connecticut coast. And they recently decided to buy a penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Residences on Sarasota's Lido Key.

Ayers, who sold the Duqueses the property that spawned their mansion in the late 1990s (an existing home on the land was quickly demolished), understands that people move on. Now she is selectively casting her net for a buyer. The home will be advertised on the Internet and in glossy magazines like Christie's Great Estates, which is distributed in 17 countries.

But Ayers, who sold more than $40-million worth of real estate in 2002 and 2003 and has surpassed that total this year, never discounts the local market.

"Most of our homes are sold to people who know Sarasota," said Ayers, who has made several record-setting home sales in the area. "Either they've come here to the Ritz or they own something on Longboat or Bird Key and think they want something more."

Ayers is also seeing buyers migrate north from Naples, where $20-million seems like a bargain.

"In Naples, you can spend $20-million on an older home with a two-car garage on a nice piece of property," Ayers said, with a touch of disdain. "And people are getting tired of the traffic in Naples."

Palm Beach, meanwhile, remains in a rarefied real estate class of its own. Late last year, it set the record for the nation with a $70-million sale on the appropriately named "Billionaires' row."

"In Palm Beach, they were selling homes over $20-million way back in the late 1990s," Ayers said. "But as a rule, that's a different buyer."

Tim Wilmath, director of valuation for the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office in Tampa, specializes in the luxury home market. He said that at a per-square-foot price of $1,333, the Casey Key home is just slightly under the average selling price of $1,481 per square foot for a luxury home in Palm Beach.

"I think it's probably a tad high, but they're not completely out of their minds," Wilmath said of Ayers' asking price. "When you get into the luxury market, size is not everything and people don't always act rationally. If they see something they like, they're going to buy it."

If experience is any indicator, Ayers expects her Casey Key home buyer will be extraordinarily wealthy (many buyers pay cash), unassuming (millionaires walk the beach in shabby shorts and polos) and from the world of business rather than Hollywood (though celebrities on Casey Key include Martina Navratilova and Stephen King).

"People don't worry about things like who has the biggest house here," said Ayers of the 8-mile barrier island, tethered to the mainland by two bridges and intersected by a road that is only nominally public. "It's extremely private. You'll see Stephen King walking down the road, reading a book."

Ayers, whose agency will make a 6 percent commission on the sale - that's $1.2-million on a $20-million home - said one of her record-setting homes sold within a week of the listing.

Others have been on the market for years. After weathering several real estate cycles, she is convinced high-end home prices may level off during slowdowns, but she hasn't seen them drop in value.

"I've never sold to anyone who wasn't thrilled after a few years," Ayers said of the appreciation in prices her buyers have seen. "They didn't feel they paid too much."

It's that kind of attitude, along with the ability to fork over millions of dollars without flinching, that Ayers is looking for as she shows the Casey Key home to prospective buyers. Subtle clues will distinguish pretenders from serious buyers, she said. Wannabes will quiz her about the cost of electricity and taxes. And they'll ask about who owns the beach out front, which is 8 miles from the closest public access and legally owned only to the high-water mark.

Those with the potential to sign on the dotted line, she said, will merely look out at the gulf and say, with an assurance that only money can buy, "So, that's my beach."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.

31 percent pay cash

68 percent are considered "new money"

No. 1 profession: "large business executives"

67 percent are "baby boomers" (between ages of 35 and 55)

88 percent are married

Top priority: designer kitchens

89 percent want four or five bedrooms

Source: Coldwell Banker, 2003

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 07:31:12]