Roger Pettingell. Lido Shores is a home gawker’s dream, dotted with modern homes in both today’s architecture and the iconic midcentury style of the Sarasota School of Architecture. In fact, the neighborhood was the main destination for Architecture Sarasota’s three-day MOD Weekend last fall, where design nerds could stroll through iconic abodes such as the Zigzag, Umbrella, and Hiss Studio houses. Roger Pettingell

However, on the waterfront side of the Lido Shores enclave bisected by Westway Drive, there are some major Mediterranean Revival vibes at work—like the palatial 1313 Westway Drive, which sold for $11.5 million after just 11 days on the market this week. Satisfied with a FaceTime video tour and online listing pictures, the buyers—a couple from Dallas—paid cash. The home was originally listed for $11,995,000 million, making it one of the priciest homes in the county. It was designed in 2005 by architect Clifford Scholz and built by Perrone Construction. The interior design is by Sarasota’s own Adrienne Vittadini. Roger Pettingell

The speed at which the home is sold is staggering. By now, we’re hip to low housing inventory in a high-demand market that makes taking the time to stick “for sale” in the ground moot. The time to contract for single-family homes in Sarasota County is just seven days, according to January 2022 data compiled by the Realtor Association of Sarasota Manatee. That’s a 63 percent increase compared to January of last year when the time to contract was 19 days.

Condos are seeing the same fast grabs. One Park, an 18-story luxury high-rise with 149 residences headed to the Sarasota bayfront, has already reached $150 million in sales in 30 days. Each unit starts at $2 million.

“One thing I miss in this market is that people don’t get to buy their dream house because they’re so rushed,” says listing agent Roger Pettingell of Coldwell Banker Realty, who represented both the buyer and seller. “Although in this case, this was the buyer’s dream house.”

The couple will modernize the home’s systems but keep Vittadini’s classic design, he says. But will the Texas couple trade in cowboy boots for flip-flops?

Vittadini, who came to Sarasota to live seasonally in the ’70s and owns a condo at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Residences on Lido Key, grew a fashion empire in the ‘80s and ’90s. When she sold her eponymous label in the late 1990s, she embarked on a new business venture called AV Casa, designing and building homes in luxury hotspots from Sarasota to East Hampton to Milan to Livigno (near St. Moritz).

Influenced by time spent in Italy, where she learned about Palladian villas—Roman temple-like homes found in northeast Italy—she created the vision for 1313 Westway Drive. Highlights of the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home include views of New Pass and the Gulf of Mexico. An outdoor loggia is anchored by a saltwater infinity-edge, heated swimming pool with a waterfall. There’s also a new boat dock, various fruit trees, and close proximity to private beach access.

The sellers are Jon and Donna Boscia and was one of three Italian classical-inspired homes Vittadini designed in the area. The Boscias purchased it in 2005 for $8.847 million and spent roughly $2 million on renovations over the years.

Boscia is the former chief executive officer of the financial-services company Lincoln Financial Group and was also the president of Sun Life Financial. Today, he and his wife have a family foundation and donate to various local nonprofit organizations including Girls Inc. and Mote Marine Laboratories. They decided to downsize and move to downtown Sarasota—sooner than they may have expected, considering how quickly the home sold.

“The luxury market here in the pre-pandemic days never had a sense of urgency,” Roger Pettingell says. “Now that the work-from-home experiment has been cemented, this area is a top luxury market in high demand.”