Sarasota makes uber-rich listing

Robb Report picks "private paradise fantasy hideaways."
By STEPHEN FRATER
stephen.frater@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- "The Donald" will see it for sure because he reads and advertises in it.

Meanwhile, some hearts in both of the famous Palms will be broken, since neither made the cut.

Beach and Springs, eat your hearts out.

And Hobe Sound, Newport, Aspen, Malibu and Southampton?

Nope, sorry, maybe next year.

Sarasota and Vail, Colo., were the only two "private paradise fantasy hideaways" in the United States that made the cover this time.

The fantasy catalog for the uber-wealthy known as the Robb Report published its winter 2006 Vacation Homes issue mentioning Sarasota on the cover alongside high-roller locales St. Bart's and St. Lucia.

Managers at the year-and-a-half-old, bimonthly magazine say they target the very pinnacle of the vacation home market: the 1 million or so "super-affluent households which account for 45.7 percent of the affluent secondary real estate market."

The average annual income of the 100,000 or so actual readers is said to be more than $1 million.

In "Private Paradise," Sarasota's architectural modernism is celebrated along with local award-winning architect Jonathan Parks and his restoration of the famous 1955 Siesta Key Cohen House. The home was designed by Paul Rudolph, who went on to chair Yale University's School of Architecture.

Parks just won first place in the "2005 Great American Home Awards," from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Old House Journal for work on the Cohen House.

The Robb Report is owned by CurtCo Publishing, also the ultimate parent of Sarasota Magazine, Gulfshore Life, Showboats International and Worth magazines, so there are pre-existing ties to Southwest Florida.

But some are still reading pretty big significance into the Robb recognition.

"Sarasota is no longer the 'next new thing,'" says Chad Roffers, president of SKY/Sotheby's International Realty and a frequent advertiser in Robb.

"We're there."