Country Club Shores

Country Club Shores

Buying a waterfront single-family home on Longboat Key? Make it happen quicker with a tour of Country Club Shores, a community which inarguably has the largest concentration of single family homes with direct water access on this charming island.

Arvida Corp., the pioneer in developing Longboat Key homes for sale, dredged some 20 finger canals precisely to create the classic layout of Country Club Shores as a waterfront community. It was developed in five phases starting from the early 1960s, along with several other Arvida projects.

Inland, the community stretches for some 1.5 miles off east of Gulf of Mexico Drive, roughly opposite the entire length of the 18-hole golf links of the Resort of Longboat Key Club. The finger-like land parcels formed by the dredged deep-water canals each host from about six up to over two dozen home sites, almost all with direct water access.

Picks: North or South?

Country Club Shores is generally subdivided into southern and northern neighborhoods. The names of the streets of the southern homes are boating-term derivatives, such as Sloop, Spinnaker, Gunwale, and Outrigger. These arterial roads link directly with Gulf of Mexico Drive, the main highway running the entire 11-mile stretch of Longboat Key.

The community’s northern neighborhoods, on the other hand, feature streets with names derived from golfing terms, like Birdie, Bogey, Chipping, and Putting Green. Three convenient entrances along the Gulf of Mexico provide access to this northern collection of Country Club Shores homes.  

The “Old Florida” architectural style dominates much of Country Club Shores homes for sale.  The majority of them are canal-front and with boat docks and davits. Many of the older ranch-style homes have either been replaced or restored.

Luxury Bayside Homes

The prime choices among Country Club Shores homes for sale are those directly bayfront or are closer to Sarasota Bay, where the views are indeed breathtaking. Luxury homes in their own right, these residences are typically priced starting at $1.1 million and top at around the $5.9 million mark. Their floor areas are within the 1,900‒6,150-square-foot range, featuring three up to five bedrooms.

Typical pricing of other Country Club Shores homes for sale with lesser square footage eases under the $1 million level. The residences with floor plans of between 1,600 and 1,850 square feet built with two or three bedrooms are typically sales-listed in the high $800s.

Rich Amenities Mix

Deeded access is available to all Country Club Shores residents through the Bay Isles Beach Club. This private gulf-front club is located along Gulf of Mexico Drive across the Harbourside golf course a short distance north of the community. Its facilities include parking spaces, a beach pavilion with picnic tables, barbecue grills, beach volleyball courts, showers, and restrooms.

Besides all these plus points, Country Club Shores homes are convenient to the life and leisure attractions near Longboat Key. These include those at St. Armands Circle and downtown Sarasota, added perks that could further help hasten a sale in this exceptional waterfront community.