Gary Thomas

728 Love Lane in Key West is a must see for anyone who desires to purchase a home with the best in location, privacy, security, top notch construction, and superb attention to every detail. Some features include bricked off street parking, heated custom reverse infinity edge pool, two zone A/C, whole house back-up generator, professional chef's kitchen built by a custom furniture maker with Wolf, Sub Zero, and Bosch appliances, a spacious loft to accommodate extra guests, extensive storage, covered veranda with wet bar, ice maker and under counter refrigerator, impact windows and skylights, floor to ceiling marble and decorative tile in all baths.

This is the kind of house that you fall in love with as soon as you cross the threshold. Everything was done "right". The formal entry is set back from the edge of the lane in the new addition at the rear. You walk into the great room which has a vaulted ceiling. Your eyes are drawn to the infinity pool beyond the French doors at the rear and the tropical garden. Just off the pool is a covered outdoor lounge area and the outdoor kitchen to the right. The master suite is located at the right rear. It has French doors that open out to the pool making a midnight dip so enticing. There is a second master suite at the front of the main house. or attention is the special loft accessed by a ship's ladder. (The loft provides a third bedroom for guests and other strangers.)

This home has 2100 sq ft of living space under air plus the covered rear lanai and front and side porches. The lot is 4508 sq ft (46' x 98') and is located near the end of Love Lane which is a dead end lane. The home was totally renovated in 2006 by licensed contractors. No funny business on this redo. Every thing was done correctly. And it shows when you look at the end result.

It's what you don't notice that sets this house apart from many other places that have been redone. I am referring to glitches and mistakes. Shortcuts that nobody will ever notice. The owners took their time and did this renovation correctly. The doors between the great room and the lanai, for example, are wind impact resistant pocket doors that disappear into the walls. They don't take up living space, that's the cool thing. But they cut down on windstorm insurance and that is even cooler. All of the windows and doors provide the maximum windstorm insurance credits available.

728 Love Lane is offered for sale at $1,795,000. CLICK HERE the virtual tour provided by the listing agent, Maya Thomas at Sellstate Island Properties (no relation). If you would like to see this beautiful Key West home, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyer's agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.

Today's blog has nothing to do about the charming little cottages nor grand conch homes of Key West. Instead, I decided to write about a very large commercial property located five minutes east of Key West on US 1. (I timed the drive by the way.)

99 Calle Uno Street fronts on US Highway 1 and is located at Mile Marker 9 or just a bit east of the entrance to the Boca Chica Naval Air Station. According to the mls listing the 17,862 sq ft metal building was built in 1982, and it sits on an irregular 87,119 sq ft lot.

The building has 18 Ft. high free span with dock height floors and 3 roll up doors. Offices have acoustical ceilings and are carpeted and air-conditioned with 2 bathrooms. Thee is a 1600 sq ft loading dock, 43 paved, striped, and lighted parking spaces. The entire south side is fenced and landscaped.

We don't have a lot of commercial buildings like this in the Key West area. Nor do we have a lot of warehouse space. A new owner might consider creating individual storage units located inside the larger space. The listing agent (who is also the owner) states "Creative opportunity abounds! Great US1 frontage. Empty and ready! Building was high and dry during hurricane Wilma. Some owner financing, in terms of a second, possible for the right situation."

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CLICK HERE to view a small slide show of exterior photos. And CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on this commercial property that is offered at $1,900,000.

If you would like to see this property or any other property in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.

If you are in Key West today, February 12, 2012, and are not planning on going to the beach and don't want to start the Duval Crawl right after church let's out, please think about stopping by my Open House at 630 Elizabeth Street to see the house located at the tippy top of Solares Hill. Take a look inside at the Dade County Pine walls and ceilings. Look at the ancient forged window hangers and peer through the rippled glass. Take a peek out to the little houses below from a view nobody else in town can ever equal. Imagine what you could do to this Old House.

The listing Realtor describes 522 Grinnell Street as:

"There is an exceptional opportunity to continue the renovation of this beautiful home in a highly sought after location. This historically significant home built prior to 1884 has always been admired for its beautiful architecture including Dade County Pine walls and ceilings throughout, grand proportion room sizes with twelve foot ceilings on the first floor and eleven foot ceilings on the second floor. The current owner has completed all of the demolition work and this wow factor potential home is ready for completion by a new owner with the style and manner they desire. This property is licensed for two units."

I have shown this property numerous times over the past several years. I fell in love with the place before I ever went inside. It has looked sad and forlorn for years. The paint was peeling and chipping away, but I knew that could be fixed. A window on the south side was broken and covered by an Al Gore for President sign, but I knew it could be replaced. An odd looking carport on the right side diminished the grandeur of the house, but I was sure there would be a way to deal with that issue. The rear of the house had a cobbled addition that looked awful, but I imagined that wreck could get removed and a new two tiered rear porch could be added in its place.

The former owner's family had lived in this property for generations. The current owner is not related to the prior owners. My remarks about the prior owners are not intended to disparage anyone. Contrarily, I relish the somewhat odd experiences I had when I showed the house. I recall the story the former owner telling that this house, like so many of the grand old homes in Key West, was built by ship chandlers. That means the house was built by the men who built great sailing vessels that could withstand strong winds and the elements. I will never forget standing with her on the second floor front porch as she recounted having watched a storm coming across from the Atlantic side of the island as it made its way toward the Gulf of Mexico a couple of blocks to the north. She remarked about how strong her father was during that storm and how well the house withstood the winds and rain.

The current owner purchased this property in 2006 after the house was marketed by not less than four different agents over a four year period. The prior owner never allowed any listing agent to show the property. The owner did it. She took charge and told and re-told the family's history in the house. I imagine she did not want some Realtor to get the facts wrong or to fail to state an essential point about the property. After one showing I remember my buyer saying something like "No wonder she hasn't sold the house..." and then said something unflattering about the owner. But I got why the former owner was so proud of the house. It is, as the current Realtor says, "admired for its beautiful architecture".


If you look at the photo of the house above you would expect the front door to be the door on the front porch. You would be wrong. The main entry is actually located on the side porch to the right. The entry hall is rather unassuming. The stairway, however, is ever-so-graceful. I love the thin stiles and deep dark and delicate handrail, especially as is curves and makes a you turn toward the top handrail. Once inside there are multiple large rooms with twelve foot ceilings. Rooms of this size do not blend easily with the way live our modern lives, but there are people who crave the sophisticated single purpose rooms of yesteryear. This house has many such rooms for that buyer. One such room is the formal dining room with a fireplace. It looks sad now, but most houses look sad while they are 'under construction'. I'll bet you that it won't look sad by the time the renovation is compleed

The rooms upstairs have been stripped away as well. The family kitchen was located at the rear of the second floor. I remember the former owner's mother sitting at the kitchen table coddling a box of new born kittens during one showing. The older woman always sat in that kitchen and always smiled as potential buyers passed by her table. The memories of the ancient matriarch and her progeny are all that remain of the events that occurred during the hundred years her family lived in this old house

The current owner has removed the old addition at the rear and cleaned up the interior. It will be up to the new owner to complete this house. While I am not a builder, I have a good sense of the work ahead which will include installation of all new electric throughout the house, new water and sewer lines, new HVAC, installing new bathrooms, a kitchen, a pool, and landscaping. I heard that the approved plans call for the addition of a new two story rear porch. I remember telling perspective buyers that is what I would do if I owned the house. The house did not need the old falling apart addition. It is gone and now there is room for a porch where I can imagine there will be space off the master suite at the second floor rear where the new owners can sit and ponder the meaning of life (or anything else).

The thing is a new owner can finish off the interior of this beautiful home in the way he or she or they may want.

522 Grinnell Street is offered at $1,450,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and to view the listing photos. Better yet, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida.

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Roger Emmons at Truman & Company just listed an eyebrow house at 412 Grinnell Street an eyebrow house that has always been a favorite of mine. Roger describes the home this way:

"This quintessential Eyebrow style home is located in the heart of Old Town near restaurants, shops and the historic waterfront. The home has beautiful street appeal including a white picket fence, shady front porch and off street parking. There are 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths in the main house plus a large 1 bedroom and 1 bath guest cottage. The main level has an open floor plan with living, dining and kitchen and opens through multiple sets of folding French doors onto a large covered porch overlooking the rear garden and 30 ft. x 10 ft. pool and spa. Dade County pine floors and walls as well as other historic features are evident throughout this uniquely Key West home."

I dug into the old shoebox and found the above black and white photo of 412 Grinnell Street taken back in 1965. It says the house was built circa 1889. I looked in the Monroe County Property Appraiser's records and saw that numerous building permits were taken out in 1995 and 2003-2004 when substantial improvements were made to the property. The color photo was taken in 2012 in the same area as the black and white. The house is much larger now than when built: 1887 sq ft today. The windows, doors, and roof have been replaced. The home now has air conditioning and a new white picket fence. The original house was expanded and guest quarters built. The interiors have all been updated as well. A pool and spa were added and the driveway (and pool area) was bricked. The charm of this old eyebrow house is still in tact. And it looks prettier than ever.

412 Grinnell Street is located near so many of the places that makes Old Town so interesting. One of my favorite places to grab a pastry is the Old Town Bakery located steps away at the corner of Eaton and Grinnell Street. World Famous Finnegan's Wake is a block further to the north and just beyond that is the Historic Key West Seaport. Harpoon Harry's is located in that area as is the Half Shell Raw Bar, Turtle Kralls, and the A& B Lobster House. B.O.'s Fish Wagon is down there too. Up at the corner of Grinnell and Fleming Street you will find Azur Restaurant. One block south you can find a good (and cheap) Cuban Mix sandwich at 5 Brothers. Michael's is one block west and you can usually get a great steak there. The Cafe Marquesa is four blocks west at the corner of 600 Fleming Street - always one of my very favorite places in town. The Red Barn Theater and the Waterfront Playhouse are within walking distance as well.

If and when you buy your dream house in Key West and if it is located in Old Town, you will appreciate the ability to walk a block in the morning to get your morning coffee or being able to walk to the gym or yoga studio and not have to dodge traffic. You will love being able to walk to all kinds of great restaurants or to catch a play or listen to great live music and then be able to walk back home in a little town out in the middle of the ocean far away from the hoopla up north in America.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet on this property. Better yet, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to arrange a showing of 412 Grinnell Street. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida.