Marsha Sherry, broker at The Moorings Realty Sales Co., often mentions how Moorings residents refuse to leave this beautiful deep-water boating community, even when they are ready to move to a new house or condominium.
Instead, many people who have gained an appreciation of lifestyle in The Moorings opt to move to another home within the community, which offers plenty of options with 15 distinct condominium communities and several single-family home neighborhoods. Prices for homes currently listed by Moorings Realty range from around $170,000 to $3 million.
“We have residents who have purchased five, six or even seven homes in The Moorings. They are ready to make a change in their living situation so they buy something bigger or smaller or something on the ocean instead of the river, but they don’t want to leave The Moorings,” says Sherry.
Donald McBeth is an example of the trend. “He started as seasonal renter at 130 Springline Drive and then bought that house. After a while he decided he wanted a bigger house and bought a beautiful waterfront lot on Cutlass Cove Drive where he is going to build his dream home – all in The Moorings!”
McBeth is also part of second trend that has seen new home construction revive in the community with 9 or 10 houses being engineered or built this summer, making for a busy, bustling atmosphere that contrasts favorably with the doldrums of the long painful real estate recession.
McBeth’s 3-bedroom, 4-bath contemporary home on Springline was listed by Moorings Realty Sales Agent Erika Ross last week for $1.6 million. Located across from a park on a .56-acre lot on a picturesque cove in the gated Anchor subdivision, the house is 5,366 square feet under roof with 4,645 square feet of air-conditioned living space.
Built in the early 1980s, it is classic architecture at this point – a bright, open, clean-lined contemporary-style home that offers ideal Florida living along with some striking 20th Century style.
The modernist feel starts with a circular drive and motor court paved with large squares of concrete with narrow grass strips between – very cool-looking. The roof is a low-slung hip affair that evokes the Prairie Style.
Entry is via a red double door into a foyer that connects the home’s two wings and leads into some magnificent public space.
Straight ahead from the foyer is a 26-foot by 18-foot living room with a fireplace and 14-foot- high deeply coffered ceiling. The back of the room is wide open to a 32-foot by 12-foot Florida room with a back wall of sliding patio doors.
Those doors lead out onto an expansive patio that surrounds a 36-foot by 12-foot pool with Catalina tile trim that overlooks a cove on the Indian River Lagoon. A seawall protects the back of the lot and there is a large L-shaped dock that creates a sheltered 40-foot slip between the dock and the seawall.
As with all the waterfront properties at The Moorings, this one has deep water behind it. A buyer with a 50-foot or even a 60-foot deep draft boat could cruise right up to the dock and moor the boat 30 feet from the family room. A five-minute cruise back out the cove into the lagoon would take a boat to the Intracoastal Waterway, which connects via the Fort Pierce or Sebastian Inlets to the Atlantic Ocean, passing a tempting array of waterfront restaurants, marinas and yacht clubs along the way.
In short, this property should have great appeal to anyone who is a serious boater and/or fisherman. The Moorings Flats, a stone’s throw from the home’s dock, are known for having the healthiest seagrass beds and best fishing in Indian River County. The waters teem with bottlenose dolphins, manatees, pelicans and thousands of other species of bird and marine life.
Back inside, a huge 24-foot by 25-foot family room sits adjacent to the Florida room. It features a second fireplace and wonderful water views. Swimming, fishing, boating and sunbathing are just a few steps away.
The home’s public space is completed by an attractive, functional U-shaped kitchen with high-end appliances and lots of counter and cabinet space, and a 15-foot by 18-foot formal dining room.
The kitchen sits across a side hall from, and opens toward the Florida room. The dining room is directly across the hall from the living room, with a wet bar, china room and second big walk-in pantry in-between.
“The storage space in this house is unbelievable,” Sherry says.
Continuing down the hallway, walking toward the front of the house, one comes to a large en suite bedroom with a Murphy bed that could also be used as an office, then a spacious laundry room with lots of counter space and a window to let in natural light.
Beyond the laundry room is the entrance to the 24-foot by 24-foot two-car garage with more storage space.
On the opposite side of the living room and Florida room is the home’s main bedroom wing with an outstanding master suite that includes a 21-foot by 21-foot bedroom with glass doors to the pool patio and expansive river views, elaborate – if slightly dated – his and hers baths, and two large walk-in closets with built-in shelves.
There is also another en suite guest or child’s room, 16.5-feet by 17.5-feet with walk-in closet and garden views.
The house is historical architecture and reflects the style of the period in which it was built, but it is not dated at all in the sense of upkeep or functionality. The entire back L of the house – the poolside wall of the family room being the short leg, the back of the Florida room and master bedroom the long leg – is glass, making the house wonderfully bright and cheerful. (Cloth awnings and window treatments allow the light to be muted if desired.)
“It is a very livable house, just the way it is,” Sherry says. “With a little bit of remodeling, it could be a palace.”
