North Shore Club developer Yane Zana is happy with the progress of his boutique luxury community, located on the ocean between Sea Oaks and Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, and probably has good reason to feel that way.
His latest North Shore spec home is hitting the market at the height of the barrier island’s busy season, when homebuyers are abundant. The county issued a certificate of occupancy in late February, and the $6.9 million oceanfront estate will be debuted at a gala open house later this month.
What makes the timing even better is a lack of competing product. There are only two similar new oceanfront homes on the island, one that is nearing completion in Castaway Cove listed for $7.9 million and a spec house about the same size as Zana’s in the Estate Section offered for $9.9 million.
“I try to keep my feet on the ground about pricing,” Zana says. “I think we are offering good value for new oceanfront construction on a large lot.”
The house, which has about 7,100 square feet of air-conditioned living space and about 11,000 square feet under roof, sits on a one-acre lot with 100 feet of ocean frontage. It has 6 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms and 3 half baths, and a 3,000-square-foot pool deck overlooking the Atlantic.
“The house is superbly done in an Anglo-Caribbean style but with a slightly more modern interpretation that incorporates the coastal style and layout that really resonates with those we have seen looking for new construction on the ocean,” says Premier Estate Properties listing agent Luke Webb. “It has an incredible floorplan which offers luxurious indoor spaces with views of the ocean from almost every room and expansive outdoor entertaining areas on both levels.”
Also hitting the market at North Shore this month are a $5.8 million lot-home package that features a home in the same style as the spec with 5,300 square feet of air-conditioned living space on a one-acre lot, and an $8.95 million package with an 8,000-square-foot home (12,000 under roof) on a 3-acre lot with 200 linear feet of ocean frontage. Both are listed with Webb, who works with Kay Brown and Jeanine Harris at Premier.
“I think it is a good range of prices and makes us very competitive in the market,” Zana says.
Zana and a partner bought the 10-acre North Shore property in late 2010, near the low-point of the real estate recession, for a price he calls “too good to pass up.”
The parcel was approved for 66 condos but Zana was drowning in unwanted condos at several developments in Cocoa Beach, where dozens of buyers had backed out of contracts as the Florida housing market tanked, beginning in 2007.
“If we were buying the property now, we might build those 66 condos,” Zana says, “but we did not have any appetite for more condominiums at that time, so we decided to subdivide the land into seven luxury home sites.”
Zana formed Coastmark Construction at that time to control infrastructure costs in the subdivision.
Approvals and site work took a year or so. Shortly after infrastructure was complete, the first buyer showed up. He purchased a lot for $1.55 million and hired Coastmark to build a custom home similar in size and quality to the new spec.
When that was complete, Zana formed a joint venture with a local partner and built a spec house in the same size and price range.
“He was the financier, Coastmark was the builder, and we had a profit-sharing agreement,” Zana says.
The quality and appeal of that home can be inferred from the sales process.
“A very nice couple from Nebraska came across the house video online and liked it so much they booked a ticket and flew out here,” Zana says. “They didn’t want to look at any other houses, just that one. They wrote a sales contract two days later and 60 days after that they owned the house,” paying $5.9 million for the lot and home.
Desiring more space and privacy, the Nebraska couple went on to buy the lot next to their home for another $1.55 million, leaving it in its natural state as a kind of mini-nature preserve.
“Since the first spec house worked out well, we decided to build another one,” Zana says, referring to the house that just came on the market.
Coastmark broke ground in 2016 and finished the house in late 2017. By February all the final touches were in place and the home was staged and ready to go in the MLS.
With the spec house on the market, four of the seven lots in North Shore are spoken for. Three remain, but Zana is marketing the two south-most lots together as part of the $8.95 million home-lot package. He says the two home-lot packages are flexible. If someone wants a larger home on the one-acre or three-acre parcel, he will be happy to build what they want, adjusting the price to accommodate a bigger construction budget.
While Northshore has been moving ahead, slowly but steadily, Zana has been busy elsewhere on the island, building custom oceanfront homes near the Moorings and developing a condo project in Central Beach, currently under construction across from the Conn boardwalk.
Webb says the launch party for the new $6.9 million spec house at Northshore will be Thursday, March 22 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. “We are extending an open invitation to anyone in the community who wants to come,” he says.