Groundbreaking Ceremony, October 21, 2019

LAKE SUZY – On October 21st Sunshine State Communities hosted a ground-breaking ceremony in which approximately 85 guests celebrated the launch of The Preserve, located at 12116 Kings Highway in Lake Suzy, Florida.

The Preserve is the first manufactured housing community to be built on the west coast of Florida in over twenty years. This brand new 5-star community enjoys a perfect location nestled between Tampa/St. Petersburg and Fort Myers. Five furnished models and the sales center are expected to be open in January of 2020.

Jazz musicians began the ceremony performing the National Anthem prior to inspirational words being shared by special guests which included DeSoto County Commissioners, JC Deriso and Judy Schaefer. Terry Decio from Skyline/Champion Homes along with representatives from the developer Ellen Weil and Jim Hatcher also spoke at the event which featured food provided by Sarasota Catering Company. All of the extra food was packed up and donated to DeSoto Care Homeless Services.

Other guests in attendance representing companies were: EHC Construction, Castellanos & Tramonte Architects, Chris-Tel Construction, Land Solutions International, Passarella & Associates, Highland Aquatics, Lutz Bobo & Telfair, P.A., and DeSoto County Staff. Several local residents eager to find out more about the newest community in Florida also enjoyed the outdoor event.

The Preserve is a 500+ acre picturesque community which will feature beautiful Skyline Champion homes with prices starting in the $70’s. The new adult community is designed to offer the very best in retirement living and is just minutes from beaches, golf courses, boating, fishing, restaurants, shopping, museums, hospitals, parks, and so much more.

The amenities include a luxurious clubhouse accompanied by an Activities Director, in addition to the beautiful walk-in swimming pool, spa, shuffleboard courts for tournaments, and fitness center. There will be regularly scheduled activities, parties for residents, tennis, bocce, pickleball, just to name a few other features of the development.

The leadership and development team have over fifty years’ experience which has resulted with over 15,000 people enjoying the best housing value available anywhere. Senior Partner Jerry Berger says, “In over fifty years in this business, I have never seen a site as beautiful as this one. Every homesite is going to be spectacular as all the views of the preservation areas will be special.”

The engineering firm for the project is Barraco and Associates based in Fort Myers while the infrastructure is being built by well-regarded EHC Construction, Inc.

Groundbreaking Ceremony on October 21

A jazz trio creates a wonderful atmosphere

Desoto County Commissioners JC Deriso & Judy Schaefer

Desoto County Commissioners JC Deriso, Judy Schaeffer along with Ellen Weil (Sunshine State Communities) and Planning Board member Darvy Peden

EHC equipment on site and working on phase 1

More EHC equipment on site

Lunch served for groundbreaking ceremony

85 guests enjoying a great event under the tent

Part of the development team, Ellen Weil

Guests enjoying the ceremony

Terry Decio of Skyline/Champion Homes

Jim Hatcher of Sunshine State Communities

Let’s have some cake

Senior partner of Sunshine State Communities, Jerry Berger

Jerry Berger & Jim Lyons (Sunshine State Communities)

Jim Lyons & Olga Grafals (Sunshine State Communities)

Cary Monroe & Mike Giordano (Monroe & Giordano LLC)

Michael Cecil (Champion Homes of Merit), Ed Betzer (Skyline Homes), Terry Decio (Skyline/Champion Homes), Mike Nagy (Skyline Homes), Jerry Berger (Sunshine State Communities) & Terry Whitmore (Champion Homes of Merit)

Steve Coleman, Lauren Colarusso, Tim Gavin (Barraco & Associates, Inc.), Ellen Weil (Sunshine State Communities), Carl Barraco (Barraco & Associates, Inc.), Richard Simon (Sunshine State Communities)

Ellen Weil, Richard Simon (Sunshine State Communities), Howard Wheeler (Chris-Tel), Art Castellanos (Castellanos & Tramonte Architects), Earl Gill & Todd Strackbein (Chris-Tel)