Lakewood Ranch as alternative to TV?
 

Anyone with experience living at Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota with pros or cons to share?

My buddy lives in Lakewood Ranch, he used to live in The Villages. He likes it a lot but admits that Tampa area is his hometown and that was a big part of his decision. From what I gather, it's a lot of small communities (ie: villages) tethered under the Lakewood Ranch umbrella, but it's many builders, not just one.

It’s nice but you won’t get the amenities availability like here. Only certain sections are 55+. It’s spread out over large area like TV. Lots of traffic makes it feel like The NYC area. Plus is you are near beach and plenty of shopping but it may take you a half hour or more to go a very short distance

I've been there. I have friends there. They like it there. I like it here.
They like different things than I like.
Go check it out. It's very nice. You might like it better than here, or like TV better than there. Only way to know for sure is to check it out.

My friend lived in the 55 plus Del Webb community in Lakewood ranch. Took about 45-hour to get to beach with traffic. Not lots of activities compared to TV but neighbors were great and they had a lot of block activities. Much warmer than here.

We checked it out after 3 yrs of living in TV. Similarities - nice landscaping throughout, home layouts are nearly duplicate to TV's open floor plan, however no Roman showers (walk -in), there's always a shower door to clean. Everything is spread out. Pros - close to lots of hospitals, services, beaches, cultural events, restaurants. Con - every "village" has its own pool(s) tennis courts, yoga classes etc. You can't use another villages' amenties unless you get invited as a guest. We didn't move there.

Take The Villages and move it up 3 or 4 notches in style, sophistication, location & golf accessibility ... you have Lakewood Ranch.

Great spot and has been running neck & neck with TV for #1 in the country for a couple of years and recently has surpassed TV. Lakewood Ranch is the #1 community in the U.S. for all ages

Different concept than TV. Not as much a "company town".

Most of Lakewood Ranch is not Age Restricted.

As someone else mention, traffic can be tough, but I don't think it's much worse that TV in season ... the problem is, LR is almost always "in season".

No neck and neck.

The Villages retained its title as the No. 1 master-planned community in the United States. Florida’s Friendliest Hometown had 3,923 sales in 2022, a 2 percent decline from the record pace set in 2021.
New home sales among the 50 Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities declined by 20 percent in 2022 compared to the pace set by 2021’s top communities.
Sarasota’s Lakewood Ranch claimed the number two spot overall, and is the top-selling multi-generational community in the country, with 1,846 sales, less than ½ of The Villages sales.

https://www.**************.com/2021/...-no-1-ranking/

We lived in Tampa for many years before moving here.
Went to Lakewood Ranch many times.

Traffic is bad, taxes are high, way too congested.

It’s located in Bradenton which has quite a bit of crime.

The only thing that we liked was it was near Siesta Key
which is our favorite beach.

After living for almost 20 yrs. in Tampa with so many hurricane scares we decided in our old age we didn’t
want to be that close to the coast.

I frequently visit my brother, who lives there. Gorgeous and much more expensive with less amenities and activities. You have to pay for golf and it’s more of a country club feel. It doesn’t come close to the amount of golf courses in TV (and the majority are free), or the amount of activities of TV having 3000+ clubs. The few advantages of Lakewood Ranch are some of the large custom homes, closer to the ocean, some true gated communities but all for more money.

Sounds like you're running an advertisement for them. Why would you ask about another development when you're on this site? Very strange. Why wouldn't you ask people on their neighborhood site? Hmmmmm?

I was convinced we were buying in Lakewood Ranch during my pre-purchase analysis phase. Then we visited, and I hated it! Each community is very separated from the next. You cant even really walk or bike between them easily, so your social life ends up being just your gated community. The main golf course/country club is nice but an additional membership and had many families (not an issue for us). The traffic around the mall area was unbearable and their “town square” is very small with only a few restaurants and shops. Nicer homes, closer to the beach but it ended there with the pros for us.

Visited Lakewood Ranch maybe 6+ years ago, I've been living in the villages for four years. They had a waiting list to become a member of their main tennis club. Which pretty much nixed it for me.

Did you happen to notice the words "FOR ALL AGES" at the end of that sentence?

Apples and oranges.