Coastal Collaboration

Broker and Partner Taber Tagliasacchi of Calusa Bay Properties redefines the meaning of service as she adapts to selling luxury homes during a global pandemic. This transitional, West Indies-style spec home in Pelican Bay sold in April of 2020 — and sales aren’t dropping! Calusa Bay Properties aligns with Calusa Bay Development, Stofft Cooney Architects, Calusa Bay Design, and Knauf-Koenig Group to form a team with unrivaled success in the Pelican Bay area. “We find the best lots, design the best homes, and develop the best curb appeal. We hand pick the best of everything, and collaboratively we deliver beautiful high-end homes. It’s a formula that works!” says Matt Knauf, co-founder of Knauf-Koenig Group.

Instead of meeting the potential homebuyers at the property during these times, Tagliasacchi holds virtual Zoom showings, walking the home and eloquently “adding a narrative” to each space. “This half-acre home site affords lush, green, tropical spaces that impact the home’s curb appeal as well as the interior design. Inside, you get the benefit of light filtering through the palms’ leaves and bouncing off the colors of the flowers,” says Tagliasacchi, describing the experience to her remote clients. It is the accumulation of skillful and artful details that arise from the collaboration of this talented team that propels them to the top in Pelican Bay’s market.

Wanting to create a West Indies-style home that pays homage to the traditional architecture in the area, architect John Cooney of Stofft Cooney Architects adds open, heavy timber trusses and stone clad columns for a dramatic entryway. “Dark stain, wood beams, and coffers are typically used in the West Indies-style, but we took those interior elements and painted them white. Doing so lightens the architecture and gives more of a transitional feel to the home,” Cooney explains.

Lead designer Liz Brown of Calusa Bay Design complements the architecture with a multi-textural, sophisticated spin on coastal interior design. “Traditionally in a coastal palette you see saturated blue and white, but to elevate it we used more subtle tones,” says Brown. During the interactive virtual Zoom showing, Tagliasacchi draws attention to Knauf-Koenig Group’s craftsmanship and the feel of fabrics and textures brought in by Brown. Tagliasacchi virtually imparts the feelings of home to her clients so they can remain at a safe distance during the pandemic.

With the uncertainty of facing another mandatory quarantine, this already hot area in Pelican Bay has seen record sales. “No one wants to go through another season in the cities,” states Knauf. And who wouldn’t want to “hunker down” in a high-class home developed, designed, built, and sold by this team of unparalleled collaborators?

*Feature cover image: Clean lines and the array of windows by Andersen Windows & Doors around the home exude a pleasing, harmonious rhythm in this sprawling open-concept design. Taking advantage of views of the pool, the outdoor living spaces interact with both the interior and the exterior, extending the home’s luxurious envelope. Motorized retractable screens from Castle Services of SWFL enclose the covered lanai with a touch of a button.