LAKEWOOD RANCH AND BEYOND | LIVE LOCAL. LOVE LOCAL.
PUBLISHED BY SRQ MEDIA | 2026 FALL EDITION
LIVING LAKEWOOD
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ALLSWELL WATERSIDE | BLACK JACK MUSSELS
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LIVING LAKEWOOD
INTERVIEW BY BARBIE HEIT | PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN
REX JENSEN, BRITTANY LAMONT AND KEITH PANDELOGLOU SHARE THEIR VIEWS ON WHAT SETS THE MULTIGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY KNOWN AS LAKEWOOD RANCH APART FROM ALL OTHERS.
Leading the Way LAST MONTH, THREE OF LAKEWOOD RANCH’S LEADING VOICES GATHERED for a candid conversation about the issues shaping the
community—from its greatest opportunities to its most pressing challenges. Here are a few highlights from the discussion.
LAKEWOOD RANCH HAS EXPERIENCED TREMENDOUS GROWTH SINCE IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1994. FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO ITS CONTINUED SUCCESS? JENSEN: Bear in mind that we have 80,000 residents right now compared to 58,500 in Sarasota and 55,000 in Bradenton. I would say the central thing that’s contributed to our success is the appeal directly to the consumer. There are a lot of people who voted affirmatively with a big major move in their lives by coming to Lakewood Ranch when they could have gone to either one of the other alternatives. Why did they join us? I think there’s a simple answer, which is that what we’ve offered is directly appealing to those consumers because it did appeal to them precisely. People have choices and they made them, and that ought to say something about what we’ve done. LAMONT: The vision of the overall master plan is something that is not replicated in many places. The intentionality between creating a commerce center in Lakewood Ranch, where businesses could thrive with Professional Parkway and all of the businesses there, the lifestyle, the residential options and I think the overall harmony. I would say it’s a smalltown feel with big-town amenities. There are parades on Main Street and many events–it’s an all-American town that people strive to be able to live in, but then also it has these amenities, like UTC, that are not typically found in a small town. Obviously, COVID and the growth that came after 2020 to Florida itself did not hurt the situation, but I think what has made people specifically find Lakewood Ranch is the quality of life it offers. PANDELOGLOU: The patience and foresight that the developers have taken while continuing to invest in amenities, parks, schools, businesses and programming long after the first homes were built. Growth is exciting, but our goal is to make sure people don’t simply live near each other; they actually know one another. 6 | srq magazine_ LIVING LAKEWOOD FALL 2026 live local
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REX JENSEN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SCHROEDERMANATEE RANCH (SMR) Rex Jensen
was promoted to President of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch (SMR) in August 2002 and was chosen to become Chief Executive Officer in February 2005. In that capacity, Jensen oversees all the businesses of SMR, including agriculture, aggregate mining and real estate development on its 30,000-acre land holding in Manatee and Sarasota counties. The company’s award-winning development, Lakewood Ranch, a fully integrated, master-planned community is ranked in the top 10 fastest selling in the United States from 2011 through 2017 and has remained so ever since. In 2018, Lakewood Ranch rose to the fastest-selling multi-generational community in the United States. Jensen is a pro-active leader known for setting the entitlement, green building, transactional and financial framework for Lakewood Ranch as well as a number of public/private partnerships with school boards, local, regional and state governments and innovative business approaches to difficult private and public sector issues. Jensen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History, Economics and Political Science from Michigan State University (with high honors, 1976) and received a degree of Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan (with honors, 1979).
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LIVING LAKEWOOD BRITTANY LAMONT, PRESIDENT/CEO, LAKEWOOD RANCH BUSINESS ALLIANCE
The Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance is a 600+ business organization focused on supporting businesses in the Manatee and Sarasota region. Before her current role, Lamont spent over a decade at the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. Starting as an intern, she worked through various positions leading to the Vice President role focused on membership retention, engagement, events and communications. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Marketing and Management. Brittany is an active member of the community serving as a Board Member for the Early Learning Coalition, Take Stock in Children Sarasota County and the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation. She is a past Board Member of the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals, the Florida Public Relations Association and the American Advertising Federation. Brittany’s most rewarding role is being a mother to her three children–Payton, Harper and David. Her weekends are spent enjoying time with family and friends.
REX, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS OR INITIATIVES CURRENTLY UNDERWAY THAT RESIDENTS SHOULD BE EXCITED ABOUT? JENSEN: I’m very excited about a community being done by Erickson Communities, a sort of an aging in place/ independent living/assisted living community, which we’ve needed in Lakewood Ranch for a long time, because as you age and you’re established in a community, just because your circumstances change, why should you be forced to leave when you need more care to continue your life? I think that the scale of this community of 250 such units will serve a lot of people. It’s an important demographic that we’ve, until recently, been unable to serve as fully as I would like to. The other exciting project is stepping up the medical care side of things. Orlando Health is getting ready to go through a planning exercise to put a medical
campus in Lakewood Ranch and that will up the game in terms of health care considerably. Some other things that I’d like to do is to get Moffitt Cancer Center out here. We’ve had some dialogue and I don’t know that this is necessarily going to happen, but I’d like to get it done. If I could ever increase the presence of Sarasota Memorial out here, that would be great. Plus, it’s also good for employment and all the other things that I think contribute to a good community. BRITTANY, WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING AMONG BUSINESSES RELOCATING TO OR EXPANDING WITHIN LAKEWOOD RANCH? LAMONT: There is a whole side of the business community that is not brick and mortar. The remote gig economy—I’ve been at the Alliance just shy of five years and that was probably one of the first conversations when I came from the
Sarasota Chamber–people don’t move to Lakewood Ranch necessarily to retire. They might be setting up their second gig in life, or now there’s more remote work. Trends that I see are businesses moving here but never opening up a brick-and-mortar space and businesses getting out of the cities to come east to attract their workforce is another thing that I definitely see a lot of as well. And when you have a high median income as we do, why would you not want to do business here? So even if you’re a corporation moving, it’s an attractive place to do business. COULD YOU SHARE A KEY PARTNERSHIP THAT HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF LAKEWOOD RANCH? LAMONT: I think you have to have a partnership with both counties when you’re an unincorporated non-municipality and a part of the county. Lakewood Ranch is not its own
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LIVING LAKEWOOD KEITH, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE LAKEWOOD RANCH RESIDENTS? HOW HAVE YOUR EVENT PARTICIPANTS CHANGED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS? PANDELOGLOU: Our residents come from all walks of life, many states (and countries), and our programming needs to match who we have living here and who we expect to live here in the future. They are all people who are excited about their new hometown and show that pride by showing up, whether it’s for an event, a committee or to give back. The major change I’ve experienced over the last decade is that new residents are starting to attend events and get involved before they even close on their home. It’s great to see people so excited about their decision that they want to get plugged in before closing day, so much so that many even choose to rent in LWR while their future home is being built so they can get right to getting connected.
KEITH PANDELOGLOU, PRESIDENT & CEO, LAKEWOOD RANCH COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES Keith
is dedicated to being a connector and ambassador for the local community. He has a focus on connecting with residents and the business community via his work as President & CEO of Lakewood Ranch Community Activities, a 501c not for profit dedicated to building community in the number one ranked Multi-Generational Master Planned Community in the USA. In addition, he serves his community as Board Chair of the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation, as well as his role as a Board Member and Co-Chair of the Small Business Collaborative for the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance.
city and so you have to make sure that outside of Lakewood Ranch, you have the assets to bring it into Lakewood Ranch. The counties manage the infrastructure into Lakewood Ranch and so to teeter both counties, I think it has been a strong partnership with Manatee and Sarasota Counties. Because it’s not a municipality, it has to rely on the services of Manatee and Sarasota County school districts, fire, police and county infrastructure and so I think Lakewood Ranch itself, SMR, has done a very good job of making sure that the needs of Lakewood Ranch residents are at the forefront for both counties. JENSEN: I’m most proud of all of the partnerships that we have had over the years and I’m especially proud of the partnership we’ve had with the Manatee County School Board. We have a ton of schools here in Lakewood Ranch and it’s basically rooted in that partnership that we formed seven years ago with the school board where we’ve gone arm-in-arm to try to help them have the resources to build and staff schools throughout the county in general, but also in in this area to get away from the typical situation where you’re two schools behind before you can build the school that you need. We’ve got schools that may be up to capacity, but we are certainly not two schools behind any longer, and we used to
be when we started. PANDELOGLOU: The long-standing collaboration between the developer, builders, businesses, nonprofits and resident volunteers has allowed us to grow into a community that is attainable by people at every level of their life, whether a new graduate, beginning family or those more established and retirees. REX, HOW HAS THE VISION FOR LAKEWOOD RANCH EVOLVED SINCE ITS EARLY PLANNING STAGES? JENSEN: There’s a limitation to vision. There’s a fine line between hallucination and vision. We have tried to plan for a general buildout sort of volume and adjust the plan somewhat as we began individual phases and pieces of it. You try to do that with more current knowledge rather than the knowledge of 35 years ago. There have been limitations on the specificity of the plan, but not limitations on how many trips of traffic you need to deal with, how much water you need or how much sewer capacity you need. Those have all been baked into the equation for a long time. The market changes over the course of time and consumer taste changes with the course of time, and you just need to do that with a more current mindset. So, we’ve kind of blended general planning and specific planning as appropriate as we move forward.
COMMUNITY EVENTS AND PROGRAMS ARE CENTRAL TO THE LAKEWOOD RANCH EXPERIENCE. HOW HAS ENGAGEMENT CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? PANDELOGLOU: The largest shift we saw over the past decade came in 2020. At a time when the country was being told to stay inside and isolate, we had to pivot quickly as an organization. From that experience, we introduced our Parks & Recreation programming in Summer 2020, which has expanded to what it is today with more than 600 programs happening year-round. The engagement post-COVID was further enhanced by having more opportunities for residents to meet on a regular basis via small groups, park programs and clubs, and not just during larger-scale events. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACING LAKEWOOD RANCH OVER THE NEXT THREE TO FIVE YEARS? JENSEN: First of all, I think the challenge is to finish the job that we’ve started. I don’t have any more government approvals to go through, so it’s more a matter of execution. I think what we need to do is finish the infrastructure that is necessary for the complete development, and do that on time and appropriately and to me, that means do it ahead of development so that people don’t live in a perpetual construction zone. I think the challenges have largely been met with maybe two more years’ worth of infrastructure construction. We’ve got about
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12,000 more homes to do, but we’ve done 27,000 already. PANDELOGLOU: One of the greatest opportunities we have is to continue to improve the things that have made us such a desirable community, as the bar is constantly getting raised, and we’ve done a great job meeting that challenge. An example of a
businesses is maybe they had multiple offices– one in Tampa, one in Sarasota, one in St. Pete, whatever. Lakewood Ranch is a really desirable place to put an office. Our biggest role is just to make sure we’re advocating for businesses. Advocating for infrastructure projects– appropriation dollars for infrastructure–
“I think the execution of that plan has been at a high above-therim sort of level, and we have also put in place a number of measures to see that the community is cared for over geological time so that it gets better and better rather than declining with age.” —Rex Jensen challenge we may face is continuing to provide the level of amenities and programming residents expect while navigating changes in Florida’s economic and policy environment. LAMONT: The greatest opportunity will be the full buildout of Lakewood Ranch. I always say in my line of business, I haven’t even met some of my future members yet. Companies haven’t come into Lakewood Ranch yet—businesses have yet to open. As for challenges, I think there are political challenges in Lakewood Ranch right now. Because we are still a community that isn’t fully built out yet, some of the decisions that are made at the county and state level government still have the opportunity to impact. You saw it last year when words like building moratorium were used. Those types of things can be quite a challenge to a community that is still building out. And so I think at times, Lakewood Ranch gets blamed for non-master plan community problems. And so sometimes you just call it East County development—too much development in East County without saying that there’s very mindful and planned development in Lakewood Ranch. However, other parts of East County do not have that. HOW DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION CONTRIBUTE TO MAINTAINING LAKEWOOD RANCH AS A DESIRABLE PLACE TO LIVE, WORK AND DO BUSINESS? LAMONT: That’s our role—the doing business part in Lakewood Ranch. My sister organizations each have their carvedout role. For us, it’s having a thriving business community, making sure that it’s an attractive place to open and build a business. One of the biggest trends that I see when I speak to
that allow the business community here to continue to thrive. JENSEN: I think you stop and think of three things. First of all, we’ve planned it according to some very high standards. I think the execution of that plan has been at a high above-the-rim sort of level, and we have also put in place a number of measures to see that the community is cared for over geological time so that it gets better and better rather than declining with age like many other areas of the county that I could point to. I don’t think you can say that the first neighborhoods we’ve done in Lakewood Ranch have really declined. They haven’t. They look good. Summerfield, for example, looks even better now than it did when it was started in 1994. You look at it today and it’s mature; the landscaping is really fleshed out and the homes have been kept up by the residents. The community has lots of amenities and lots of activity. You drive through it after work or on a weekend and you see people using the parks and trails, kids out there playing. It’s what it was meant to be, only it looks better. And I think that is symptomatic of the entirety of the community. It’s gotten better with the passage of time rather than run down over time. PANDELOGLOU: Our contribution is helping turn neighbors into a connected community. People can go anywhere to buy a house, but in Lakewood Ranch, we help you build your lifestyle by providing hundreds of opportunities each year for connection, meaning and recreation via our programming. BRITTANY, HOW HAS THE LAKEWOOD RANCH BUSINESS ALLIANCE EVOLVED TO SUPPORT THE AREA’S RAPIDLY
EXPANDING BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN THE PAST YEAR? LAMONT: It is an election year, so that always has us pivot a little bit—a lot of our activities have been very centered around advocacy awareness. We actually just had all of our state delegation here to do a panel and talk about this past session. Property tax is obviously a huge thing, so our advocacy efforts have probably been where we’ve stepped up the most. We are now actually partnering with Manatee County to host their Manatee Days in Tallahassee, bringing groups of businesses and public officials to Tallahassee as well. So, in a year like this, advocacy is really important for us. As for continued growth, I feel like we’re a welcome mat for people moving in. If you’re being relocated for your business or you’re moving here, how do you make friends? Maybe your kids’ school, maybe church and a lot of times it’s through work. We take seriously as well that there are families moving in and how we can help integrate them not only professionally but personally into our community. REX, AS THE MASTER DEVELOPER, HOW DOES SMR BALANCE CONTINUED GROWTH WITH PRESERVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE THAT RESIDENTS VALUE? JENSEN: One way we do that is by building the infrastructure, not two lanes at a time; you need to build a four-lane road. You need a park; build a park. You need a school; build a school. That’s what we’ve done. You don’t have to drive five miles to go to work. You can go to work, shopping, a restaurant or a doctor’s appointment all inside the community. You don’t have to leave. WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE GROWTH MEAN TO SMR, AND HOW IS THAT PHILOSOPHY REFLECTED IN FUTURE PLANNING DECISIONS? FOR EXAMPLE, HOW IS LAKEWOOD RANCH NAVIGATING STORMWATER AND FLOODING MANAGEMENT? JENSEN: Sustainability to me is a multi-layer cake, as the Nvidia president likes to talk about AI. Fifty percent of what we’ve done is open space. Nobody else has done that. I think sustainability is: have you built your infrastructure either ahead of development or with development? We have. Have you included a variety of uses, or are you just one use? If we were all houses and no employment, no shopping, no restaurants,
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no parks—that wouldn’t work. We’ve done that. I built more roads than two counties put together. You could take from here to Atlanta and stretch out all the roads that we’ve done, and that’s how long they would be. So that’s what sustainability is actually—not just planning, but implementing the plan and doing it, building the infrastructure—that’s in the plan. We have reduced groundwater pumping to probably 15% of what it used to be under agriculture. That’s sustainability. So I would say that sustainability is trying to minimize the impact per home and do the best you can with it. When it’s materially different here by being better than it is elsewhere, I think we’ve succeeded.
door and saying, “Okay, gang, let’s go jogging today.” You really have to create a community that does that itself as opposed to needing it done for it. So I would say that setting up the institution and the culture of engagement has been my role more than anything. PANDELOGLOU: Meaningful community engagement means creating opportunities. At Lakewood Ranch Community Activities, we do that for residents in ways such as volunteering at an event, serving on a committee or leading a community group or club. We help to foster this engagement by always listening to residents when they are looking for a program, group, or club that does not currently exist, and helping to get one started.
BRITTANY, HOW DOES THE BUSINESS ALLIANCE HELP SMALL BUSINESSES, ENTREPRENEURS AND LARGE EMPLOYERS CONNECT AND THRIVE? LAMONT: Anywhere from ribbon cuttings and connections, welcoming them to the community, making sure people are aware—I always say for somebody starting a business, this is their Super Bowl. This is a dream they’ve probably had their entire lives to open their business. We just had a ribbon-cutting for a local gym and he brought his whole family and it was just so great to see. Celebrating businesses and their accomplishments is obviously huge for us. We also bring in speakers and offer educational opportunities. A lot of these companies still have to make payroll on Friday and they need to know what tax changes are coming, what tariffs will affect them and things like that. We do try to stay on top of feeding them the most up-to-date information.
BRITTANY, LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT INDUSTRIES OR ECONOMIC SECTORS DO YOU BELIEVE WILL PLAY THE BIGGEST ROLE IN SHAPING LAKEWOOD RANCH’S FUTURE ECONOMY? LAMONT: Healthcare science and professional services–those are really big industries and you’re going to see a lot of it. High-wage jobs are an asset to Lakewood Ranch and Manatee and Sarasota Counties. With something like Orlando Health coming in, that brings not only the workforce physicians, but then spinning off services, they need things and then their vendors show up. It’s very similar to some of the stuff you see happening at the airport.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS OFTEN CITED AS A KEY STRENGTH OF LAKEWOOD RANCH. WHAT DOES MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LOOK LIKE IN YOUR ROLE, AND HOW DO YOU FOSTER IT? JENSEN: I try to foster mechanisms for community engagement because I can’t talk to 80,000 people every day; nobody can, so I’ve tried to create a culture of engagement. We’ve basically set up the institutional framework where these things can happen and work well, kind of with their own energy and their own momentum as opposed to sending Julie from The Love Boat out knocking on every
WHAT ISSUES OR TOPICS ARE AT THE TOP OF YOUR MEMBERS’ LIST OF PRIORITIES? LAMONT: We just did a business survey about this with our members, mostly looking at issues ahead of the political season. The largest thing we are seeing is about land use and the pace of development. I don’t think that is a surprising thing. Infrastructure workforce and affordable housing do continue to be top of mind. I also believe everybody, in some capacity, is talking about property tax. Whatever side you sit on, from a business perspective, we don’t want to see more fees and more cost of burden shifted to businesses. Obviously, quality of life is important too. WHAT IS YOUR MOST POPULAR EVENT? PANDELOGLOU: A parent can never choose their favorite child, or in my case, event, but I will say that the popularity of our Community Campout never ceases to amaze me. To
see hundreds of residents gathering under the night sky, connecting and not over an electronic device, makes my heart so full. WHAT IS ONE MESSAGE YOU WOULD SHARE WITH CURRENT RESIDENTS AND THOSE CONSIDERING MOVING TO LAKEWOOD RANCH? PANDELOGLOU: Find a way to get involved or connected within your community! Whether attending a group meeting, event or volunteering, there are ways for everyone to feel a part of their community. A couple that I would highlight would be our Parks & Recreation programming and our Seed to Soar program. With Parks and Rec, we’re able to provide programming at all age levels, across various parks in the community, matching residents’ interests. For Seed to Soar, this program allows a resident to start their own community group or club, with assistance, logistics, space and promotion provided by the LWRCA team, helping residents turn an idea into an active club that continues long after it begins. We are so excited by the growth in the community, the upcoming enhancements at Premier Sports Campus and furthering our opportunities for connection by continuously working with new residents, new businesses and community partners to bring even more programs, groups and clubs to our residents, ensuring that even as Lakewood Ranch grows, it continues to feel like a place where people know their neighbors. JENSEN: When you make a move like this, you’re looking for more than just a house to sleep in at night; you come to a new area to live, to work, to raise a family, to retire, whatever it might be. But the point of it is there’s a much bigger goal that you have in mind when you’re buying a home. And you’ve got choices. You can go buy a home somewhere, and it’s a home, and that’s all it is. Or you could do it in a place where that home helps you facilitate the larger goals that you have in life and that’s Lakewood Ranch. To be engaged, to have places of worship next door, to have schools next door, to have your employment next door—if you live in Parish or Northport, you’re driving miles for your job, parking on I75 twice a day. You don’t have to do that here. I think that this is a true community, and the others are legitimate choices, but I don’t think they’re as good a choice as Lakewood Ranch is if you really want your broader goals to be thrown into the equation and met. LL
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WRITTEN BY SARAH EMILY MIANO | PHOTO BY WES ROBERTS
Standards
AT WATERSIDE, ALLSWELL DOES GASTROPUB WITH TANDOORI DUCK CONFIT, BANANA-INFUSED BOURBON AND A CANNING MACHINE AT THE BAR.
Below: left to right: Casino-style mussels with crusty ciabatta for scooping; blackened ahi tuna salad paired with a summer pilsner. Allswell Craft Cocktails and Kitchen, Mon-Wed 11 am-11 pm, Thurs 11 am-12 am, Fri 11 am-1 am, Sat 10 am-1 am, Sun 10 am-11 pm, 7500 Island Cove Terrace, Suite 102, Sarasota
BEFORE SERVICE, TORY DELANY SCRAWLS THE DAILY MENU ON THE CHALKBOARD: Black Jack Mussels, $18.95. Behind her, prohibition-era light fixtures glow over dark wood, teal walls papered with Irish postage stamps. Handcarved birds, perched on twin posts, watch over the dining room. Delany left Dublin in 1998 with grit and a one-way ticket. After years working her way through New York restaurants, she opened the first of her own at a Greenwich Village spot in 2007. She and her husband and business partner, Darren Shore, built the Malt House taverns and Mezcali, a mezcal-and-tequila bar in Manhattan. Allswell Craft Cocktails and Kitchen, the couple’s Florida debut, just marked its first anniversary at Waterside Place in Lakewood Ranch. “There’s no job in here that’s above or below me, because it’s my place,” says the onetime hostess turned proprietor. “If I don’t set the standard…,” she pauses, her Dublin accent undiminished by decades stateside. “You set a tone, and that’s the tone. The level of expectation. We don’t dip under that.” Whether it’s pre-lunch Monday or late-night Friday, that means receiving deliveries, clearing tables and greeting regulars by name. Plenty meet “Tory” at the door. 18 | srq magazine_ LIVING LAKEWOOD FALL 2026 live local
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The Black Jack mussels come smothered in golden casino butter and diced bacon, a toasted herb crumble on top, with ciabatta for scooping. Executive chef Nils Tarantik, classically trained with Swedish and German roots, has a résumé that includes Duval’s and Element in downtown Sarasota. He creates home comforts filtered through classical cooking and unexpected spice. “European, Eastern European, a bit of Southeast Asia,” he says. The tandoori duck leg confit is slow-cooked in oil and aromatics, then flash-fried until the skin crackles and dusted with tandoori spice. Browned zucchini tossed with a cucumber raita tempers the curry between bites. “The gamegame, no pun intended, is ongoing and growing over here,” Tarantik says. “Duck is the door, and then you’ve got pheasant, quail, things I grew up eating. To get everyone to enjoy what we all grew up on, that’s really why we do food.” The blackened ahi tuna comes piled over bibb lettuce, with cabbage slaw, sliced avocado and jalapeños. Blackening spice hits first, then the tang of ginger-lime dressing. A beet and burrata salad looks almost too simple for how gorgeous it eats, orange-infused white
Below: Allswell’s beet and burrata salad with an orange-infused balsamic vinaigrette, fresh mint and sliced almonds.
balsamic vinaigrette cutting through the cream, scattered with mint and almonds. The bespoke bar keeps the same standards. The taps deliver Allswell Ale alongside craft picks like Allagash White, and Guinness for diehards. The cocktail list changes three times a year, says General Manager Vicky Henderson, who worked with Delany back in New York. “I base specialty cocktails around what’s in season,” she says. A lavender-lemon sangria for summer; a pumpkin-spiced espresso martini for fall. Banana-infused bourbon anchors the Banana Bread Old Fashioned, with walnut liqueur, oloroso sherry and chocolate bitters. The Strawberry-Basil Mule mixes strawberry and basil-infused vodka with fresh lime and ginger beer. “If you fancy a really delicious proper cocktail, not some B.S. off the shelf with all the mixes, you get it here,” Delany says. There’s a party trick you won’t find anywhere else, perfect for a walkable neighborhood, Henderson says: a canning machine that turns draft prosecco and beer, even fresh-squeezed cocktails, into branded cans. Order a drink at the outdoor bar, it goes straight into a can, sealed on the spot. “You can go home with an espresso
martini or one of these awesome banana oldfashioneds,” Delany says. “Isn’t it cool?” After 10 p.m. on weekends, Allswell shifts. Dining tables get pushed to the perimeter, a DJ sets up and a well-dressed crowd between 25 and 55 fills the floor. The kitchen stays open until 1 am, turning out mini smash burgers and buttermilk fried chicken tenders. “We’re definitely getting a name for ourselves,” Delany says, “as a late-night destination place, as well as a dining destination.” Weeknights are no snooze, either. Mondays bring half-price wine bottles; Tuesdays, Adult Happy Meal (complete with a take-home toy); Wednesdays, trivia. “Get dinner and a nice cocktail and chat to my bestie for under 30 bucks,” Delany says of Thursday’s $29 girl dinner: Caesar, truffle parmesan fries, specialty cocktail. Bottomless brunch fills the weekends, not to mention Sunday roast. Delany and Shore recently opened Delany’s Public House on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch, a traditional Irish pub with “a lot of genuine, from Ireland, accented people” on staff and a menu designed by the same kitchen bringing “quality and intention.” In other words: standards. LL
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LIVING LAKEWOOD
WRITTEN BY BARBIE HEIT | IMAGE COURTESY OF LAKEWOOD RANCH MEDICAL CENTER
Tower of Care
Below: With the new patient tower, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center is raising the bar for exceptional care.
LAKEWOOD RANCH MEDICAL CENTER IS EXPANDING WITH THE ADDITION OF A NEW FIVE-STORY PATIENT TOWER.
WHEN THE NEED ARISES FOR HOSPITALIZATION, it’s reassuring to know exception-
al, state-of-the-art care is available close to home at the new $120 million inpatient bed tower at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center. Since first opening its doors in 2004, the hospital has strengthened the community through high-quality care, job creation and expanded specialty services. That commitment continues with the addition of the new patient tower, a significant investment designed to meet the growing healthcare needs of a rapidly expanding region. “This year has marked an exciting new chapter for our hospital and for the Lakewood Ranch community we proudly serve. In April, we broke ground on our new patient tower–a major milestone in our long-term plan to expand access to high-quality care close to home,” says Philip Reber, COO. “In May, we welcomed our first patients into the new space, adding 60 much-needed beds as part of a new Critical Care Unit and Progressive Care Unit. We also added a new pharmacy, outpatient testing and lab services and a more comfortable surgery waiting area for families. These additions strengthen our ability to deliver exceptional care when our community needs it most.” Reber notes that the hospital’s growth is not limited to the new tower. “We are actively working on important updates to our current Emergency Department to enhance patient flow and improve the experience for those seeking emergency care. And toward the end of this year, we will take another significant step forward with the opening of our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” he explains. “This will allow families to stay close to home during some of their most vulnerable moments, supported by highly trained specialists and advanced technology.”
The new patient tower increases the hospital’s licensed bed capacity from 120 to 180, helping meet the region’s growing healthcare needs. A future second phase will add another 60 beds, bringing the total to 240 and doubling the hospital’s previous capacity. Designed with both patients and families in mind, the tower features advanced medical technology, specialized care units and patientcentered amenities that support comfort,
healing and high-quality care. “Lakewood Ranch continues to grow rapidly, and we are committed to growing with it. Every project we undertake—from the new tower to the upcoming NICU—reflects our mission to meet the evolving needs of our neighbors with compassion, innovation and excellence,” adds Reber. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and energized by what’s ahead.” LL lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com
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LIVING LAKEWOOD
WRITTEN BY OLIVIA FANDERS | IMAGES COURTESY OF LAKEWOOD RANCH
NEW ATHLETICS & AQUATICS CENTER IN LAKEWOOD RANCH FEATURES AN OLYMPIC-SIZE POOL.
Diving Into A New Era
Below: Lakewood Ranch’s new Athletics & Aquatics Center marks a major milestone in the community’s continued growth—creating even more opportunities for residents to stay active, connect and thrive.
FOR JOHN LINXWILER, MANATEE COUNTY’S DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY CAPTAIN, the construction of the new Athletics & Aquatics Center on Post Boulevard is a huge step in Lakewood Ranch’s development. As a lifelong swimmer and coach, Linxwiler says the complex is much more than just a new place for recreation. “I was a competitive swimmer myself—but I was also a coach for 25 years,” Linxwiler explains. “The most satisfying thing for me was coaching and teaching these kids and just seeing them grasp some of these techniques and applying them in competition and watching their confidence grow.”
This emphasis on helping young athletes is at the core of what motivated the construction of the $44.2 million expansion to the Premier Sports Campus. The campus will now be divided into north and south, with the north side being dedicated to the new Athletics & Aquatics Center, which will feature an Olympic-size swimming pool, a warm-down pool for athletes, locker rooms and a geothermal yard. “This is huge. We’re going to have room for all the high schools, for all the area swim teams and for college swim teams,” Linxwiler highlights. “It’s a very special campus that we’re getting, and I couldn’t be more excited.” The south side of the Premier Sports Campus, completed in 2011, has already gained a lot of traction for its large-scale sports events. According to Manatee County, the 2023 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) President’s Cup event brought 10,000 athletes and 22,000 spectators to the area and generated $18 million in economic impact. With the new Athletics & Aquatics Center, Manatee County hopes to expand this impact. “We’re partnering up with local area swim teams—they want to host age group championships, Florida championships, possibly senior state championships, the high school state meet, regionals—you name it,” Linxwiler says. The facility’s draw for these events is its 50-meter Myrtha pool, specially designed for elite and Olympic-level competitions. Linxwiler explains that accommodating such a pool means having the right support and foundation. “We thought, in designing and having this kind of Myrtha pool, that it deserves to have a geothermal system so we can control the water temperature—if we did not have that, the water would not be conducive to competitive swimming,” he says. “It’s just another way to attract big competitions because we can ensure that the water temperature will be somewhere between 78 and 82 degrees as required for some of these major competitions.” However, the facility wants to stay grounded in the community. “There is nowhere out east for residents to enjoy recreation quite like they will at this location,” says Molly White, Manatee County’s Director of Sports and Leisure. “The quality and the flexibility of the entire complex is going to be meaningful to the community, for all ages to have a social place that is safe and maintained.” For both Linxwiler and White, the value of the Athletics & Aquatics Center lies in the memories that people can create there. As construction continues, anticipation is building for what people hope will be a place where families can connect, athletes can compete and new opportunities can be developed. LL 5895 Post Blvd, Lakewood Ranch
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