Saray Ranch in Myakka City sells for $5 million

Tampa-area structural engineer George L. Southworth has purchased the 1,421.8-acre Saray Ranch in Myakka City for $5 million.

The last time the property at 38750 Taylor Road was sold was Jan. 1, 1932, according to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s web site.

“Today, its primary purpose is recreation and entertainment for the grandchildren,” Southworth said Wednesday afternoon. “Ranching is a secondary thing.”

The ranch is located about an hour’s drive from where most of the new owner’s children and grandchildren live.

Southworth is president and founder of Concrete Impressions of Florida Inc., which specializes in manufacturing and installing precast concrete structures, including more than 75 miles of sound barrier walls along Florida highways. The company has manufacturing facilities in Tampa, Pompano Beach and DeLand. He is also a shareholder and member of the board of directors of Pilot Bank.

Southworth received his master of science in engineering degree from the University of South Florida in 1980.

The May 13 sale was to Southworth and the George Southworth Revocable Trust, according to the Manatee County Clerk’s Office.

In 2014, the Saray Ranch property was in the news when Christopher Baden’s sisters, Joanna Baden and Virginia Baden, joined a lawsuit filed by Rocking Seven Ranch & Farm LLC, Garret T. Barnes, and Howze Ranch Limited Partnership against him, seeking to ban shooting of weapons, hunting, and tours on the property.

Two years of legal fighting over the Rocky Creek Ranch Shooting Resort on the Saray property ended with Circuit Judge Janette Dunnigan holding Christopher Baden in civil contempt for violating an injunction against operations at the facility. Later, Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith appointed a receiver, M. Lewis Hall, and ordered the property be sold.

Calls to Christopher Baden were not immediately returned Wednesday.

The Saunders Real Estate website described the property as having a lodge and an air-conditioned timber frame barn.

“The ranch is ideal for a family or corporate retreat, cattle ranching, farming, hunting and outdoor recreation. The property is private but quickly accessible from Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch and the Tampa Bay area with easy access from the Sarasota and Tampa International Airports and I-75,” according to the Saunders Real Estate web site.

That description appealed to Southworth, who heard about the property several years ago, but thought the price was too high.

More recently, he traveled “grudgingly” to look at the property, and “decided it might be time to make a more reasonable offer.”

Myakka City has seen several significant land transactions.

In September 2014, Michael Galinski, founder and owner of St. Petersburg-based multinational America II Inc., paid $13 million for the 4,515-acre Blackbeard's Ranch property, located in the Clay Gulley, Sugarbowl and Coker Gully Road area.

Mark Pentecost, founder and CEO of Palmetto-based It Works!, bought 1,955 acres of Myakka City ranch land for $6.8 million. The property is near another 1,020 acres he had purchased in 2011 and 2014. Together, the property is called Pentecost Ranch.

And just this week, the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, Southwest Florida Water Management District and Bradenton conservationist Elizabeth Moore pooled about $5 million to acquire the 1,100-acre Carlton Triangle Ranch at 30303 Clay Gully Road.

The conservation easement means the property will not be developed.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Saray Ranch in Myakka City sells for $5 million."