Business and Real Estate: Signs point to restoration of historic Sharp compound Hacienda
The red-tile roofed estate just north of Fifth Street known as the Hacienda, has new signs for its restoration, courtesy of its contractor, Sarasota-based Ball Construction, Inc.
Ron Marcotte of Ball was meeting with the owners last week. The Beacon reached out to Ball, but they were unable to comment. The firm has a longtime relationship with the island, and was the contractor for the renovation of the Johann Fust Library, and approximately a half dozen other properties on the island.
Boca Grande Historical Society photo
The property is the best loved and best known of the historic Boca Grande mansions. It is still family owned, by HRS Hacienda LLC of Wilmington, Del., with an address at the Sharp Family Office. According to Lee County property records, the property is assessed at $18,409,172, an increase from $16,735,611 last year. It is listed as having 15 bedrooms and 13 baths, in over 15,000 square feet, though the Zillow listing is considerably less. The actual lot is two blocks, for about seven acres. The family paid $223,917 in real estate taxes on the property in 2023.
It was built by Hugh Rodney Sharp in 1923. Hugh Sharp was an accountant for duPont, and eventually married Isabelle du Pont. In an oral history for the Boca Grande Historical Society in 2001, the late Bayard Sharp said his parents began to develop the house in 1925. His father, he said, “was a frustrated architect. He built a lot of buildings all over Delaware and traveled a great deal. He was taken with Spanish architecture for down here; he thought it was very appropriate.”
The lead architect was Albert Ely Ives who, according to a National Park Service report, began to work on other projects for the du Pont family in the 1920s. He took part in the alterations and additions to the original du Pont residence, Winterthur Museum, as well as Gibraltar, also in Wilmington. The grounds of Gibraltar are now part of Preservation Delaware’s Marian Coffin Garden, restored with the help of the Sharp family in 1998. Ives later designed the Hotel Hana Mau in Hawaii.
A number of vendors have worked on the property since it was damaged during Hurricane Ian. According to county records, CJ Agate of Tested Waters LLC, has applied for a permit for the property at 801 Gasparilla Road. This item is described as “Resurfacing pool interior, new plumbing to new equipment.”
Vendors listed on the sign include Chappelle Interiors and Architects, Myers Painting Commercial and Residential, Luxbaum Windows and Doors and Avery Roof Services.
