Waterfront listing has a place in horror-novel history

Coldwell Banker listed for $5.44 million a waterfront estate near Sarasota with a place in literary horror history.

Author Stephen King rented the four-bedroom home at 5444 Gulf of Mexico Drive on Longboat Key while he was writing “Duma Key” (2008), a horror novel about a man’s escape to a remote island.

King’s one-time escape is located on the largest available lot on Longboat Key, measuring 2.5 acres.

The 52-foot tall residence is one of the tallest on Longboat Key, due to city height-limit ordinances. The three-level estate, designed by its current owner, has a rooftop terrace.

Each of the property’s four bedrooms has a bay view. They are all located on the top floor and are equipped with private bathrooms. The master suite boasts a private sun room with sliding glass walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and views of the pool, nature preserve and bay.

The home has a concrete and steel frame and floor-to-ceiling, hurricane-impact windows. A second-floor pool, just steps from the living room, overlooks a bay and an adjacent 32-acre nature preserve. The spiral staircase offers direct access to the pool deck from the master bedroom.

There is 6,000 square feet of living space. The home features marble flooring in common living spaces, deeded beach access and a private boat dock, and a private, tree-lined driveway with a privacy gate and a two-car garage.

Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate’s Oliver Giesser of the company’s Longboat Key office has the listing.