Sarasota County went eighty years without a direct hurricane landfall, and then took two storms in less than two weeks. Hurricane Helene’s storm surge reached the area on September 26, 2024, and Hurricane Milton made landfall at Siesta Key on October 9, just thirteen days later, the first hurricane to make landfall in Sarasota County since 1944. Owners across the county are now working through what stacked, back-to-back storm damage actually means for a claim.
Sarasota County went eighty years without a direct hurricane landfall, then took Helene and Milton thirteen days apart in 2024, leaving most owners sorting two storms’ worth of damage into one file. Coyne Commercial Group represents Sarasota homeowners, condominium and HOA associations, and multifamily and commercial property owners through that sorting, from first inspection through final settlement, on a contingency basis: no recovery, no fee, across Sarasota County and neighboring Manatee and Charlotte.
Sarasota’s barrier islands, Lido Key, Siesta Key, and Longboat Key, carry a substantial stock of condo towers built in the 1970s and 1980s that are now working through mandatory structural inspections and, in many buildings, cast-iron plumbing replacement. Older buildings, stacked storm damage, and a demanding inspection regime all point toward the same need: documentation that holds up to a carrier looking for a reason to pay less.
What Sarasota property owners have been through.
Hurricane Helene
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4, but its storm surge reached far south along the Gulf coast, bringing 4 to 8 feet of surge to the Sarasota and greater Tampa Bay area.
Hurricane Milton
Milton made landfall at Siesta Key as a Category 3, the first hurricane to make landfall in Sarasota County since 1944, arriving just thirteen days after Helene. Sarasota County’s own figures put storm surge inundation at 6 to 9 feet above ground level from Venice south to Boca Grande, while the National Hurricane Center’s official report cites 5 to 8 feet for the storm overall, a gap that matters when a carrier is deciding how much of the damage was surge.
The Milton recovery
Sarasota County sheltered more than 9,000 evacuees during Milton and collected over 2.4 million cubic yards of storm debris in unincorporated Sarasota County within 90 days, a scale of damage that reflects how much of the county was hit across both storms.
Sarasota’s barrier islands carry a significant stock of low- and mid-rise condo towers from the 1970s and 1980s. Documented examples on Lido Key include Lido Harbour, built in 1970 with 42 residences, and the 7-story Lido Towers, built in 1980. Downtown Sarasota has added substantial new-construction high-rise condo towers over the past decade alongside its historic bungalow neighborhoods, while the barrier islands mix these older, pre-Milestone-era towers with newer luxury rebuilds.
Longboat Key-area condominiums commonly built in the 1970s are now facing cast-iron drain-line and plumbing-riser replacement as part of Florida’s Milestone Inspection and Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirements under SB 4-D. That combination, aging infrastructure meeting a mandatory inspection regime, is producing special assessments and insurance disputes on buildings that also took on damage from Helene and Milton.
Property insurance on Longboat Key runs roughly $12,000 to $35,000 or more per year for single-family homes and $3,000 to $8,000 or more for condos, spanning wind, flood, and umbrella coverage, a reflection of how expensive coastal coverage has become across the Sarasota market.
Statewide, Florida has represented roughly 9 percent of nationwide homeowner claims but 76 to 79 percent of nationwide homeowner insurance lawsuits in recent years, a share that has declined with tort reform to around 71.5 percent by 2023. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s statewide policy count passed 1 million and was trending toward roughly 2 million, driven substantially by high-risk coastal counties as private carriers pulled back, a dynamic that applies directly to Sarasota-area claims.
General information only, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Coverage depends on your specific policy, the facts of your loss, and current Florida law.
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Master-policy, common-element, and large-loss commercial claims for Sarasota condominiums, HOAs, and multifamily operators.
Commercial claims →Claim types we handle in Sarasota.
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