Social Suggestions

Wellen Park Verified Neighbors was the first Facebook group dedicated to the West Villages, now known as Wellen Park, when it began in 2018. It's a labor of love, and Eric and Ali work hard to maintain it.

Wellen Park is full of public groups, some with over 40,000 “members.” The reality is that many of them are platforms for spam, fake profiles and people from all over. Wellen Park Verified Neighbors is totally different.

Their goal is a place where neighbors and residents in every village of Wellen Park can communicate and know they're talking with real neighbors. It's a place to discuss local politics or what events are happening, one that isn't controlled by the developer's marketing narrative and doesn't read like the Yellow Pages.

They carefully go through every single membership request and check Sarasota County property records to verify that each member owns property in the West Villages District and Wellen Park. They turn away far more people than they approve, but the group is growing steadily. Their patience will pay off as the community grows, because the integrity of the group gives residents a true place to communicate. If you're a real resident, they encourage you to join.

Real Estate Sunday

Members also get Real Estate Sunday, a bi-weekly blog Eric writes and posts in the group. It is not for promoting him or Gran Paradiso. It's where he draws on 25 years in new development and his knowledge as a Florida native to talk about what's happening in Wellen Park, from a perspective that's incredibly hard to find in Southwest Florida.

Natives are few and far between here. Natives who have been here as long as Eric has are even scarcer, and fewer still have spent that life in new development and real estate, in one of the fastest-developing areas in the country. He finds that perspective valuable, and so do many others. It's often comforting when the media is saying something else. His track record for calling it has been well above average.

Eric is a SpaceX nut. One of the coolest things about Florida, and one of his favorite childhood memories, was watching launches, even from this coast. He remembers the space shuttles going up, and then it all stopped for a long time. Elon Musk and SpaceX brought it all back.

His father-in-law, Bill, introduced him to SpaceX in 2010, and he's been following them with Bill ever since. This group has been up for a while. It even includes video of the first Dragon launch as seen from here, the morning Bill and Eric got up early to watch it.

Southwest Florida is closer than people think. With a new Starship launch site being built in Florida, Eric expects to see Starship launches regularly, and he can't wait to watch them from here.

This group exists simply because of the love of SpaceX Eric shares with Bill. It's a place for others to share that love too. If you're new to the area, you'll likely be pleasantly surprised to learn how close you are to watching the future of space travel from your own backyard.

Wellen Park Foodies is run by a friend of Eric's. She asked him to help her get it going, and he handles all the technical stuff behind the scenes.

She's the perfect admin for a group like this. Her background is impressive, and the folks of Wellen Park are lucky to have a foodies group like this one.

The group is growing fast, and Eric highly recommends it. It's built around one simple motto:

“The best places are always found by word of mouth.”

That's the spirit of the whole group: neighbors telling neighbors. If you love good food and want to hear about great places from the people who live here, this is where to find them and share your own.

This one is for Tesla owners. It only makes sense that a SpaceX fan would also be a huge Tesla fan.

Eric drives a Tesla himself, and at home he has a full Tesla Solar system, complete with Powerwalls.

He created this group so Tesla owners in Sarasota County have a simple place to ask questions and share information about Tesla, with a local focus. Whether you just picked up your first Tesla or you've owned one for years, you'll find neighbors here who own one too. If you drive a Tesla in Sarasota County, you're welcome to join.

Ask a question, share what you've learned and help the next owner out. That's what this group is here for.

This last one, Gran Paradiso Wildlife Sightings, is extremely popular with Gran Paradiso residents.

Because Gran Paradiso has so much preserve and is so close to the Myakka State Forest, some really cool wildlife turns up here. Eric promises some of it is not what you would expect, from otters to bobcats to panthers to alligators to all kinds of beautiful birds, and the list goes on and on.

People love sharing photos of them. When a neighbor spots something special, this is where it gets posted, so the rest of the neighborhood can see it too. As the banner says: share, learn, enjoy.