Raymond Peper and Richard Day sold their Key West property, packed up their belongs, stacked the patio furniture on top of a Caprice station wagon and headed to Sarasota more than 20 years ago to chase a dream.
The couple had done their due diligence on demographics and expected off-season population. They had a decent amount of capital from selling a condo and a house.
And they had a quarter-inch scale model – with paper-towel palm trees – of what would become the John Carl Spa and Salon at 1345 Second St.
But first, they would have to find a bank willing to loan two men – one in his 60s, the other in his mid-50s – the money to build their dream.