Downtown Sarasota boom: $780 million of construction projects in development

Inside the nearly 15 square miles of usable real estate in the city of Sarasota, several construction cranes soar high above downtown, remaking the skyline with large new buildings.

The sites under construction — along with others planned for the near future — could add more year-round residents than at any other point in the last 40 years, inviting a population influx that could soon see 1,000 more people living in Sarasota's urban core.

The new development won't just add traffic and people to the city center.

It could pave the way for more rental housing, as two large projects in downtown will add more than 650 apartments.

While there have been several recent examples of successful luxury condo towers, the addition of 420 rental units in Aster & Links next to the downtown movie theater on Main Street, and another 240 in The Quay's Cordelia Apartments, could be the proof of concept that spurs even more such projects, depending on how quickly they fill with tenants.

Together, apartment projects account for more than half of the total new units in the construction boom reverberating in downtown Sarasota. A review of construction projects reveals a minimum of 1,900 residential units across more than a dozen projects, totaling an estimated construction cost of $786 million, according to active city building permit data.

The new rental units are a departure from past trends and could be spurred by Sarasota's metro area experiencing some of the fastest rent cost increases in the country following the COVID pandemic.

Besides the development projects far enough along to need building permits, another 20 for about 1,550 apartments and condos have submitted plans with the city's Development Review Committee.

The combined impact could be transformative, as proposed projects aim to bridge Main Street's walkable, retail-centric environment — currently centered around several blocks largely west of Orange Avenue — all the way across Washington Boulevard in the proposed Park District, where recently implemented density bonuses have the potential to unlock hundreds of units of affordable housing.

But the development also faces pushback as some residents fear overdevelopment and the impact projects could have on the city's livability.

Downtown Sarasota awakens

It's not always been boom times in downtown.

Back in 1983, the city of Sarasota first surpassed 50,000 people living inside city limits. Since then, Sarasota County's population has more than doubled from about 220,000 to more than 460,000 people.

The population of North Port stood at just 7,661 four decades ago. Now, the city is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the country with a population of 86,556 — an almost unbelievable 1,030% increase over that same 40-year span.

Yet the city of Sarasota's growth rate has been 13.7% over the past 40 years, topping out in the last estimate from the Florida Office of Economic & Demographic Research at 57,005 in 2023. North Port passed Sarasota in population in 2008.

In some years, Sarasota's estimated population inched up by just a dozen or so people. During the Great Recession, the population estimate even declined.

Mollie Cardamone, a former city commissioner and lifelong Sarasota County resident, recalls the 1990s, around the time she became involved in city politics.

The rumor around Sarasota was that Longboat Key had been developed with all the prime real estate exhausted. Naturally, Sarasota's downtown area was seen as a likely next option for condo development.

Those development pressures eventually led to the creation of a Sarasota master plan and the rules that guide development today, she said.

Cardamone, who has been a critic of some recent communication issues between residents and City Hall, said Sarasota's development through the years has been healthy, although she said she disagrees with some individual projects and would like to see strict adherence to the current zoning codes.

“For the most part, the changes have been good. Our neighborhoods are wonderful," she said. "There’s just so much good about living in a town like this that you just don’t want to see any change that might threaten what we love.”

"I think that people who live here love it and they don’t want to see a lot of changes and if they could put a gate across the city, they would probably be delighted to do that."

Development 'like water'

Mitchell J. Silver, a celebrated urban planner who's taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design, described Sarasota's near-term future at a recent speaker series facilitated by Architecture Sarasota.

At that sold-out event last month he noted that population trends require the addition of 3,000 housing units by 2030.

Growth is coming. How Sarasota facilitates that growth is still being determined.

"Development is like water," he said. "It’s going to find the path of least resistance."

Silver previously served as the planning director for Raleigh, North Carolina, and knows the reality of community recalcitrance to change.

However, he said effective communication with residents requires identification of the problem that's being solved and then effective outreach to the community to describe the problem and what will happen if nothing is done.

He said doing nothing is also a choice with consequences that should be explained during the discussion by city leaders.

It's easy to see the construction of tall buildings and understand that impact.

However, it is harder to see the impact of saying no to development or requiring restrictive zoning.

When only the wealthy can afford to live in a community, few reflect on the zoning codes and what types of development they incentivize,

“I don’t want to overgeneralize, but older residents tend to say no and are resistant to change," Silver said while noting that Sarasota does have unique demographic characteristics that trend older. "That’s a challenge to government and a problem for the planning department."

"Be absolutely clear on the problems that you are solving," he advised city officials.

Kevin Robbins, 40, learned to drive on what is now University Parkway but was known by his parents as County Line Road. When he had his learner's permit — just 25 years ago — University Parkway was still a dirt road not too far east of Interstate 75.

Asked about downtown development, the commercial broker that facilitated the sale of the property where Aster & Links is being built points to all the housing that's been built in Lakewood Ranch, Wellen Park and other suburban residential projects that add thousands of units every year.

“I’m okay with the fact that they are building downtown because that means there is more opportunity for people to live and have an apartment here than somewhere else," he said. "Again, I'm not saying one’s bad and one’s good, I’m saying I think the city should keep pace with the county and for years development continues to grow out without letting any growth happen in the core of the city."

Robbins, with Harry E. Robbins & Associates, said the developer of Aster & Links plans to open the first of the two buildings located at 1991 Main Street this May.

He's currently leasing some of the ground floor retail that will front Links and Main Street. Sprouts will anchor the retail on the property adding another downtown grocery store. While he couldn't disclose the names of companies that have leased space in the property, Robbins said a prospective tenant roster includes a bank, boutique retail and a pastry coffee shop. He said he's in talks with a MedSpa-type business and there's space available for a couple of restaurant concepts.

He said projects like Aster & Links fill a need in the community, noting that there's been a lot of condo development downtown, but not as much year-round rental property constructed in the past.

"It's a niche in the market that hasn't been filed," he said of the luxury apartments under development.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: $780 million of construction, development slated for downtown Sarasota