Sarasota City Commission approves city-owned "attainable housing" proposal
Sarasota will move forward with a proposal to build city-owned “attainable housing” downtown after a unanimous City Commission vote on Monday.
City Manager Marlon Brown’s plan for two 12-story city-owned and privately managed residential and commercial units across the street from City Hall will now have to undergo a process of property acquisition, regulation and design before construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2025.
The city will buy two downtown properties on First Street in partnership with Ian Black Real Estate. The two parcels will cost about $7.4 million combined. Brown’s plan calls for the city to pull money from its $4 million affordable housing trust fund for the purchase, along with financing from three local nonprofits: the Barancik Foundation, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
A spokesperson for the Barancik Foundation said in an to the Herald-Tribune they have also pledged $1.5 million, on the condition that “that commitment is contingent on provisions in the final agreement with the City regarding affordability in perpetuity and restriction on being able to sell the property.”
Jon Thaxton, the Senior Vice President for Community Leadership at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and a former Sarasota County Commissioner, said his group planned to donate $1.5 million. However, he said, “nothing has been finalized.”
“There have to be provisions within the contractual language that assure that the foundation’s money is going towards affordable housing, and not for anything else,” Thaxton said.
Deputy City Attorney Michael A. Connolly, whose office will have to negotiate with the other two non-profits, raised concerns based on reporting by the Herald-Tribune that the other two nonnonprofits have not yet committed a dollar figure.
“My concern is giving an assignment to the city attorney’s office that we can’t do unilaterally,” Connolly said at the meeting. “We have to negotiate with each of the three foundations to find out exactly what they want, and we have to bring that back to the City Commission.”
The deputy city attorney cautioned the commission that his office must present funding terms for approval after negotiating with the nonprofits. Connolly told the Herald-Tribune that while the city has until April 22 to sign the purchase contracts, it will have until September to secure the funding.
Brown told the commission he was confident the other two nonprofits would commit money. He will also seek funding from other government entities, such as Sarasota County, Sarasota Memorial Hospital and the Sarasota County School Board.
Nobody in the chamber seemed excited about the possibility of the city having to dip into its general revenue fund for the project.
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As all 10 of the city manager’s administration recommendations were approved by the commission, Brown now also has the mandate to draft a proposal with the city development team to “manage, design and construct the Attainable Workforce Housing Project;” find an individual to be the program’s primary advocate and overseer; and to work with the Sarasota Affordable Housing Advisory Committee to determine the requirements and criteria for applicants to the buildings.
Contact Sarasota Herald-Tribune Local Government Reporter Christian Casale at ccasale@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @vanityhack
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota approves city-owned downtown affordable housing plan
