Sarasota City Commission can't decide if developer can demolish historic home
The future of a historic Sarasota structure is still uncertain after the Sarasota City Commission failed to reach a motion regarding its potential demolition.
The potential demolition of the McAlpin House — a 1912 historic home located at 1530 Cross St. — is in limbo until at least May 6, as the commission couldn’t decide whether to approve the demolition at its Monday meeting. Virginia-based developer Orange Pineapple LLC sought to demolish the house to clear the way for a new mixed-use development, and it insisted that preservation wasn’t possible after months of workshopping solutions.
Orange Pineapple purchased more than 3 acres — including the parcel where the 1,600-square-foot house lies — for $32 million last May, and it applied to demolish the house shortly after. Local experts and advocates have since called for Orange Pineapple to plan around preserving the house, which is notable for its connection to prominent Sarasota developer George McAlpin and the pioneering rusticated blocks he used to build it.
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Orange Pineapple hasn’t yet submitted a site plan to the city, which means the future development is flexible. David Baber, president of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, said the new development should include the house.
“They haven’t even really finalized their plans for the building,” Baber said. “Certainly they can adjust it.”
The Sarasota Historic Preservation Board voted unanimously to deny Orange Pineapple’s application to demolish the house last July, and Orange Pineapple appealed the decision to the Sarasota City Commission the following October. The commission postponed a vote on the appeal for six months, directing the developer to continue to workshop solutions to preserve the McAlpin House in the meantime.
Despite a months-long campaign to find feasible new lots to move the house — including an offer to cover all relocation costs — Orange Pineapple has maintained that the house’s condition, size, orientation and cost of renovations make relocation impossible. Three house movers said it couldn’t be done, and 17 parties interested in taking on the house either tapped out or didn’t respond.
If the commission approves a total demolition, it isn’t a certainty. Orange Pineapple proposed using original materials, replicating the signature rusticated blocks and including a corner façade with two walls of the house in the new development.
Patrick Seidensticker, the attorney representing Orange Pineapple, said the developer will continue to seek some level of preservation. An order to remove the house, Seidensticker said, will simply allow the developer to draft a site plan that implements these options while continuing relocation efforts.
“We want to make sure we can salvage it to the greatest extent possible,” Seidensticker said. “If we have a giant home on the site, we can’t move forward.”
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Opponents and experts still maintain that relocation and preservation are possible. Clifford Smith, a senior planner for the city of Sarasota, said it’s feasible to move the house to a different location on the lot, and it would complement the development Orange Pineapple wants to build if kept there.
The efforts to incorporate the house’s original materials, Smith said, would fall short.
“You’re creating a false sense of history,” Smith said. “It’s not really what it appears to be.”
Commissioners were split on a solution and volleyed several suggestions to Orange Pineapple for preservation. They optioned moving the McAlpin House to the now-closed Nancy’s BBQ location at 1525 Fourth St. or the Payne Park area as well as shopping the property around through a Transfer of Development Rights application, which could take months to finalize.
The appeal eventually reached an impasse, as commissioners didn’t feel there was adequate time to make a motion after three hours of discussion. Commissioner Debbie Trice was hesitant to decide either way due to the project’s unknown future.
“We don’t want to buy a pig in a poke,” Trice said. “We want to know what you have in mind.”
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But others were more eager to put the matter to rest. Commissioner Erik Arroyo cited Orange Pineapple’s extensive but ultimately futile relocation efforts as evidence that demolition could be the only option for the development to move forward.
“When do you say, ‘Enough is enough’?” Arroyo said. “We love the structure, but nobody loves it enough to take it.”
The commission will discuss the appeal again at its May 6 meeting.
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota can't decide if historic McAlpin House will be demolished
