Down the Pike - Fall 2016

Despite some community opposition over fears of increased traffic, Benderson Development Co. intends to move forward within the next year with Siesta Promenade, a mixed-use project at Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41. When completed, the project would add retail space and residences to a 25-acre, vacant tract. Benderson also continues to add space to the University Town Center area in North Sarasota County, with new restaurants and shops bordering the nearly two-year-old, $315 million mall that anchors the area. The developer’s “West District,” an entertainment-centric project with a movie theater, restaurants and office, is likely to start construction within the next year. Downtown, the One Palm project – containing an aloft Hotel and 139 new apartments – is now open. Reservations in the hotel have been brisk and the apartments are fully leased, a sign that the apartment rental market in Sarasota is strong and deep. Later this year, the first phase of the CityPlace apartments will come online in the city’s Rosemary District, the first of more than 1,400 units to be delivered north of Fruitville Road in the coming 18 months. As a result, commercial demand for more retail, offices and industrial space is expected to wax in Sarasota through 2018 as commercial space follows rooftops. On the office front, there are some high profile lateral moves, including the Sarasota Herald Tribune’s move in 2017 to smaller space in the 10-story SunTrust building. Michael Saunders’ move to the Ellis Building will fully occupy the long-vacant ground floor. The vacation of the 9th floor of Five Points Tower by Buchanan Enterprises, Direct Energy and Baird may add up to 33,000 square feet to the Class A office vacancy.