Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Aster & Links, at 1991 Main St. in downtown Sarasota, consists of two separate, luxury apartment buildings, each with it’s own style.
pic via Mike Lang / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Downtown Sarasota has seen plenty of luxury condo development as several towers have been built in recent years that now soar along the bayfront — but new high-end apartments have been rare in the urban core.
That was, until last year after two high-rise buildings on the east end of Main Street finished construction adding more than 420 luxury units to Sarasota’s rental inventory.
Aster & Links began construction in 2022 after Greenwich, Connecticut-based Belpointe bought about 5 acres of an 8-acre property in 2019 that had been part of a retail center along Main Street that included the Hollywood 11 movie theater.
Following demolition of the retail buildings and a couple years of construction, the two 10-story apartments and ground floor retail — including a Sprouts Farmers Market — have been operating for several months.
When the project broke ground, apartment rents had soared in the Sarasota market faster than anywhere else in the country. However, the apartment market has seen prices come down in recent months as the once red-hot rental market moderates.
Eric Fenton, vice president of development at Belpointe, said a softening of the rental market does not worry him, with Belpointe positioned as a long-term owner of Aster & Links.
He said the property was built in a federally recognized opportunity zone with the tax benefits associated with building the development requiring an owner to hold the property for at least 10 years.
Fenton recently provided the Herald-Tribune a tour of the new development which wrapped up construction on its two buildings in late 2024, although Aster — the building that fronts Main Street — was leasing units earlier in 2024 as construction finished on the second building Links, located along Links Avenue.
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