The Commercial Real Estate Alpha Site

After 95 years, the 26-acre site on University Parkway will be cleared for unspecified future development.

By Andrew Warfield via Business Observer

Jack Collins Jr. sat in the cab of an excavator, invited by the new owner of the Sarasota Kennel Club to take the first whack at demolishing the iconic structure at the edge of the Sarasota city limits on University Parkway,

He couldn’t do it. 

The legacy of three generations of building up and operating the Collins family business was too much for him to tear down — albeit only a symbolic piece. So he sat next to new owner Baird Inc. President and CEO Eric Baird and watched as the mechanical arm and bucket knocked down a corner of an auxiliary building adjacent to the grandstand.

That is all that has been taken down for now, but within weeks demolition contractor Forristall will move more equipment to the site that will be used to make way for redevelopment, which has yet to be planned.

New owner Baird Inc. of Sarasota, a family office that as part of its portfolio invests in under-utilized residential and commercial properties, is working with engineering and land use professionals to assess the site’s potential. In May 2023, Baird acquired the 26-acre property from the Collins family for $9.5 million.

The sale occurred after the family, led by Jack Collins Jr., canceled a contract early last year to sell the site to North Carolina-based Aventon Holdings, whose plan to build an multi-family community there was mired in a protracted lawsuit against the city brought by the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority. 

At issue was an interlocal agreement between the city and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport that prohibits new residential development beneath the 65-decibel noise contour of the runway.

“There was an agreement between the airport and the city and we didn’t even know about it,” Collins said. “They wanted to keep stretching the case out and we decided we didn’t want to be in the lawsuit even if they could prevail.”

Shortly afterward, the property was acquired by Baird.

Since it was established in 1929, the Sarasota Kennel Club hosted generations of greyhound racing and parimutuel betting enthusiasts. The track was purchased by Jack Jr.’s grandfather, Jerry Collins, in 1944 at auction for $5,000. 

The Collins family operated the racetrack until greyhound racing was banned in Florida by statewide referendum in 2018. The track ceased operations in 2019, and since then the track and infield area have been overtaken by vegetation, and the structures have deteriorated. 

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