Cranes dot Sarasota’s skyline as multifamily construction continues infill redevelopment with a growing trend toward rental units.
While speaking before the Downtown Improvement District Board of Directors during a recent meeting, Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association board member David Lough advised of a looming deceleration of residential development in downtown proper, but not necessarily so in the greater downtown area.
Lough, who keeps detailed data of residential development in downtown and in his Rosemary District neighborhood, noted new development is migrating north and east of the Downtown Bayfront and Downtown Core zone districts as those become built-out.
Regarded by some in Sarasota government as an unofficial city employee because of his presence in most meetings of various boards that affect downtown development, Lough brought the receipts to educate the DID board members of what’s coming to the center city, and where new development hotspots are emerging.
Citing the underway construction of residential properties in the downtown zone districts — which includes the Rosemary Residential Overlay District — that range in various stages from site clearing for Amara on Golden Gate Point to the topping off of the Ritz-Carlton Residences in The Quay, Lough highlighted:
- Sarasota’s full-time population of 58,000, which grew about 6.3% in the past four years, and could grow by as much as 10% in the coming five to six years.
- Estimated population in downtown and the Rosemary District is approximately 14,000.
- As condo towers replace lower-scale development, downtown accounts for some 60% of the city’s population growth over the last decade.
- At 1.8 square miles — not including Golden Gate Point — the DSCA area is roughly 7% of the city’s land mass but hosts 22% of its entire population.
And more is on the way.
“We’ve got 971 units under construction as of now,” Lough said, adding that there are some 1,500 in varying stages of the city’s development review and approval process. Although it’s feasible not all of those will make it to construction, “In theory, six or seven years from now we could have an additional 2,600 dwelling units.”
Residential development in downtown is also trending toward more rental apartments, suggesting a greater emphasis on year-round over seasonal residents and for, relatively speaking, less pricey options. Rental apartment developments recently completed were Aster & Links at the 1900 block of Main Street and Cordelia in The Quay, which combined bring 664 new apartments, none of them, though, fitting into the city-defined affordable or attainable price category.
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