Florida Construction News staff writer
Sarasota City Commission has approved a plan to purchase two parcels of downtown land to build two apartment buildings with about 200 rental units for workers who have been priced out of living in the city where they work.
Land sales are expected to be completed by September, and construction on the attainable workforce housing buildings would begin by mid-to-late 2025 and units available for residents by 2027.
The city manager has also been directed to draft a Request for Proposals for a development team to manage, design and construct the Attainable Workforce Housing Project.
In March 2023, the City Commission authorized City Manager Marlon Brown to identify and secure property for affordable housing. Ian Black Real Estate was engaged by the City and over the past year to assemble properties on First Street between Orange and Lemon avenues.
The city owns a surface parking lot located at 1530 First St. Two adjacent properties, 1544 and 1590 First Street, will be purchased and developed for attainable workforce housing units.
“This is a bold, courageous and visionary approach to addressing the severe lack of attainable housing for our workforce in Sarasota,” said Mayor Liz Alpert. “It will be a game changer in the near future and for generations to come.”
The purchase price for the properties is $7.4 million.
“We understand that some may criticize government intervention in such matters, but waiting for the private sector to act hasn’t yielded impactful results,” said City Manager Marlon Brown. “Over the years, private developers have provided affordable units in dribs and drabs. Many qualified individuals are turning down jobs in Sarasota because they can’t afford to live here.
“This initiative will help increase the attainable housing inventory for those individuals or renters who have been priced out.”
The proposed development will include:
- two 12-story buildings with a total of ± 192 residential units
- 15,100 square feet of ground floor commercial space
- parking garage with three levels and ± 280 spaces
- 12 surface parking spaces
- seven on-street parking spaces
Ground floor commercial space in each building will be sold with proceeds paying down a revenue bond that will be issued for the estimated $70-80 million construction costs.
