Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association president puts focus on multiple benefits to community

As leaders of the City of Sarasota have been celebrating news of a $12-million federal grant that will facilitate the transformation of the Boulevard of the Arts and 10th Street into “Complete Streets,” one long-time advocate for the improvements is focusing on a key result he expects to see after the projects are completed.
“Connectivity” is the word that David Lough, president of the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association (DSCA) and the Rosemary District representative on that organization’s board, emphasized during a Jan. 22 telephone interview with The Sarasota News Leader.
“Our city’s seeing the value of connecting neighborhoods and people through pedestrian traffic,” he pointed out.
In the City of Sarasota newsletter for Jan. 17, the letter from Mayor Liz Alpert put the news of the grant atop all other reports on city activities.
“We received some outstanding news last week!” she began.
“I was notified through U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s office that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded the City of Sarasota a $12 million grant for our 10th Street and Boulevard of the Arts Complete Streets project!” she wrote.
On Jan. 9, the News Leader learned, Alpert received news of the grant award from Savannah Sipsy, a member of Sen. Rubio’s staff. Sipsy provided details about the funding decision from the U.S. Department of Transportation and congratulated Alpert on the news.

“This was the fourth time the City applied for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant,” Alpert stressed. “If you don’t succeed, try, try, try again!
“The grant, along with a required $3 million match from the City, will go toward complete street improvements in the Rosemary District, including wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, a roundabout at 10th Street and Orange Avenue and enhanced landscaping, lighting, stormwater and utilities,” she continued. “Plans are 60% designed and have received significant community feedback. With the federal funding secured, the next step is to negotiate an agreement with the U.S. DOT detailing specific requirements for the project. That process is expected to take at least one year. So, construction could start in about two years. That’s not bad,” Alpert added, “considering the project was on hold indefinitely due to a lack of funding.
“Each year,” she continued, “the City’s grant application scored well and received a debrief. Our dedicated transportation planners, Alvimarie Corales and Corinne Arriaga, gained valuable insight with each submission, made adjustments, and resubmitted time and time again until the grant was approved. We greatly appreciate their perseverance and management’s support throughout the process. It paid off!”
The newsletter also noted, “Information about the project can be found at www.Sarasotafl.gov/10thandBOTAcompletestreets.
Lough estimates that he advocated for at least seven years for making Boulevard of the Arts and 10th Street more enticing for people walking and biking.
“There were those who thought it was a longshot,” Lough told the News Leader, referring to the grant.
One concern, he explained, as city staff kept up its efforts to win the funding, was the fact that “the Rosemary District became more prosperous,” while the grant was designed to help “more challenged areas.”
Lough noted that he worked to put together about 25 letters of support for the application. They came from individuals and entities, as shown in a spreadsheet he provided to the News Leader. The list includes the Sarasota Housing Authority, the Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences, the Central Cocoanut Neighborhood Association, Boo’s Ice House and Dog Bar, and Sarasota Contemporary Dance.
“Apparently, it was pretty unusual” for so many letters of support to be provided in an effort to obtain the funding, Lough said. Yet, he acknowledges, “We’ll never know for sure if that pushed [the grant application initiative] over the goal line.”
He also applauded the work of city transportation planners Corales and Arriaga. “They did a heck of a job,” he said, as they worked on refining the application before each submission.
Envisioning the potential
Lough further pointed out to the News Leader that while the perception of some people in the city is that the Rosemary District has become an example of gentrification, “to a degree,” statistics show otherwise.

Calculations he has made, he said, make it clear that about 28% of the dwelling units are for lower-income residents or are considered attainable housing units, such as Lofts on Lemon, a project of the Sarasota Housing Authority. Another example is St. Martha’s Housing, he said. It is located at 800 N. Lemon with 78 rental apartments “designated specifically for the occupancy of low-income individuals,” as its listing with GuideStar, an organization that provides information about nonprofit entities, explains.
“You have quite a population” in those and similar developments, Lough noted.
Another third of the district dwelling units are market-rate apartments, he continued, while the other, approximate third comprises condominiums.
Therefore, Lough pointed out, his data show that the Rosemary District residents range from those living on $500 to $600 a month to those living in $10-million condos. “It makes for a very interesting dynamic.”
The Complete Street projects also will be “connecting people almost all of whom have no green space,” he emphasized, as well.

In June 2024, as city staff was continuing to pursue the federal funding, Anand Pallegar — the current chair of the Rosemary District Association — sent a letter on behalf of that organization to Arriaga and Corales, noting another key another feature of Complete Streets that are of great value to Rosemary District residents: canopy trees.
“[T]ree coverage in our neighborhood,” Pallegar wrote, is a priority of the residents. While he acknowledged city staff’s concerns about potential challenges “that could make planting in some cases more difficult, [Rosemary District residents request] that the spacing of the trees remain a priority, to be as close as possible …”
Lough explained to the News Leader that one of those challenges will be the location of utility lines.
Lough also noted the importance of the Complete Streets effort as an economic driver.
People who were familiar with the intersection of Boulevard of the Arts and Central Avenue years ago, he said, recognize the significant changes that have taken place. The proximity of The Bay Park, which is underway on the city’s 53 acres on the bayfront, has been another factor in the improvements in the area, Lough added. That park has served as an economic catalyst, he pointed out, spurring entrepreneurs to open businesses, including restaurants. “You get kind of a critical mass,” was how he put it.
“I think people will be amazed … when Boulevard of the Arts gets improved.”
Lough summed up points by referencing the old saying, “All boats rise with the tide.”
More design details
The city website provides the following additional details about the Boulevard of the Arts-10th Street plans:

“The initial phases of this project began in 2021,” the website says. After construction funds have been secured, it continues, “the project will move into the next phase, Design-Build. City staff worked with the community through a variety of outreach opportunities to reach this point in the project. These opportunities included online surveys, public meetings, business walks, and many other touch points. The project described below was developed through extensive community engagement, best practices, safety, sustainability, and engineering design standards,” the website points out.
“The 10th Street section focused on safe, multi-modal transportation potentially transforming the corridor from 4-lanes to a 2-lane, divided facility with 8-ft sidewalks, landscaping, stormwater treatments, and protected bicycle lanes. Additionally, there is consideration of a potential roundabout at the intersection of Orange Ave and 10th Street.
“The [Boulevard of the Arts] section reflected an enhanced pedestrian experience along the corridor that is broken down into three separate segments with differing treatments, the website says:
- West of U.S. 41 (Bayfront to U.S. 41) — “2-lane divided street, 11-[foot] travel lanes with sharrows [which are symbols of bicyclists, to promoted shared use of the road], 10-ft landscaped median, 10-ft sidewalks separated by a 9-ft landscaped border, and curbside management zones. There were also call-outs for art opportunities in medians and intersection treatments.”
- U.S. 41 intersection — “a raised intersection with 4 high-emphasis crosswalks. The raised intersection functions as an enlarged speed table ultimately reducing vehicular speeds along U.S. 41 creating a safer environment for vehicular traffic, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”
- East of U.S. 41 (U.S. 41 to Orange Avenue) — relocating powerlines underground, “2-lane divided street, 11-ft travel lanes with sharrows, 10-ft flex/sidewalks separated by an 8-ft landscaped border and on-street parking, where feasible. There were also call-outs at intersections for art opportunities, as well as callouts for street furniture, like benches or unique seating.”