Most of structure designated for Class A office space
As Sarasota Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich pointed out before two board votes on Aug. 17, the clearest recommendation for the Benderson Development Co. proposals the commissioners were considering that day was the fact that no Laurel Park resident had appeared during the public hearings to protest the plans for the adaptive reuse of the former Sarasota County Administration Center standing at 1660 Ringling Blvd. in downtown Sarasota.
In fact, Ohlrich stressed, “We didn’t have anybody come up here to speak against this redevelopment project. That’s sort of amazing, isn’t it.”
Mayor Debbie Trice added, “The fact that the applicant … communicated early and often with the neighborhood and the silence from the very vocal Laurel Park neighborhood confirms that they appear to be happy with the project …”
Laurel Park is the neighborhood closest to the property. In 2023, Benderson hosted a three-day charrette for the residents — and other interested parties — in an effort to gain the neighborhood’s support for redevelopment plans.
With their first unanimous vote on Monday, the commissioners approved an amendment to what formally is called the City Plan — the city’s comprehensive plan that guides growth in the community — to change the future land use designation of 1 acre of the approximately 2.88-acre site from Downtown Edge to Downtown Core. Then, on their second unanimous vote, the board members agreed to rezone that solitary acre to Downtown Core.
The southernmost portion of the property will remain in the Downtown Edge zoning district, the city staff report explained, “to serve as a transitional buffer the for adjacent residential properties to the south for a depth of 92.28 feet.”
The Benderson property encompasses not just the former seat of county government but also two adjacent parking lots.
The rezoning will enable the company, which is located in University Park, to raise the 6-story height of the building, Philip DiMaria, a certified planner with the Kimley-Horn firm in Sarasota, and Todd Mathes, director of real estate development for Benderson, noted in their remarks to the board. The goal, they explained, is to put a maximum of 38,000 square feet of retail space in the building — mostly on the ground floor, they indicated — and transform the remainder of the structure into Class A office space.
As a VTS article explains it, “Class A boasts high-end tenant improvements and high-quality, first-class finishes, high-tech security, the latest in elevator and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems], and state-of-the-art technological capabilities. In other words, these buildings are built to impress.”
Written by Kasey Tross, that article adds, “Tenants who seek out Class A properties are usually businesses for whom office space is not just for employees, but also for clients — and they want to give a top-notch impression. These businesses … may provide professional services [such as] law firms, architecture firms, advertising agencies, or financial management companies.”
A section of the rezoning ordinance that the commissioners approved this week says, “There shall be only non-residential space provided in the footprint of the existing building on the portion of the site zoned [Downtown Core].”
The Sarasota Planning Board members in July voted unanimously to recommend that the City Commission approve the comprehensive plan and zoning changes, DiMaria of Kimley-Horn pointed out to the commissioners.
Benderson paid $25 million in 2021 for the administration center and the other two parcels — at 1646 and 1703 Morrill St. — with the County Commission agreeing to annual rent of $1 million for four years. (A new County Administration Center was to have been completed in time for the County Commission and county employees to move in before Benderson took control of the property in downtown Sarasota. However, construction issues pushed back that formal relocation to this summer. Before the sale of the downtown parcels was concluded in late 2021, county staff told the board members that the new facility potentially could be completed in July 2025.)
Further details of the plans
“We’ve been through quite a long process to get in front of you today,” Kimley-Horn planner DiMaria told the city commissioners on Aug. 17.
The proposal before the board members, he continued, called for increased density on the portion of the site closer to the area already zoned Downtown Core, with a scaling down of intensity on the approach to Laurel Park, to the south.
“We think it’s incredibly important,” he pointed out, to have a buffer between the more intense portion of the site and the neighborhood. Nothing above 3 stories will be built in the area closest to Laural Park, he said.
Even though a maximum height of 5 stories is allowed in the Downtown Core zoning district, DiMaria explained, the zoning district encompassing Laurel Park allows a developer to go up only one extra story within a 100-foot boundary of the neighborhood. “So there’s a natural buffer, as well.”
He also noted, “This is one of the few instances where we have a building that’s really structurally sound,” making it possible to pursue adaptive reuse of it, “despite it being maybe one of the not-so-pleasant architecturally [created] buildings downtown …”
It was designed for nine stories, DiMaria added. “That’s also a huge benefit …”
DiMaria and Mathes acknowledged that no development concept plan has been created yet for the redeveloped building.
“I’m a big fan of adaptive reuse,” Vice Mayor Ohlrich said at one point during the discussion.
Turning to the plans for Class A office space in the building, DiMaria told the commissioners that research had indicated “a significant lack of vacancy” of such space in downtown Sarasota. “So there is a need from the standpoint of just the real estate.”
Mayor Trice acknowledged, “I personally was skeptical … of the demand for more office space, post-COVID. But, as expected, Benderson’s team did their homework and determined that there was enough demand … to justify the project. … The fact that it’s going to be Class A office [space is] certainly going to be an improvement over the current eyesore,” Trice laughingly added.
The tenants of the building are likely to eat lunch, buy coffee and just add to the “mixture of different types of pedestrian activity” in that part of the city, DiMaria had told the commissioners.
The only member of the public who addressed the City Commission during hearing on the land-use change was Howard Davis, a member of the board of directors of Architecture Sarasota, which is located in an historic building close to the Benderson property, at 261 S. Orange Ave.
Davis noted that leaders of the nonprofit organization had discussed the proposal for the former county property with Benderson representatives over the past years. “We are right on top of what’s going on here and think it’s a terrific change,” Davis added.
Mirroring the comment that DiMaria had made, he further noted, “The existing building … has not, and will not, win any architectural awards.” The Benderson team, he continued, is “looking for what I would call transformative architecture. So we’re gonna be transforming really one of the ugly ducklings in Sarasota into a prize.”
Traffic concerns, sidewalks and a nearby park
The commissioners did pose questions about the traffic study undertaken on behalf of Benderson.
Vice Mayor Ohlrich, who was presiding that day with Mayor Trice participating via an online connection because of an apparent illness, asked Mathes and DiMaria about the fact that the proposed project would generate 1,255 total net new traffic trips per day, as shown by the traffic study. Yet, Ohlrich continued, the study also noted that “only 427 net new trips” were expected during the evening peak drive time, as written in the city staff report.
Moreover, Ohlrich continued, the 427 figure was not indicated to be significant. She asked why that was the case.
Acting Assistant City Engineer Alex DavisShaw explained that, even with the extra traffic expected to be associated with the completed project, Ringling Boulevard still would be operating at its adopted level of service.
When Ohlrich asked what that level of service is, DavisShaw replied that it is a D. (The Florida Department of Transportation has explained that level of service letters are not exactly comparable to school letter grades. They reflect the amount of congestion that drivers perceive on specific segments. Thus, A reflects the least congestion and F the worst congestion.)
“It’s sort of shocking, though, isn’t it?” Ohlrich told DavisShaw, that the project would be expected to generate 427 more evening peak drive time trips.
“It is actually one of the more free-flowing roadways,” DavisShaw replied, referring to Ringling Boulevard.
The only person who had addressed the commissioners during the rezoning hearing was Kimberly Colgate, a resident of the Q Townhomes complex that stands east of the site. She had expressed concern about the fact that the segment of Morrill Street from Osprey Avenue to Orange Avenue is one-way and “very narrow.”
“The traffic is going to find the easiest way to get to the parking for the Benderson project,” Colgate pointed out. “I would like the City Commission to consider putting up a “Do Not Enter” sign at the intersection of Pine Place and Morrill,” she added.
People will come to the property from all directions, Mathes of Benderson told the board members during the rebuttal portion of the rezoning hearing.
Moreover, he pointed out, the expectation with Class A office space is that the building’s occupants will not have the traditional work schedule of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Although traffic studies consider peak drive time, he added, “We know that will not be the case [with this project].”
City Development Review Planner Camden Jenkins further noted that the traffic situation will be reviewed at the time that city staff analyzes the site plan that Benderson will submit before construction can begin.
On another point related to the traffic study, Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch noted that the staff report said that sidewalk gaps exist along Rawls Avenue and Morrill Street, and those are to be filled in by Benderson.
“We absolutely want public sidewalks to be there,” Mathes responded. “We will work with your staff to make sure [the gaps are filled].”
The commissioners ended up adding to the rezoning ordinance a proffer calling for that action.
Additionally, Ahearn-Koch talked about the city park that is located northwest of the former County Administration Center. “I think a lot of folks don’t know it’s a city park,” she pointed out.
“I would love to see that space enhanced as green space, enhanced as a place for people to enjoy pathways, shade, landscaping — nothing commercial at all,” she told Mathes and DiMaria.
Perhaps company representatives could work with the city manager and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department on “some sort of enhanced landscaping … and maintenance of that landscaping,” she continued.
“We totally agree its’s a wonderful opportunity,” Mathes responded, indicating that the goal would be to keep the park “beautiful and passive … So we would like nothing more than to have the opportunity to improve that area through just landscaping, lighting, trees, benches, that sort of thing …”