New County Administration Center off Fruitville Road expected to open in 2026
Multiple times on Oct. 21, as the Sarasota County Commission held its regular meeting that day in the Administration Center standing at 1660 Ringling Blvd. in downtown Sarasota, Chair Joe Neunder noted that that session would be the last one the board conducted in that facility.
In fact, as he called up Jeanne Dubi, past president of the Sarasota Audubon Society, as the final speaker during the Open to the Public comment period at the conclusion of the other agenda business, he told her she would be the last person ever to address the board in those Chambers.
With the County Commission seated in November 2021 having agreed to sell the downtown Sarasota building to Benderson Development Co. for $25 million — and a new, nearly $100-million County Administration Center underway on Fruitville Road, near the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Project — County Administrator Jonathan Lewis began announcing in September that the board meetings soon would be relocating to the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center, which stands at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice.
During the commission’s regular meeting on Sept. 9 in Venice, Lewis said, “They’re actually kicking Administration and the commission out of the [1660 Ringling Blvd.] building … on the 23rd of October. … And so we’re all kind of running for places in the meantime.”
Former Commissioner Alan Maio — who had to step down from the board in November 2022 because of term limits — was the one who spearheaded the sale of the downtown Sarasota structure.
At his and his fellow commissioners’ request, the county’s Office of Financial Management provided estimates in May 2020 showing that if the county staff and the board continued to use that building, maintenance and repairs could cost as much as $49 million over the next 20 years.
On Oct. 24 — not quite four years after the approval of the sale of the property standing at 1660 Ringling Blvd., county staff advised the public via a news release and a note atop the county’s website homepage that visitors to the building no longer would be accepted as of 5 p.m. that day.
“County services remain available in person from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Sarasota County Operations Center at 1001 Sarasota Center Blvd.” in Sarasota, the news release added. “Information is also available online at scgov.net or by dialing 311,” it said.
Then the release formally announced what Lewis had previewed in early September: All of the County Commission meetings will be held at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center. “A meeting schedule is available online,” the release noted.
The new Administration Center is expected to open in 2026, the release continued. It formally is located at 1 Apex Road in Sarasota, the release added.
More information about that facility’s opening — and first board meeting to be held there — “will be shared as it is finalized,” the release said.
“County staff will continue to work from various county facilities until the opening of the new County Administration Center or their department’s administration building,” the release pointed out.
“To see a list of ongoing projects, including administration centers,” it continued, “visit scgov.net and search ‘projects in my neighborhood.’ ”
The latest county project update — formally dated November, even though The Sarasota News Leader read it on Oct. 28 — said that the construction contract cost for the new Administration Center, at 1 Apex Road, is $84,305,209; the expense of the design by Fawley Bryant Architects and HOK was $5,692,000.
Viewing upcoming county meetings
On a related issue, county staff has posted information on the county website about how the closing of operations at 1660 Ringling Blvd. will affect the viewing of county meetings, including County Commission sessions.
As of Oct. 27, the Access Sarasota webpage said, “Sarasota County staff is moving our broadcast equipment to our Robert L. Anderson Administration Center commission chambers so there will be interruptions of the live stream over the next several days.”
The next live TV meeting will be on Wednesday, Nov. 5, when the County Commission meets, that webpage notes; it will be available on scgov.net to watch live.
“Effective Oct. 27,” the webpage notice adds, “Access Sarasota will be off air on Comcast 19 and Frontier 32” until county staff moves into the new Administration Center at 1 Apex Road. Sarasota County Commission meetings will be available for live viewing via the “Live TV” button on the scgov.net homepage or by searching “Meetings on Demand.”
More than a few memories
Before adjourning the Oct. 21 County Commission meeting, Chair Neunder invited his colleagues and County Administrator Lewis to offer some thoughts about the finale of operations in the building that has stood for decades at 1660 Ringling Blvd., across from the Post Office on Pine Place.
Commissioner Teresa Mast noted, “Obviously, I’ve walked this hall as an employee, as a county commissioner, as just a regular resident and citizen. It’s very creepy to walk through these halls right now, because the building is, like, really quiet and empty.”
Then she pointed out, “There’s been a lot of incredible memories made here, and I look forward to many more in the new building.”
Commissioner Mark Smith told his colleagues, that, given his career as an architect on Siesta Key, he always found the structure to be awful, a comment that elicited laughter. “I’m not going to pull the punch,” he responded as he looked at other board members.
Then Smith noted, “When I got elected [in November 2022], I thought I was sentenced to that awful little room with the narrow window,” referring to his office within the Administration Center. If he stood on his desk, he added, “I could see the post office.”
“The new building is amazing,” Smith said, characterizing it as “employee-centric.” Smith added, with a smile, “The commission has a view of the parking lot. The employees get to see the Celery Fields.”
He did reference “construction issues” that have led to the delay in the formal opening of the new Administration Center. “Corrections need to be made,” he continued, including efforts to waterproof that structure, he indicated.
Earlier, County Administrator Lewis told the board members, “Our county administration building’s going to get done when it gets done, but I can’t have staff accept anything that isn’t going to protect the taxpayers for the next 75 years in that building.” Then he mentioned “minor delays … as we go through making sure it’s done correctly …”
The county website notes that the contractor is Ajax Tandem Construction, in a joint venture. The construction began in the fall of 2023, the webpage adds. Under “Construction Complete,” the webpage says, “Winter 2026.”
During the Oct. 21 meeting, Commissioner Ron Cutsinger pointed out, “Nine years ago, I remember coming into my first Planning Commission meeting [at 1660 Ringling Blvd.]. Frankly, it was intimidating, [the] first time on the dais, and here we are with a pretty significant upgrade in view.”
If any member of the public wonders whether the county “is efficient with their dollars,” Cutsinger continued, “we’re sitting here in the original seats that were here in this building when it was … put into service [as the County Administration Center.”
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, on Dec. 31, 1993, the county paid telecommunications company GTE Florida Inc., based in Hillsborough County, $5,588,000 for the land and the building, the Property Appraiser’s Office and Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller’s Office records showed.
In 2020, the Property Appraiser’s Office put the value of the land at $6,162,000; it assigned the structure a market value of $38,576,700. Yet, this year, Property Appraiser Bill Furst and his staff assigned a market value of $17,357,340 to the building.
With Commissioner Tom Knight having declined to offer any formal remarks, Chair Neunder wrapped up the trip down the proverbial “Memory Lane” on Oct. 21.
“Coming up as a kid, coming downtown,” he began, he recalled seeing what was then the GTE building: “Those blue letters and white background always stuck out, right?”
The end of the county’s occupation of the structure, he continued, “just kind of reinforces and puts into perspective [the fact that] Sarasota County has come a long way. … We’re growing by leaps and bounds.”
He pointed out that the new facility off Fruitville Road will be accessible to staff and the public.
Further, Neunder told his colleagues, “I understand there might be a rooftop view over ‘Cardiac Hill,’ ” referring to the mound also known as Mt. Celery within the Celery Fields. Perhaps, before future meetings in the new Administration Center, Neunder added, someone might take him up on the proposal of a morning run — “You know, to get some of the endorphins kicking before we do business …”
Concluding the comments, Neunder said, “With this final, ceremonial strike of the gavel, we do close a chapter in Sarasota County history. We carry forward the legacy of service and leadership that began right here in these Chambers.’
Bringing the gavel down, he added, “This meeting is adjourned.”