Board members voted 4-1 against project
On May 4, representatives of the developer of the proposed 327-foot, 18-story structure called the 1260 N. Palm Residences — which would be built on eight parcels in downtown Sarasota — will try once again to persuade the Sarasota City Commission to allow him to proceed with his plans.
The board members will hear about modifications of the plans, which resulted from mediation through a process provided for by the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act (FLUEDRA); it is detailed in Florida Statute 70.51.
This new hearing will take place just shy of a year since the commissioners voted 4-1 to shut down the project. Only then-Mayor Liz Alpert supported the developer of what also is known as the Obsidian — Matt Kihnke, of MK Equity Corp. in Sarasota — in the appeal of the city Planning Board’s 4-1 decision in February 2025 that the city’s Development Services staff was justified in approving the project with various design elements that deviated from the provisions of the city’s Zoning Code.
On May 13, 2025, the majority of the commissioners sided with the Bay Plaza Owners Association, who have been fighting the construction of the 1260 N. Palm Residences since it first was proposed.
The Tampa area attorney who handled the mediation is Mark S. Bentley of the Johnson Pope firm.
In the backup materials for the May 4 agenda item, Bentley explained that, essentially, the City Commission will conduct a “site plan re-hearing” based on the details of the settlement.
In his recommendation, Bentley wrote, “The Redesigned Project … addresses legitimate concerns raised by either Party and members of the public who participated via legal counsel, and avoids the substantial risk, time and expense of protracted litigation in court. The mutually agreeable settlement proposal has been agreed to by the City Attorney, City staff and Petitioner, and satisfies the requirements [of the state FLUEDRA statute].”
He also explained that the proposed agreement “is intended as a comprehensive settlement of all outstanding issues raised in [the developer’s Request for Relief [under the provisions of state law], including but not limited to a potential appeal” filed in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court or in federal court.
Bentley noted that he had “been provided with voluminous documents, including applications, transcripts, staff reports, [Kihnke’s] Request for Relief and City’s response to said Request for Relief, and viewed the televised City Commission public hearings [regarding the issues]. “I am of the preliminary opinion that [Kihnke] has a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits,” Bentley added. “It is in the [parties’] interest to resolve this matter.”
The parties met on Jan. 7 and Jan 23 with him, as the proposed agreement points out. Attorney Robert Lincoln, whose eponymous firm is located in Sarasota, represented Kihnke during the mediation, a document shows.
Members of the Bay Plaza Owners Association “requested to participate through their legal counsel, Bentley Goodrich Kison,” which is located in Sarasota, Mark Bentley continued in the document. Morgan Bentley of that law firm represented the organization during both the Planning Board appeal and the City Commission hearing last year.
The Bay Plaza residents have stressed that the 14-unit tower to be located at 1260 N. Palm Ave. would be the tallest in the city and that it is incompatible with surrounding structures. (The Bay Plaza Owners Association maintains that the building would be as close as 20 feet to one of the Bay Plaza balconies.)
After the original plans failed to win city Planning Board approval in 2022, as a result of the inclusion of requested adjustments to the city’s zoning regulations for the site, an agent for Kihnke refiled revised plans in 2024.
During an online search this week, the News Leader was able to find five websites still featuring details about the “Obsidian Residences.” One of those, PS Design Workshop, says, “Featuring a three-story podium with units rising above, OBSIDIAN will make a strong vertical expression, drawing the eye to the sky. Each facade is thoughtfully articulated to address the urban context, the waterfront and the bay beyond, with an emphasis on transparency and indoor/outdoor connection.
“The podium is mostly solid and transitions organically to the units above via a lush fourth-floor outdoor area,” the text notes. “In contrast to the podium, the upper floors containing the full-floor condos are light and open. Expansive glazing and large balconies projecting from the facades create an interplay of light and shadow. Units feature floor-to-ceiling glass and open onto outdoor living areas overlooking the cityscape.
“Capped by another green roof, the tower appears at once ephemeral and light while remaining anchored by its base. OBSIDIAN will not only become Sarasota’s tallest new tower, it will stand as an ode to strength and lightness,” it adds.
That webpage concludes, with bold type, “Currently In Progress. More Soon !”
‘We were in this fight for the duration’
During the City Commission’s regular meeting on April 20, Ron Shapiro, a frequent spokesman for Bay Plaza residents in regard to the 1260 N. Palm Residences, appeared before the board members during their Citizens Inputperiod to urge them to maintain their May 2025 stance against the project.
“This settlement has only modest changes from the proposal that the commissioners so soundly rejected last May,” Shapiro pointed out.
The three adjustments to the City Code requirements that the 1260 N. Palm Ave. development team had requested still would be necessary, Shapiro also noted, based on the settlement terms.
Those adjustments are as follows, as detailed in an Oct. 2, 2024 memorandum of approval issued by Development Services Director Lucia Panica:
- A 20.8% reduction in the façade coverage on the ground floor, parallel to North Palm Avenue, from 133.61 feet to 105.87 feet. “The lot has 148.45 feet of total frontage,” the document said.
- An adjustment of 6.5% for habitable space on the ground floor, from 105.87 feet to 99.02 feet, “(with the inclusion of the façade adjustment),” and by 8.6% on the second floor, from 148.45 feet to 135.7 feet.
- A 9.4% reduction in the required retail frontage, to 95.89 feet, where 105.87 feet would be required “(with the inclusion of the façade adjustment),” the document added.
“Most of the criteria not met last time,” in regard to Section IV-506 of the City Code, “have been totally ignored,” Shapiro continued during his April 20 remarks. “This new settlement was an agreement between city staff — who approved the last version of the project — and the developer,” he added. “So, why should be expect anything majorly different.”
Nonetheless, Shapiro pointed out, mediator Bentley had reported that the “redesigned project appears to address prior concerns raised by the City Commission.”
Shapiro did tell the commissioners, “I respect the city staff. They are bright, hardworking people and they do the best job they can — often in difficult circumstances. But that doesn’t mean I always agree with them. And neither should you, the commissioners — especially since this is such an important part of your obligation and responsibility to us, the city residents.”
He added, “When I first spoke before the commission on this project in early 2023, I said that we were in this fight for the duration. And we are still in it — for the duration. We’ll do everything we can for as long as necessary to keep this project from ever happening — and with good reason.”
Shapiro noted then, “My dad passed away a few years ago at the age of 101. So, I expect to be around for quite a while.”
The hearing is scheduled as item No. XI.1, a quasi-judicial public hearing, on the May 4 agenda. It is the last business matter the commissioners are to address before the final Citizens Input period, the remarks of the board members and senior city staff, and any announcements.
The modified plans
Mediator Bentley’s report in the backup material for the hearing provides the following information about the redesigned project:
- It includes ‘[r]evisions to landscape/parking/loading plans to provide a functional delivery space on Palm Avenue. The landscape plan shall provide for the existing historic palm trees to be preserved off-site during construction and returned to their current approximate location and configuration. The revised configuration is to provide an [8-foot] covered sidewalk between the front of the building and the tree planting area, a [4-foot] sidewalk between the loading spaces and the planting areas, and a street/canopy tree at the north side of the driveway.”
- “[A] living green wall and modifications to plans for the first two stories” will accommodate the revised landscaping plan.
- “The Petitioner will provide a detailed demolition and construction staging plan as a condition of approval [that will] include an initial 90-day staging plan meeting City standards.
- “The revisited plan … may be subject to additional stipulations or conditions of approval if required by the Zoning Code of the City of Sarasota.
- “The approved site plan and the revisions … shall run with the land and shall be applicable to the Petitioner and its successors in interest.”