County administrator says commissioners and his staff have to be out of downtown Sarasota building by late October

Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis recently has begun making what he characterized last week as “a public service announcement” at regular meetings of the County Commission. It pertains to the coming relocation of county operations from the Administration Center that stands at 1660 Ringling Blvd. in downtown Sarasota.

As Lewis put it during the board’s regular meeting on Sept. 9 in Venice, “Our meetings for the foreseeable future will be — not yet! — but in the very near future will be relocating to this facility …” He was talking about the R.L. Anderson Administration Center, which stands at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice.

That will be necessary until the new County Administration building off Fruitville Road has been completed, he pointed out. The actual address of the new facility is 1 Apex Road; it is near the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Project.

“They’re actually kicking Administration and the commission out of the [downtown Sarasota] building … on the 23rd of October,” Lewis continued. “And so we’re all kind of running for places in the meantime. But [the meetings will be held] down here … until probably your first meeting in February (2026).”

“I feel like I have to say something,” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger responded. As some of his colleagues laughed, Cutsinger looked down the dais at Lewis and said, “I’m going to support that motion. That’s good news.”

While more laughter rippled in the background, Chair Joe Neunder turned to Cutsinger and said, “So, for the record, Commissioner Cutsinger, you seem so enamored and enthralled with making the comment. How long does it take you to get here [to this area]?”

“It takes me 5 minutes,” Cutsinger replied.

“Ahhh,” Neunder said. “Transparency.”

“It’s a long drive home,” Cutsinger added with a smile.

In November 2021, the County Commission seated at that time formally agreed to the sale of the property located at 1660 Ringling Blvd. to Benderson Development Co. for $25 million. The deal included two adjacent parcels that county staff and visitors use for parking. The deal was concluded before 2021 ended.

The county has been paying $1 million a year in rent to Benderson.

Then-Commissioner Alan Maio routinely took credit for stressing the need for county offices to be removed from the 6-floor structure, which was built in 1973 for what was GTE Florida Inc., a telecommunications company based in Hillsborough County.

At various times during board meetings, Maio talked about the maintenance expense for the building. County staff in May 2020 showed the board members a slide projecting that a total of $49 million would be spent over the next 20 years, for maintenance and renovations, to enable the structure to continue to serve as the Administration Center, if the decision was made to keep it in use.

Then, during Hurricane Milton’s strike on the county in October 2024, the building suffered major damage, as Deputy County Attorney David Pearce noted during a court hearing conducted in the aftermath of that storm.

The most recent county update on the progress on the new Administration Center — which the county’s Capital Projects Department issued this month — says, “The project is progressing with continued site development, roofing, interior drywall, elevator, data and MEP systems.”

“MEP” stands for mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

The construction expense for the approximately 120,000-square-foot structure is $84,305,209, that update also notes.

Work began in the fall of 2023. The timeline still calls for the project to be completed later this year. When the commissioners approved the sale of the downtown Sarasota property, staff was anticipating that the building would be finished in July of this year.