SARASOTA, FLORIDA, November 17th, 2015 – If plans don’t miscarry, an 11-story condominium tower with 157 units will break ground in a 1.5-acre site at downtown Sarasota in 2016 and eventually help boost the dwindling stock of Sarasota condos for sale which has already hit record lows recently. The West Palm Beach-based Kolter Group is pursuing this condo project as part of the proposed multi-use City Place at Pineapple Park on the corner of Lemon and Pineapple Avenues. Other components of this project, which is estimated to cost $300 million, include hotel rooms and commercial space.
Though Kolter doesn’t own the site yet, the company has wrapped up development rights on the property and a contract to buy it. Isaac Group Holdings, an Ohio-based company, was the original project proponent for City Place, but its plans set in 2006 were mothballed because of the Great Recession. Lately, Isaac Holdings chose to sell its rights to the property.
Kolter has already applied with the city for revisions on the project and seeks to increase the planned height of the City Place building to 11 stories from its downtown zone ceiling of 10 stories. The developer appears more bullish about market prospects of Sarasota condos for sale as it is also seeking to reduce the originally planned 86,000-square-foot commercial/retail space by about 40 percent.
A Kolter executive, David Arent, noted that Sarasota downtown’s Main Street and State Street already have a strong commercial and retail district. The original City Place commercial component won’t be cost-effective at present, he indicated.
On the other hand, the Kolter official said the market for Sarasota condos for sale remains strong, even as over 700 units are currently under construction or have been pipelined by developers in the downtown area. Most of the new condominium projects offer relatively small and limited units, while some are geared as rental apartments, Arent observed.
Kolter’s optimism on the demand for Sarasota condos for sale also springs partly from the warm market reception on the developer’s 141-unit Vue Sarasota Bay project. Rising on the downtown corner of Tamiami Trail and Gulfstream Avenue, this condominium has just about a dozen units left for the taking. Prized between $1 million and $3 million, these available condos have floor areas ranging from around 1,500 up to about 3,000, designed with three up to four bedrooms.
Recent Florida Realtors data do confirm a robust market on Sarasota condos for sale. In September 2015, condominium sales rose by nearly 10 percent to 270 units from 246 a year earlier. Inventory on a months’ supply basis, on the other hand, has been mostly on the decline in 2015, dropping to 3.4 months in September, one of the lowest levels in recent years. Notably, when the housing bubble burst in 2007, Sarasota condominium inventory trended toward the 50-month level.
Kolter hopes to begin marketing for the condos of City Place at Pineapple Park in the high season following the expected start of the project in late 2016. This new development looks finally taking off as the organizers of the weekly Sarasota Farmers Market at Pineapple has expressed support to it.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, October 7, 2019 – Property values of communities in the Sarasota-Manatee region now face lesser threat from neighborhood eyesores brought about by abandoned, foreclosed homes. Known in the real estate trade as zombie foreclosures, these properties have shrunk significantly in the region. According to an August report of ATTOM Data Solutions, abandoned […] more>>