SARASOTA, FLORIDA, July 17, 2017 – A parking garage is set to begin construction in spring 2018 at St. Armands, host to a life and leisure hub helping drive market interest on Sarasota homes for sale. Two years in its planning stage already, this facility is projected to be completed late 2018.
The Sarasota City Commission in 2016 approved $17.5 million in bonds for the garage construction’s funding. This allocation will also cover undergrounding power lines on John Ringling Boulevard starting from the garage’s site on North Adams Drive up to the Coon Key Bridge. Likewise included in the project are the construction of crosswalks, medians improvement, and installation of signage.
The city has picked the local company Jon F. Swift Construction and Jacksonville-based Haskell as the team for the St. Armands parking garage project. Jon F. Swift notably served as the construction manager for the recently completed renovation of Bayfront Park in Longboat Key.
Most of the concerns, particularly those by St. Armands residents and business owners, have been addressed in recent community workshops. The parking garage plans, for instance, were modified to allay residents’ fears that the facility would cause traffic problems as well as bring noise and light pollution.
To tackle this issue, the parking garage’s blueprint was adjusted to include increased landscaping on its Madison Drive side. Pedestrian exits onto this road have also been removed from the plan. Bringing back crossing guards to regulate pedestrian traffic is a measure also on the drawing boards of a separate initiative to ease vehicular flow particularly around the shops and restaurants of St. Armands Circle.
In another development, the local Business Improvement District (BID) is set to ask city commission approval in taking over the upgrade and maintenance of the landscaping medians around St. Armands Circle. With BID help, these medians underwent a $450,000 improvement in 2012 but since then their landscaping has deteriorated.
Under the proposal of the BID, the city would provide one-time funding of $80,000 for the landscaping restoration and shoulder the $72,000 annual maintenance cost. Besides local business owners, residents of St. Armands are also active in enhancing the look of their neighborhoods.
In March last year, the local homeowners association received city funding to stain the neighborhood sidewalks with red color as a throwback to the era of circus magnate John Ringling who pioneered the St. Armands. Colored sidewalks were notably trademark to Ringling’s vision for this area where homes are on side streets the commercial hub of St. Armands Circle.
The stretch of Adams Road north of the St. Armands parking garage is one locality for some of the most attractively priced Sarasota homes for sale in the high-end segment. Two residences, with price tags in the $800s, were sold here last year. These homes feature three bedrooms within floor areas in the 1,400–1,900-square-foot range. Current listings of St. Armands homes for sale start at $1.25 million and top at $6.25 million, underscoring the prestige that this community holds and continues to build upon.
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>>