Floyd Street residents seek benefit from Sheraton hotel

A community workshop regarding a proposed Sheraton hotel in midtown Sarasota drew a series of questions from residents in attendance, but the neighbors said they were prepared to embrace the development under the right circumstances.

Daus Investments, a Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based developer, bought the two-story hotel at 1425 S. Tamiami Trail in March. After changing the hotel’s flag to a Baymont Inn & Suites, the firm filed preliminary plans in May to renovate the property as a five-story Four Points by Sheraton.

In advance of going through the city’s formal development review process, Daus hosted a workshop at City Hall Monday. Jag Grewal, a commercial real estate broker at Ian Black Real Estate, served as the developer’s representative. He said the intent of the project was to refurbish the hotel to better serve the midtown area, including Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

“I’ve driven past this hotel just about every day, and I’ve always wondered — why do we not have a decent hotel on the trail that services the hospital?” Grewal said.

Residents were encouraged by the prospect of the dated hotel getting as much as $9 million worth of improvements. Still, those in attendance voiced concerns about how the property would interface with the single-family neighborhood on the other side of East Avenue.

A formal site plan for the project has not been filed, so Grewal deferred on specifics in response to questions about parking, noise, light and landscaping. As the plans are refined, Grewal said the developer would work to address the neighbors’ concerns.

Despite the increased height, and a 10,000-square-foot expansion of the current building, the hotel would remain on its existing footprint. Although the plans call for new meeting space, the number of rooms would also remain constant at 99.

Former Mayor Shannon Snyder was one of the residents in attendance Monday. He encouraged the builder to keep an active line of communication with the Arlington Park neighborhood as the project advances.

If the hotel is designed to blend with its surroundings — using landscaping to create a harmonious link between the private property and the public right-of-way, for example — Snyder was confident the residents would offer support for the project.

 “You want to enhance your property, just as we want to enhance our neighborhood,” Snyder said. “I don’t think it’s an adversarial situation. I just think you should think further than your property — and the neighbors would be happy to help you help them.”