Palmer Ranch apartment plans advance

Roughly two months after the Sarasota County Commission approved a rezone to allow an upscale apartment complex on Sawyer Loop Road, the firm planning the project has bought the land for development.

Stockton, Calif.-based Spanos Corp. bought 20 acres on the north portion of Palmer Ranch for $4 million this week. After tweaks following complaints from the neighboring Wellington Chase Homeowners Association, the company plans to construct six buildings comprised of 240 apartments.

The gated community is targeted at young professionals, families and retirees, with one-bedroom units costing a little under $1,000 per month.

“We think the plan approved, with the stringent conditions, will result in a project that will exceed what’s required by the county code,” said attorney Charles Bailey, who represented Spanos during the Oct. 27 County Commission meeting.

Located roughly at the corner of North Ridge Road and Sawyer Loop, the parcel is part of a corridor of zoning that was at one time a planned commercial district. Currently the land is wetlands and pastureland, with only a few cows as tenants. 

During neighborhood meetings and the County Commission meeting earlier this year, Wellington Chase neighbors objected to a multi-family project on the grounds that it would not fit the area's character.

Commissioner Charles Hines cast the lone vote against the measure.

"It's a little too dense in regard to building height," he told the Sarasota Observer in October, adding that a proposed landscape buffer between developments wouldn't block enough of the view.