Q+A with Mark Kauffman

If you’ve been to downtown Sarasota, odds are you’ve interacted with a project in which Mark Kauffman has played a part. A doctor-turned-developer, Kauffman’s first major effort was the construction of the Hollywood 20 movie theater on Main Street in 1997. In addition to a robust downtown real estate portfolio, Kauffman serves as the chairman of the city’s Downtown Improvement District. He’s also spearheading a “catalyst project” in the Rosemary District, a residential/office/commercial/arts space he hopes becomes the nexus of the growing neighborhood.

Q: What’s the biggest change downtown you’ve seen since getting into real estate?

A: The biggest change in the past 15 years is the just the regrowth of the energy of downtown. The various city commissioners over all of that 15 or 20 years, through the City Commission and through the Community Redevelopment Area, have spent a lot of money regentrifying downtown Sarasota and the bayfront, and it shows. The Downtown Improvement District was established maybe six to eight years ago, and we have had a significant impact to our area. We’re spending all the money that we’re collecting, and we’ve borrowed into the future so we can do projects today as opposed to waiting.

Sarasota is just incredible. Nothing’s going to stop the growth of Sarasota. There are many Florida locations that have beaches and golf courses and tennis courts and the same beautiful weather that we have. The one thing we have that they don’t is the arts. The arts is growing; organizations are getting stronger, not weaker. They’ve come through the last five years without any of them folding. Add that together with a good school system and you’ve got the perfect environment to move to and bring your family and your business.

Q: In some corners, the city has the reputation as being hostile to development. As a developer working closely with the city, what has your experience been?

A: The city has been very progressive and cooperative with myself and my projects. I have no complaints. If I take a proposal to the city that’s adverse to what exists now, instead of saying why, they say why not. They try to find a way of doing it. They realize by helping me, I’m helping the city, and I’ll take a piece of dirt that’s just vacant now and put a building there. The city has its rules and regulations, and you have to abide by them, but they do cooperate.

Q: What led you to invest in a significant project in the Rosemary District?

A: (My daughter Mindy Kauffman) and I both felt the area was ready to explode. With the rebirth of the real estate market, there’s no place for people to go except for the Rosemary District if you want to be close to downtown. While our project hasn’t started, it certainly has precipitated the growth of the area without us even moving any dirt. There are two major apartment complexes going in within one block of where our center will be and several condominium units going up. The prices of the land adjacent to our center have just escalated. We hope to be the center where everybody will congregate.

Q: How did you become a developer after retiring from medicine?

A: It wasn’t by design. It just sort of happened. I was always interested in real estate, but I wasn’t that active in it. I developed a couple of small properties and had some holdings, but when I retired and started with the Hollywood 20, that was stimulating and I was able to purchase a lot of vacant land in that area. I was able to build Links Plaza and the State Street bank building across from Links Plaza. One thing followed another — it wasn’t by design.

Q: What are the major issues you feel still need to be addressed downtown?

A: Vagrancy goes high on the list, correcting that. Obviously, from what the City Commission agreed to Monday (adopting City Manager Tom Barwin’s plans to combat homelessness), they’re going to become more aggressive on that. Parking is always a problem — parking is a good problem. If you have a lot of vacant parking, you don’t have a vibrant downtown. The new garage will help. The other thing is if we could have a transportation system downtown — we’re trying to have a couple of routes to combine with the peripheral hotels.

Downtown is blessed. There are eight hotels right now being planned. This is going to bring 1 million new visitors a year. Downtown is going to explode.