Commission to hear appeal on historic demolition

Three individuals fighting for the preservation of a historic property on Palm Avenue — or against the proposed development of an 18-story condominium tower on the land in question — will get the chance to make their cases to the City Commission.

The historic property, located at 624 S. Palm Ave., most recently housed La Palme Royale bed and breakfast, and now serves as a single-family house that is occasionally rented to vacationers. The current owners, Tim and Kristen Beury, say they have struggled to turn the property into the site of a financially viable operation. The building is aging, damaged and not up to current code, and the business has failed to generate a level of activity necessary to undertake improvements.

Their attempts to sell the house have only garnered interest from developers attracted by the Downtown Bayfront zoning that would allow for the construction of a high-rise on the property. A team, consisting of development firm The Ronto Group and investment firm Wheelock Street Acquisitions, recently agreed to buy the property if it got approval to demolish the existing building.

In August, the city’s Historic Preservation Board granted a Certificate of Appropriateness for the demolition. At that meeting, board members noted the property was not particularly unique within the city and said development represented the highest and best use of the site.

Emma Joels, who lives about one block from La Palme Royale, argued against the proposed demolition in front of the Historic Preservation Board. She was upset with the advisory group — not just for its decision that day but for what she believes is a a pattern of behavior from what she called the “Historic Demolition Board.”

“All of these certificates are being applied for and rushed through without there being a lot of fanfare, and we’re basically just knocking everything down,” Joels said. “I think we are dismantling the fabric of the city of Sarasota without much real consideration of the larger context.”

Joels said that, as long as one other example of a given historic style still remained in the city, the board seemed content to let others go. She worried the board failed to properly value the cultural history of a building in considering whether demolition was appropriate.

La Palme Royale was given historic designation in part because it was the residence of Elizabeth Perry, a 1920s civic leader, and Vernona Burns, wife of early Sarasota land developer Owen Burns. Joels acknowledged not every building could be saved, but said the board wasn’t giving enough consideration to the preservation of history in one form or another.

“I’m not saying, ‘Oh my god, you’ve got to preserve all these buildings,’” Joels said. “The fabric of these buildings could very well be woven into these developments. It’s been done very well in other cities.”

The board voted to further research Burns and Perry and to eventually place a marker on the site detailing the history of the property.

Neighborhood opposition
Gilbert Sharell lives at Essex House, a 72-resident condominium that borders 624 S. Palm Ave. He, like Joels, is appealing the decision to grant the certificate of appropriateness for the demolition. He said that, with many part-time residents out of town, people living at the condominium didn’t get enough time to respond to the meeting notice. He hopes that when the City Commission takes up the issue they’ll be adequately prepared with questions.

Sharell and Joels both said they believed the Historic Preservation Board had approved the demolition prematurely. With no site plan submitted to the city, they wondered if the 5,345-square-foot property was capable of sustaining a high-rise condominium.

Sharell said the current building contributed to the character of the neighborhood, and that the city was running the risk of losing it for nothing if the proposed development fell through.

“It adds a nice mix to the neighborhood rather than just adding to a tall concrete canyon,” Sharell said. “I think the city is in error if they allow a historic building to be torn down for something someone is proposing that’s not actually submitted.”

Brenda Patten, a land-use attorney who represented Wheelock Street Acquisitions and The Ronto Group at the Historic Preservation Board meeting, argued neighbors in the area were opposed to the addition of a high-rise building, not the loss of a historic property. The individuals fighting to preserve the property did question the eventual function of the condominium; Sharell said he was concerned about how the high-rise would mesh with its surroundings.

Al Hochstadt, the final appealing party, owns land across the street from La Palme Royale that he targeted for a hotel. At the Historic Preservation Board meeting, he raised a series of questions about ownership status and whether the financing was in place to construct the proposed high-rise.

Anthony Solomon, executive vice president of The Ronto Group, said Hochstadt complained to him that the high-rise would block the views from his property and sought a joint venture or to sell his own land.

Hochstadt confirmed he was in contact with the developers, but said those conversations were confidential.

Regardless of the motive, the appealing parties were granted the opportunity to make their case in front of the City Commission. On Monday, commissioners agreed to waive the appeal fee — nearly $1,600 per applicant — after Joels argued the language in the fee schedule failed to address an appeal of a certificate of appropriateness.

Soon, they’ll be able to make a final appeal to the value of the historic property. For Joels, it’s a final chance to argue for the preservation of a quality she fears the city is rapidly losing.

“It’s representative of a social history of the city of Sarasota,” Joels said of the property. “It’s part of the social historical fabric.”

Historic home
The building at 624 S. Palm Ave. was built in 1924 and first belonged to Elizabeth Perry. Perry was the president of the Sarasota Hospital Guild and worked to found the Newtown Day Nursery, according to the building history presented to the Historic Preservation Board. Perry was also the wife of W.Y. Perry, the first county judge of Sarasota County.

Perry sold the property after possessing it for a decade. In 1943, Vernona Burns purchased the house and became its longest standing owner. Burns was the widow of Owen Burns, a prominent developer of Sarasota who led the dredging of Golden Gate Point, Lido Key and St. Armands Key.

Burns lived in the property for approximately 20 years. In 1984, the home suffered damage after catching on fire. In 1986, it was rezoned to allow for retail or office use, and the building has changed hands three times since the ’90s.

The building was added to the historic registry in 1986. According to a staff report, the historic designation was granted because of the home’s “representation of the economic history of residential building” in 1920s Sarasota, for its “architectural style and method and construction” and for its “association with the lives of person significant to the past.”