Retail and rentals on tap for the Village

Downtown Sarasota is predicting 1,000 new hotel rooms in the near future. Thanks to the owners of the Daiquiri Deck, Siesta Key Village will be getting three — just as soon as the permits go through.

Daiquiri Deck property owners Jim Syprett and Jay Lancer have plans for the site of the recently demolished Napoli’s Pizza building that include ground-floor retail space and three rental units on the second floor.

“We hit a snag with the permit,” said project architect Mark Smith. “The process is ongoing, but we just want to get the building done so we can move ahead and get the retail in on the ground floor.”

Smith said that the second-story units could be used as storage until the county approves a special-exception permit to allow rental units on the property.

Gidget’s Coastal Provisions, a high-end clothing and gift store, will occupy the ground-floor retail space. Trudy Wigelsworth, wife of master sand sculptor and founder of the Siesta Key Crystal Classic Brian Wigelsworth, will be the shop’s owner.

“We wanted to get everything done and ready to go by the Siesta Key Crystal Classic,” Brian Wigelsworth said, referring to the delayed permit. “But it doesn’t look like that is going to happen now.”

The 2013 Siesta Key Crystal Classic is scheduled for Nov. 15 to Nov. 18.

Brian Wigelsworth said he has been working with Lancer and Syprett for four years to open retail on the site. The store will sell high-end clothing and gifts that are targeted toward area residents, not just tourists, Brian Wigelsworth said.

“We’ve got a storage unit full of furniture and goods ready to go,” Brian Wigelsworth said. “We jumped the gun, and now we’re stuck waiting on the county to approve the permit.”

Smith said the decision to not build another restaurant on the property and the inclusion of rental units was financial.

“Restaurants never did well on that site,” Smith said. “The rental units make the numbers work.”

According to the permit application, the three transient accommodation units are for less-than-one-month rentals.

One of the project’s challenges, Smith said, was to design a structure that met county flood rules and still allowed for ground-level access to the retail shop.

“We’ve built a completely flood-proof building,” Smith said. “We wanted to avoid raising the building to meet flood code.”

A neighborhood workshop was held in June to present the project to Siesta residents and businesses.

“We didn’t have any pushback,” Smith said. “All of our feedback has been positive.”

This article was changed at 9:44 a.m. Sept. 9 to reflect new information.