In Brief

+ Sarasota News and Books closes

One of the most popular Main Street shops closed its doors for good Aug. 31.

Sarasota News and Books shut its doors after its landlord, Randall Bono, refused to lower the $12,000 per month rent to the current market rate, which is around $9,000 per month.

The bookstore will hold a special event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 3 and Sept. 4 to try to sell its tables, chairs, cafe equipment, bagged coffee, tea and more.

Bookstore owner Andrew Foley said he is considering moving Sarasota News and Books to another downtown location.

+ Honore extension moves forward

Eight months after Hugh Culverhouse Jr. announced he was bypassing the county and would personally pay for the extension of Honore Avenue, he is putting the project out to bid.

The owner of Palmer Ranch Holdings is developing the 2.5-mile road from Palmer Ranch to State Road 681.

The Honore Avenue extension will be designed as a four-lane road, but only two lanes will be built at first.

Once more development begins in the area, it will be widened to four lanes.

Florida wildflowers will be planted in the median. No sidewalks are planned, but the road will have bike lanes.

Contractor bids are due Oct. 2. Construction could begin as early as October and is expected to last 18 months.

+ Bijou Café seeks streetscape upgrade

The board of the Downtown Improvement District (DID) invited Bijou Café owner Jean-Pierre Knaggs to its Sept. 1 meeting to see if he’d be interested in contributing to streetscape improvements around his restaurant at First Street and Pineapple Avenue.

Board members have been working on a plan to improve the trees, plants, sidewalks and light poles within the district.

The ground in front of Bijou Café between the sidewalk and curb is crushed shell with few plants, and Knaggs said the streetlights don’t work, because the wires lie on the ground.

“It’s inconsistent with the rest of the city,” he said.

To install plants in that space, irrigation lines would have to be placed under the sidewalk to reach the crushed-shell area.

“If you’re willing to help us with irrigation (cost), it gets us where we want to be,” DID Chairman Larry Fineberg told Knaggs.

“I’m willing to cooperate,” Knaggs said.

The two parties will begin working with a landscape architect to determine the cost of the project.