Stalled condo tower on Golden Gate Point set to resume construction in July

For months, a luxury condominium high-rise at the entrance to Golden Gate Point has appeared like an abandoned construction site as little to no activity has taken place at The Evolution. Inside the screened construction fence at 111 Golden Gate Point, grass and weeds have overtaken some of the property as stacks of materials await outside the eight-story shell, leaving some to wonder if construction will continue.

The supply chain bug, as it turns out, has bitten the project, but work is expected to resume there by mid-summer.

A delay in delivery of floor-to-ceiling, custom-made windows, according to Evolution Sales Director Vlado Konatar, is the cause of the work stoppage. Everything that can be done prior to drying in the building has been done, and once the hurricane impact, protective-coated, heat-resistant glass has been installed, interior construction will begin.

“They are very high-end windows, and they’re all custom, so it’s not like we can go in and say 'Give me some windows off the shelf,'” Konatar said. “That’s why it took so long.”

Delivery of the windows is expected by the end of June, and activity will restart sometime in July.

“We’ve been waiting on the windows since April,” Konatar said. “The shortage of materials has really been messing with us, and you can’t do much without windows.”

You can sell, however. Konatar said 18 of the 20 3,500-square-foot condos are under contract, with the remaining two pending, the latter including a two-story penthouse with 3,500 square feet of interior space plus 3,000 square feet of rooftop terrace — featuring a private pool — that went for $8.1 million.

Prices at The Evolution started at $2 million.

Originally scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, Konatar said residents should be able to move in by July 2023. No other supply chain delays are expected as all other materials have been acquired and delivered.

“We’ve bought everything, so the building is full of material, and the rest is in storage,” Konatar said. “If we had the windows, we would have been drywalled by now.”

The developer of The Evolution is WB Golden Point, LLC, an affiliate of Europe-based WB Finance, S.R.O. According to city of Sarasota records, the project was approved and received its initial permits in 2009. The general contractor is Bonita Springs-based Gates Construction.

Earlier this month, the city’s Planning Board recommended approval of a 23-unit luxury condo development, Peninsula Sarasota, at 223 and 283 Golden Gate Point.