Laurel Park residents question plans for Sarasota County's former base

In the 26 months since an October 2023 planning charrette on the future of the former Sarasota County Administration Center, property owner Benderson Development has been silent on potential future plans there.

A community workshop on Dec. 17, though, was anything but quiet as residents of the adjacent Laurel Park neighborhood to the 1660 Ringling Blvd. property packed a community meeting at the Senior Friendship Center and peppered representatives of Benderson and planning consultant Kimley-Horn with questions and pointed comments.

Although the property covers 5.3 acres, the meeting focus was on 1 acre of the 2.88-acre portion of the site that includes the now-vacant building and surrounding parking lot north of Morrill Street. That’s because that part of the property — and the building itself — is bisected by two zone districts as it was built prior to the city’s current Comprehensive Plan. 

To add height to the current six-story structure and expand it 100 feet to the south, Benderson is seeking a rezoning of of the south portion from Downtown Edge to Downtown Core and the future land use from Urban Edge to Downtown Core. Those changes, which require a Comprehensive Plan amendment, will allow Benderson to add up to four stories to the building and expand it outward with plans to add a possible parking structure, street-level retail, office space and perhaps some residential.

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For the time being, the parking lot south of Morrill Street is intended to remain just that, although significantly upgraded, Benderson Director of Development Todd Mathes told the crowd. It’s the future of that portion of the site that concerns Laurel Park residents as it encroaches into their historic neighborhood.

“We need this to be parking to support the office building,” Mathes said. “I understand that there is anxiety about what could be in the future. If I was to define success 10 or 15 years for that, I would say we did a great job with this building, we’ve got a little bit of residential right next to it and we figured out how to have a parking lot — but not just have it be an ugly parking lot — and have it contribute to both the office occupancy, the retail and the connection into Laurel Park.”

The overall intent of the plan is to “step down” the redevelopment as it moves toward Laurel Park with higher intensity uses along Ringling Boulevard to those more compatible bordering the neighborhood.

Before rezoning and future land use changes can be made, Benderson must secure an amendment to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which requires a supermajority of four votes of the City Commission.