- March 26, 2025
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Starbucks will soon join the shortlist of big-name brands on Longboat Key with a new location expected to open this year.
The mid-Key coffee shop will be located at 3174 Gulf of Mexico Drive, and with a lease signed and permitting in the works, the managerial group expects a mid- to late summer 2025 opening.
Big-name brands are uncommon on the Key, with Publix, CVS and J. McLaughlin being on the shortlist.
CEO of Topper’s Craft Creamery and Master Licensee for Starbucks Greg Sausaman is bringing Starbucks to Longboat Key with the help of some other local partners.
Located on the 3100 block of the island, the plaza is mid-Key and across from a public beach access point with parking.
The traffic from beachgoers looking for quick mobile orders, plus the mid-Key location, is what made Sausaman realize the spot’s potential.
Sausaman and his team finalized plans and concept art for the 1,800-square-foot space, which he hopes will embody the look and feel of the island community.
“The environment, the image of the space is really updated,” Sausaman said. “We’ve got a beachy feel, some murals, so we really asked for the graphics to reflect Longboat as best we can…We’re just really excited about it.”
The Starbucks brand is also shifting in a new, positive direction, Sausaman said, thanks to new CEO Brian Niccol.
“Starbucks is getting back to the roots of the community coffee house,” Sausaman said.
The emphasis on a community coffee house and social aspect is one Sausaman hopes will be welcomed.
The idea, Sausaman said, came after he learned there were many former Starbucks executives and employees living on the island. After garnering some interest among people he knew on the island, Sausaman had a small group of partners interested in a Starbucks location on Longboat Key.
Sausaman is a master licensee for Starbucks, which is similar to a franchisee. Starbucks does not technically have franchises, but a hospitality group with a master license could bring the Starbucks brand into places like hospitals or college campuses — or, in this case, a small, standalone location without a drive-thru.
After Sausaman had some support, he began working with Tom Johnson III who is the director of leasing for Casto Commercial Real Estate.
Plans were then submitted to Starbucks corporate and received approval, according to Sausaman.
This whole process started about a year ago and, speaking from experience, Sausaman said it typically takes about a year and a half from the start of this process to being ready to serve coffee.
Sausasman said the recent hurricanes took a toll on the site, but the contractor for the site has been working to get the site back on track. The contractor is now in the permitting stage, Sausaman said, with plans ready to keep moving forward toward what Sausaman hopes will be a mid-to-late summer opening.
The new location will probably produce about 25 new jobs on the island, according to Sausaman.
Johnson is excited about Starbucks and transforming the commercial plaza into a new vision.
“It’s going to be an awesome space,” Johnson said about the Starbucks location.
The plaza also includes retail store Swim City, and Johnson hopes to bring in one more addition in the remaining 1,400 square-foot space.
The available space lease is listed as $32 per square foot for a lease term of up to 10 years and triple net, meaning the tenant is responsible for taxes, maintenance and insurance.
With Starbucks slated to have an art deco-style, Johnson said he hopes to bring in either a local or regional food group or a small boutique to go next to the Starbucks.
Either way, he wants to draw a business into the space that fits the overall feel of the modern Starbucks in the plaza.
Before Starbucks was the office of Michael Saunders & Co. which moved away from the 3174 GMD location in 2023 to combine with the office further south at 440 GMD.
In the same plaza, at 3172 GMD, used to be the Turtle Coffee Bar.
According to a post on the coffee bar’s Facebook page in October 2024, the shop was unable to reopen after the hurricanes.
