City to decide on Hyatt appeal, SPAC agreement on Monday

Sarasota city commissioners will take up two significant matters at its Monday, March 17 meeting when it weighs the appropriateness of the plan to redevelop the Hyatt Regency hotel site and decides on an implementation agreement between the city and the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation to build a new $407 million facility.

First, under the unfinished business portion of the agenda, the City Commission, following two delays, should render its verdict on whether to proceed beyond the initial concept design of the Sarasota Performing Arts Center. Should it approve the implementation agreement as outlined in the April 2022 partnership agreement between the city and the Foundation, it will green-light the upward of a three-year design process.

It will also commit both the city and the Foundation to the completion of the $36.9 million design agreement with architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the cost equally shared between the two entities. 

That agreement, approved by the city in May 2024, commits Renzo Piano to procure and compensate the services of the multiple disciplines required of the design and construction process. 

Monday will mark the first public discussion by the City Commission of the implementation agreement since a Feb. 11 workshop, in which even the location of the SPAC remained in flux. Plans are to build it on the western edge of The Bay park along U.S. 41 at 10th Street largely because of a view corridor easement held by two condominium towers across North Tamiami Trail from the park. That easement does not permit any structure higher than 90 feet in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall parking lot, the original placeholder location for the SPAC. 

Barring a mutual reconciliation of that easement, that location can’t accommodate the necessary height of the SPAC unless it is not elevated above flood hazard levels, contrary to one of the reasons for replacing the Van Wezel. 

Commissioners will also have to decide if the future capacity exists for the city’s portion of the funding of the SPAC — the tax increment financing district surrounding The Bay park and extending into nearby areas of downtown — should the county, as it appears likely, choose to not participate in the SPAC project. The TIF district allocates its revenues to The Bay park, projects within the park, and improvements throughout the district that benefit the park. 

Like The Bay, building the SPAC would use 50% public and 50% private funds.

Hyatt redevelopment appeal

A group led by Quay 1 and 9, the developer building One Park with approval to build One Park West in The Quay, has appealed the plans by Kolter Urban to redevelop the Hyatt Regency hotel site adjacent to The Quay. On Monday, the commission will take that matter up as a quasi-judicial public hearing.

The group is challenging the appropriateness of a Dec. 11, 2024, Planning Board adjustment approval to relocate its main driveway access to the project, dubbed 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, and to widen that driveway to 33 feet, 9 feet more than the 24 feet permitted by code. 

That’s the basis for the appeal, but Quay 1 and 9 also want commissioners to consider multiple factors including:

• Traffic congestion and safety concerns over a podium building of 622.5 linear feet along Boulevard of the Arts, which already serves The Bay park, the primary entrance into The Quay and the only access into five condominium towers and other residences west of the Hyatt.
• Encroachment on public and private easements, including a 20-foot-wide easement for a vacated alley and a 12-foot-wide pedestrian access easement. Quay 1 and 9 owns two-thirds of the alley easement, the encroachment restricting its ability to access and develop its own property.
• The driveway relocation requiring use of a U-turn for all traffic to access 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, including the condos, hotel, ballroom and restaurant activities,
• The accuracy of Kolter Urban’s traffic study.

Not mentioned in the challenge but certainly a point of concern for Quay 1 and 9 is the 166-room hotel portion of 1000 Boulevard of the Arts envelops on two sides, to the lot line, its plans to build One Park West, eliminating any views of Sarasota Bay and The Bay park. 

Before hearing the appeal, the commission will have to decide if Quay 1 and 9, besides nearby condo owners, have legally recognized aggrieved party status, a gray area at best.

Florida statute defines an aggrieved party as any person or local government that will suffer an adverse effect to a project that exceeds the general interest or community good. Whether negative impact on one party exceeds that of the general public, or its benefit, is subject to interpretation. 

In addition to the Planning Board ruling appeal, commissioners can consider other aspects of the project or send it back to the Planning Board for further action.