- May 11, 2025
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In the more than two years since the city began offering incentives for developers to include affordable housing units in new residential developments in downtown, and a year since extending it to commercial centers and corridors, Sarasota has more than 900 attainable units at varying stages of planning and development.
The City Commission approved incentives to developers to include affordable housing in their residential projects on Sept. 19, 2022. Then on April 4, 2024, it passed a similar ordinance for the commercial areas of the city.
Although 15 of the 22 projects are private sector developments representing 269 of them, Planning Director Steven Cover said the overall number of attainable housing apartments in the pipeline has exceeded his expectations.
“I never would have thought a year ago that we would have 22 projects in process right now,” Cover said. "That’s huge. It shows that the city's attainable housing program is working. But in addition, I think we've created some momentum here where everybody's looking into it now.
"Not every project is going to do it, but they're at least looking into it and recognize the value of it, and it's showing right now.”
For now, the bulk of the affordable attainable units planned are being built by non-profit organizations such as One Stop Housing (Oakridge Expansion, Sarasota Station) the Sarasota Housing Authority (Lofts on Lemon II, Amaryllis Park Place, Central Gardens) and Tampa-based Blue Sky Communities (New Trail Plaza).
And just last week, the partnership of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and St. Vincent de Paul CARES of St. Petersburg celebrated the completion of its new Heroes’ Village, which is dedicated to providing affordable housing to veterans.
Project planner Bill Waddill of Kimley-Horn, who represents two projects that plan to implement the affordable housing incentives — Saravela on North Tamiami Trail and a mixed-use project in the conceptual stage on Fruitville Road between Cocoanut Avenue and Tamiami Trail — said the city's program is yielding results.
"The density is certainly a good incentive in that it's got several in the market responding and using it," Waddill said. "You never really know exactly how it's going to be received by the market until you get it in place and adopted; and then you see how it gets utilized, if it gets utilized, and if so, how. Then you learn from how things might have done this differently. The biggest step is the first step to get something like this in place, and the fact that several people are using it is a really good sign."
Private or non-profit, Cover said the city’s incentive programs are contributing to momentum that stretches from just south of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, along North Tamiami Trail, through the downtown area and on to South Tamiami Trail at Robinhood Street.
“For a city of this size to have 900 attainable housing units in process, that's incredible,” Cover said. “That would be a good number for a major city, much less a city with a population of 58,000.
"We’re really excited about this.”
Cover knows something about housing programs in larger cities. Prior to joining the city of Sarasota in 2017, he has helped lead planning in cities such as Atlanta; Madison, Wisconsin; and Arlington, Virginia.
“These units are not just coming from big projects. It's all different sizes," Cover said of the private developments, which range from one affordable unit at Kumquat II to 35 at Bahia Vista Apartments, the latter under construction at the corner of Bahia Vista Street and South Tuttle Avenue.
Across the street from the Bahia Vista project, a 275-unit apartment developed is undergoing the city's approval process on property owned by Temple Beth, which includes 13 attainable units.
“We have some larger sites like the (former Southgate Mall) and there are other sites that are fairly substantial that we are hearing there is some interest in. We hope the momentum keeps going.”
Occupants of affordable and attainable housing units must have access to a common entrance. Affordable and attainable units must spread equally throughout the structure and not clustered together. Developers must commit to maintaining the affordable units for no less than 30 years, and the price must be in equal tiers at:
In the event of fewer than three attainable units, the price must be in the lower tiers.
In 2023, the area median income per household in Sarasota County was $80,633, or $55,430 for an individual. Affordability is based on housing expenses including rent and utilities not exceeding 30% of income.
