Live-work townhomes proposed for North Washington Boulevard

Sarasota's Development Review Committee recently held a pre-application conference with developer Top Florida Homes of Orlando, which is planning eight live-work townhome units under the working name of 575 North Washington Boulevard. Planned at the corner of North Washington and Sixth Street, the proposal for the currently vacant property is for eight townhomes, each above designated individual commercial space on the ground floor.

Zoned Downtown Edge, the project is proposed to be processed through administrative approval. Vehicle access for the Sixth Street-facing units is proposed via a rear alley, where each unit’s garage and studio space are located, off North Washington Boulevard.

As no application for the project has been made, square footage and other specifications of the residential units were not disclosed.

Also making a pre-application conference appearance was 333 Cocoanut, an 11-story mixed-use residential building at the southwest corner of Fourth Street and Cocoanut Avenue. 

That’s the site of a previously planned 10-story condominium building denied a Planning Board adjustment in April 2024 that would have allowed developer Fourth Street LLC to cut a driveway into the property off Fourth Street and would instead have to share an alley off Cocoanut Avenue with residents of Encore. 

That project never advanced. In September 2024, however, the Planning Board unanimously recommended City Commission rezoning for a development plan by Palsar Developments of Lakewood Ranch that would wrap around Encore, and include a driveway off Fourth Street. 

That rezoning was approved by the City Commission in November 2024.