- August 5, 2026
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Uncertainty surrounding Florida Amendment 3 and its potential impact on property tax revenue prompted Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling to recommend pausing six “generational projects,” as she describes them, until after the November election.
Friling made the recommendation to the City Commission during its July 27-28 budget workshop. Although she explained the projects have no effect on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, concerns about an estimated impact of $5.5 million in property tax revenue by fiscal year 2029 prompted her suggested wait-and-see approach before committing to the the public and public-private ventures.
They are:
“These are projects that are out there that the commission has been discussing, but we don't have funding at this time,” Director of Financial Administration Kelly Strickland told commissioners at the workshop.
Directing funding for The Bay Phase 3 construction is already in a holding pattern as Sarasota County has yet to sign off on its share of the estimated $90 million project to complete the 53-acre park. That funding would come in the form of a transfer from the Bay Park Trust Fund.
“Anything that's paid for with The Bay TIF (tax increment financing) has to have a three-way approval, which is the city, the county and the Bay Park Improvement Board,” Strickland said.
Commissioners noted they have not been asked to consider the pauses and Friling suggested a separate discussion about each of the initiatives individually in a future meeting outside the subject of next year’s budget.
“The recommendation to pause these projects is because of no other reason than the referendum that is scheduled to be considered by the voters of Florida,” Friling said. “It doesn't mean the projects aren't important. It doesn't mean that we haven't invested already a lot of resources into pursuing these. It just means that we have an unknown future, and because of the impact that the vote could have on the long-term financial stability of the city, it is my recommendation that we just pause these at this time until we know the results of the referendum.”
But paused doesn’t necessarily mean all work will stop. For example, discussions have and will continue with the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation over the two-years-delayed implementation agreement between the two parties. Friling said she and Deputy City Manager Jennifer Jorgensen have met and will continue to meet with the SPAF on details of the agreement.
Commissioner Liz Alpert raised progress toward an agreement to purchase the 1st Street Credit Union to complete the assemblage of land for a planned workforce housing complex across First Street from City Hall. Friling said staff is working toward an extension of the letter of understanding with the credit union to acquire the parcel.
Commissioners unanimously approved a motion to instruct Friling to specify what aspects of the six projects would move forward, with that discussion to occur prior to the final budget adoption in September.
City Manager Karie Friling recommends pausing further action for these major future city and public-private projects.
After an initial estimate of upwards of $425 million for a 2,700-seat main theater and associated spaces, the proposed Sarasota PAC has been scaled down to 2,200 seats with a flex space and an estimated cost at less than $300 million. The foundation has committed to raising between $172 million and $207 million toward the cost. The public portion of the capital cost would be derived mostly from The Bay park tax increment financing district.
A preliminary concept has been designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop of Italy, but an implementation agreement between the city and the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation, which would provide funding and permit design to advance to the next stage, is two years delayed. The theater complex would be in the northeast corner of the current Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall parking lot.
With Phase 2 work nearing completion, the Bay Park Conservancy turned its attention to planning for the third phase of the 53-acre The Bay park project. The conservancy secured funds to begin the design work from the city and county tax increment financing district for properties surrounding the park, but no funds for construction have been committed as the city awaits county approval.
Phase 3 plans include improvements in the Centennial Park boat ramp, parking expansion in the boat launch area and converting the current Van Wezel parking lot into a park with limited parking beneath green space, plus a parking garage for which the city would be responsible to build, own and operate.
In November 2024, the City Commission seated the 13-member Downtown Master Plan Update Committee and tasked it to make recommendations to modify the more than two-decades-old plan. The plan, created by urban planner Andres Duany, outlined strategies to reform the downtown zone districts from squalor to block after block of modern condo and office towers surrounding the historic Main Street businesses and restaurants.
Just as the committee was poised to contract a consulting firm this summer to help it further its work, a recommended temporary spending pause could set it back yet again.
Having completed a design and permitting feasibility study, a long-discussed water transit service between the mainland and barrier islands was revealed to the public at a June 2026 community meeting in conjunction with coastal engineering and consulting firm Cummins and Cederberg. End points for the water taxi services are Bayfront Park and Ken Thompson Park on City Island.
The cost to build the docks is estimated between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, not including purchasing vessels and necessary improvements to accommodate parking, passenger services and more.
The acquisition of several parcels across First Street from City Hall was among retired City Manager Marlon Brown's final achievements before leaving city government. The vision was to erect a workforce housing-priced apartment building in the heart of downtown.
In mid-2024, the city bought much of the northern half of the block along First Street between Orange and Lemon avenues, and the opportunity now exists to acquire the mid-block 1st Street Credit Union, which would complete the property assembly for a cohesive development of a single building rather than two towers.
A proposed partnership between the city and the Sarasota Housing Authority would result in an expansion of the senior affordable housing McCown Towers and a parking deck that, in exchange for $8 million, would provide 160 needed public parking spaces in the Rosemary District.
The five-story expansion, containing 96 new apartments, would wrap around the parking structure, two levels of which would be reserved for city parking use, providing spaces for the growing Rosemary District and the nearby The Bay park. Without the $8 million to complete the capital stack, the entire public housing project remains in jeopardy.
