Midtown Plaza redevelopment wins partial sign-off

By Andrew Warfield
| 12:30 p.m. January 28, 2026

The owner of the vacant Winn-Dixie site at Midtown Plaza is planning to redevelop it into a mixed-use project that includes apartments, a hotel and retail space.

Sarasota
News

Receiving partial sign-off Jan. 21 seven months after its initial submittal to the city of Sarasota’s Development Review Committee is the proposed redevelopment of the southern portion of Midtown Plaza at 1299 S. Tamiami Trail.

Owner Midtown Associates and principal Gavin Meshad proposed the repurposing of 5.57 acres of the 7.51-acre property — anchored by Michael’s On East — to build a 145-room hotel, 91 apartments, 5,800 square feet of retail space and a parking structure.

The project will require demolition of a long-vacant 45,860-square-foot grocery store space formerly occupied by Winn-Dixie, which closed in 2018. In addition to the northern portion of the property, the outparcel Starbuck’s location will remain in place.

author

Andrew Warfield

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.