Rezoning clears the way for Plymouth Harbor expansion

In about five years, residents of Plymouth Harbor will have 153 new households as neighbors upon the completion of an expanded continuing care retirement community on Coon Key just west of St. Armands.

On March 23, the Sarasota City Commission unanimously approved a rezoning request of the entire 16.59-acre campus and a site plan to build an expansion on 5.25 acres mostly covered by surface parking. The site will be rezoned from Medical Charitable Institutional to Residential Multiple Family.

The 11-story building will include residences above structured parking for 471 vehicles, which exceeds code requirements.

“People actually still are driving who live there, but we have an extensive amount of staff there,” said project consultant Joel Freedman. ”It's a 24-hour kind of a staff, so we needed the additional parking.”

The new residential units will be dedicated to independent living and is intended to alleviate a lengthy wait list.

“We currently have 250 on a waiting list to move into Plymouth Harbor. Unfortunately, we don't have enough inventory of the size units that people want to be able to meet that demand,” said Plymouth Harbor Vice President of Construction George McGonagill.  “As it is today, 50% of our residents move into a smaller unit and then wait one to two years for a larger unit, and then they have to relocate within Plymouth Harbor."

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The average of entry, McGonagill added, is 81, “So you can imagine how disruptive that is to those residents when they have to move yet again.”

Plymouth Harbor shares Coon Key with Sarasota Yacht Club, which McGonagill said is supportive of the project. “Many of our residents are members of the Yacht Club,” he said.

Opened in 1966, the Plymouth Harbor's independent living residential tower is the tallest structure in Sarasota. It has since added continuing care components such as assisted living and memory care.

The new building will be connected to the current tower, the space to include amenities such as wellness studios, dining facilities, a performing arts venue and more. At its Feb. 11, 2026 meeting, the Planning Board voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the expansion.

Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch questioned if current residents are receptive of the coming construction and about those in north-facing units having their views blocked by the new building.

“We made an offer to fully refund any resident who didn't think that they could live through the construction process and the new building development, and we had probably eight or 10 residents take us up on that offer,”  McGonagill said. “But at this point, the people who are there are supportive. They understand that what this does is make Plymouth Harbor more financially sound for the future.”