Ground broken on St. Armands parking garage

The city of Sarasota and St. Armands Circle stakeholders celebrated the ongoing construction of a parking garage in the shopping district at an event Wednesday.

Although the event was technically billed as a groundbreaking, work has already begun on a 503-space garage at 47 N. Adams Drive. The $12 million project is expected to be complete by December, officials said.

To help pay for the garage, St. Armands commercial property owners agreed to a special tax assessment on their land. Circle stakeholders also approved a paid parking program in the area, which will begin when the garage construction is complete.

Marty Rappaport, former St. Armands Business Improvement District chairman, discussed the amount of work that went into making the garage project a reality. He said he and others first identified the need for additional parking in the area 30 years ago, and St. Armands property owners and businesses committed their own funds to push things forward.

“Thirty years later, my dream has come true,” Rappaport said.