County approves millions for new administration center

The Sarasota County administration center will cost about $75 million and will be completed in late 2025.

By Andrew Warfield
| 5:00 a.m. February 3, 2023

Site work is underway at the site of the new Sarasota County Administrative Center in Fruitville Farms. In the background is Celery Fields, a county park.

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With no comment from the public or discussion at the dais, the Sarasota County Commission on Jan. 31 unanimously approved $28 million in capital improvement revenue bonds to finance construction of a new county administration center.

Located just east of Interstate 75 in the Fruitville Farms development, the county is planning a four-story, 120,000-square-foot administrative building near Celery Fields and the Fruitville Library.

With site preparation underway, the county plans to move from its Ringling Boulevard headquarters into the new building in late 2025, just in time for its downtown lease with Benderson Development Co. to expire.

The county sold its 170,000-square-foot administration center at 1660 Ringling Blvd. to Benderson in December 2021, plus two adjoining properties used for parking, for $25 million. In April 2022 it also executed a land swap with Benderson, trading county-owned land at Nathan Benderson Park for the new site, which is on Apex Road.

The entire project is expected to cost between $72 million and $74 million.

A preliminary floor plan for the ground floor of the new crescent-shaped building shows a 3,500-square-foot meeting chamber, a 2,400-square-foot “think tank,” conference rooms, functional service areas and a 4,000-square-foot gym.

On Tuesday, commissioners also approved amending the FY 2023 budget to include a general revenue appropriation of $75.1 million.

The bonds are expected to be issued with an amortization period of 20 to 30 years. The bonds are secured by the county’s half-cent sales tax revenues and the repayment of bonds is budgeted from general revenues. The annual debt service is structured to be lower in the first five years to not affect current overall debt coverage ratios for the sales tax revenues, but will average between $2 million and $2.2 million a year.

The new building is 50,000 square feet smaller than the county’s current facility because some county departments, such as Recreation and Natural Resources, will have their own facilities.

Administration Center Timeline

September 2020: Commission approves contract with Sweet Sparkman for consulting services for county administrative facilities and to develop space program requirements.
May 2021: Commission receives update on the new county administration center and authorizes the next steps.
June 2021: Commission adopts a resolution declaring certain property owned by Sarasota County surplus to county needs and authorizes staff to explore opportunities to dispose of the property.
September 2021: Commission authorizes the County Administrator to commence negotiations with all six organizations interested in buying the county-owned building and land at 1660 Ringling Boulevard, 1646 Morrill Street and 1703 Morrill Street, Sarasota, and to bring back the top three best financial packages for Commission to consider.
September 28, 2021: Commission authorizes the county administrator to continue negotiations with Benderson Development Co. based on a revised offer and to develop a purchase and sale agreement for the county administrative building and land downtown.
October 2021: Commission adopts resolution amending the Fiscal Year 2022-2026 capital improvement program to add the new county administration center design project. Commission also adopts a resolution amending the FY 2022 budget to appropriate funding for the project in the amount of $5 million.
February 2022: Commission considers a proposed land swap with Benderson for the Fruitville Farms Parcel for the location of the new county administration center.
March 2022: Commission adopts a resolution amending the FY 2022 budget to transfer funding for the new county administration center project in the amount of $45 million.
April 2022: Commission adopts a resolution approving the exchange of a portion of a county-owned parcel at 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle for a portion of land owned by Coburn Road LLC, located at 6700 Fruitville Road for the anticipated construction of a new county administration center.
May 2022: Commission authorizes the county administration to execute an agreement for architectural services with Fawley Bryant Architects Inc., for design and permitting of the new county administration center not to exceed $3.9 million. Commission also authorizes county administration to execute an agreement for construction manager at risk pre-construction phase services with Ajax/Tandem Construction.
February 2023: Commission authorizes issuing $28 million in capital improvement revenue bonds and a $75.1 million budget amendment to fund construction of the new administration center.

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.