Sarasota OKs vacating Cross Street right of way

Now that developer Orange Pineapple LLC has secured City Commission approval to demolish the McAlpin House if it cannot find a suitable site to move it, the city’s vacation of Cross Street was the next step as it plans for a redevelopment of a large area south of Ringling Boulevard.

On May 6, the City Commission overturned a decision by the city’s Historic Preservation Committee that denied demolition as the worst-case scenario. The small former home once belonged to George McAlpin, regarded as one of the city’s founding fathers and construction pioneers.

Cross Street is a one-way, one-block-long street between the Ringling Boulevard/South Pineapple Avenue roundabout and South Orange Avenue. The entire site is bounded by South Orange Avenue, South Pineapple Avenue, Ringling Boulevard and an alley behind property along Dolphin Street.

Orange Pineapple’s $32 million purchase of several parcels includes the small rusticated block house at 1530 Cross St., which was built in 1912. Commissioners voted 3-2, with Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch and Debbie Trice opposed, to approve the demolition or possible incorporation of a portion of the facade into the redevelopment. 

Citing the plethora of proffers made by the developer to win Planning Board recommendation of approval to the City Commission, Vice-Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch cast the lone dissenting vote to approve the right of way vacation. The city does not own Cross Street, Mayor Liz Alpert reminded the commission, and is not giving away the 60-foot-wide roadway, but only the right of way. 

"There's going to be tremendous improvement to this right of way over what is there now, and the city is not going to have to pay for it and the city is not going to have to maintain it,” Alpert said. "That alone is a huge public benefit. I think it's going to enhance that right of way and we are protected if they don't do anything with it."

In addition, a reverter clause in the ordinance returns the street to the city should Orange Pineapple fail to submit a site plan within two years, per city statute, or a building permit within six years. 

Although the proffer for building permit submittal is six years, City Planner Rebecca Webster said code requires a tighter time frame.

“A building permit must be issued within two years of site plan approval, so that would supersede in that reverter clause,” Webster said. “It would need to be within two years of site plan approval for that building instead of three. You can always ask for an extension, though.”

Orange Pineapple will not close Cross Street to public traffic. Rather, it plans to open the street to two-way movement with an upgraded paver material between structures it will build on both north and south sides. The developer would not commit to an "open sky" proffer — to not build over the street — but capitulated that any plans otherwise would constitute a major encroachment, which must be approved by the City Commission.

Among other proffers is a commitment to provide 50 public parking spaces to help serve the nearby Burns Court area.

“The ownership group owns both sides of the street, and they're committed to investing into Cross Street providing public parking, improving the street grid through that two-way circulation, as well as building a street that complements future redevelopment of the site,” said Philip DiMaria of planning consultant Kimley-Horn. “What it is not is a closure of Cross Street. It is not a means to create a tunnel. It is not a means to eliminate grand trees within the right of way. And finally, it is not a means to gain greater density.”

Orange Pineapple owns and plans to redevelop all of the properties north and south of Cross Street including: 

• 200 S. Orange Ave. 
• 300 S. Orange Ave. 
• 1520 Ringling Blvd. 
• 1544 Cross St. 
• 1530 Cross St.
• 1520 Cross St.
• 301 S. Pineapple Ave.

What Orange Pineapple plans to do with the 3.1 acres has not been revealed, other than the redevelopment is intended as a dense, multiuse urban project. In a letter accompanying its application to the city, DiMaria wrote, “Any future redevelopment of, and access to, the property is dependent on the vacation of Cross Street as a public road.”