Golden Gate Point condo project progresses, but questions remain

Pier 550, the latest Golden Gate Point luxury condo project, faces additional scrutiny by the Development Review Committee. Three other residential projects win partial or full sign-off.


A rendering by MHK Architecture of the front elevation of Pier 550.
A rendering by MHK Architecture of the front elevation of Pier 550.
Courtesy image
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A new condominium development on Golden Gate Point will remain before the Development Review Committee for at least one more submittal. 

Pier 550 is planned to be built upon several addresses along the east side of Golden Gate Point, bringing  54 high-end condos across two eight-story buildings with connecting amenity and pool area above structured parking in between. Multiple existing residential structures at 550, 554, 590, 616 and 632 Golden Gate Point will be demolished to make way for the new development.

The rendering of Pier 550 by MHK Architecture shows two residential towers separated and boat slips along the west side of Golden Gate Point.
Courtesy image

A handful of comments made by staff still need to be addressed by developer The Ronto Group of Naples. The developer is currently developing The Owen on Golden Gate Point and Rosewood Residences on Lido Beach.

A rendering shows the two buildings with large curved balconies and multiple boat slips along the bay for unit owners. The towers will have a maximum height of 90 feet measured from 15 feet above grade. The north building will have 31 units and the south building the remaining 23.

The project will require a resubmittal to the DRC before partial or full sign-off can be granted.


More affordable units advance

Three projects that include some 225 affordable and attainable residential units have received partial or full sign-off from the DRC.

Receiving partial sign-off on Oct. 2 was Bayside North, a companion development at the corner of 10th Street and Florida Avenue to Bayside, an adjacent  274-unit apartment building currently under construction. Bayside North will add another 96 rental apartments, including 15 units priced as affordable and attainable housing. 

In addition to the 96 apartments, Bayside North proposes a 2,995-square-foot commercial space on the ground floor currently planned for a casual restaurant of up to 100 seats.

A rendering of one of two buildings planned for affordable and workforce rental housing in Sarasota Station.
Courtesy image

Also receiving partial sign-off is a request for right of way and utility easement vacation for Sarasota Station, a long-planned and often-evolving affordable housing and townhome community at 300 Audubon Place. The right of way is an unimproved alley that sits in the middle of the planned redevelopment of a largely vacant industrial property, which is also the site of Bob’s Train. The diner will be relocated to another portion of the property.

The co-applicants are One Stop Housing and Blumark Miller, a luxury townhome developer. The project will include 202 workforce housing apartments, 110 of them priced as affordable, plus the 72 market rate townhomes.

The project is taking advantage of the Florida Live Local Act, which requires a municipality to authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowable uses in any area zoned for commercial, industrial or mixed-use providing that at least 40% of the residential units are rental apartments that are priced as affordable for a period of no fewer than 30 years.


The first phase of Lofts on Lemon on Cohen Way.
Photo by Andrew Warfield

Announced as receiving full DRC sign-off was Lofts on Lemon II, which will include 100 affordable and attainable priced apartments. The Sarasota Housing Authority project is planned to be built across the parking lot from the first phase of Lofts on Lemon, located along Cohen Way between Boulevard of the Arts and Ninth Street.

Three levels of structured parking will be beneath five stories of residences. The second phase will bring the total number of units at Lofts on Lemon to 220. The Lofts on Lemon site covers the northern half of the block between Cohen Way and Lemon Avenue, bounded by Ninth Street to the north.

 

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.

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