Hyatt redevelopment nears city staff sign-off, appeal hearing pending

With a handful of remaining details to be addressed, Kolter Group’s plans to redevelop the Hyatt Regency hotel and parking deck into a mixed-use project have received partial sign-off from the city of Sarasota’s Development Review Committee on Feb. 19. However, a wrecking ball date for the 50-year-old hotel remains uncertain.

The project still faces a March 17 appeal of a Planning Board-granted adjustment brought by the ownership of adjoining property, claiming the eastern edge of the Hyatt redevelopment encroaches on Block 9 in The Quay where it plans to build the approved One Park West condominium tower.

Miami-based PMG, in partnership with Sarasota-based MoneyShow, is also developing One Park on Block 1 in The Quay.

Kolter is planning to raze the Hyatt site to build two 18-story towers that include 224 condominiums and 166 hotel rooms plus 8,830 square feet of street-level commercial space. On Dec. 11, the Planning Board granted an adjustment to relocate the primary driveway off Boulevard of the Arts to the east.

At the outset of the DRC meeting, attorney Brenda Patten appealed to the assembly of regulatory staff to grant partial sign-off, allowing Kolter to be thoroughly prepared for the hearing before the Sarasota City Commission.

“I just want to be sure we can get at least partial sign-off today so that by the time we get to March 17 we will have an approved site plan and approved adjustments subject to the City Commission approval,” Patten said.

“Normally, we address that at the end, but yeah, we were going to give you partial sign-off,” responded Development Review Chief Planner Noah Fossick.

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At this stage of the process, once those lingering matters are addressed, all that typically remains is administrative approval for a project in a downtown zone district. With the appeal by Property Markets Group, though, Kolter must secure City Commission consent.

Kolter Group subsidiary Kolter Urban has developed Ritz-Carlton Residences on Block 6 in The Quay, and is currently building its sister tower on Blocks 7 and 8. The Hyatt property is not within metes and bounds of The Quay, but borders its north and east property lines. 

The primary objections of PMG are that a portion of Kolter’s eastern tower overhangs an alley separating the two properties, which it says amounts to taking of a public easement, and that an inadequately sized turning template for garbage trucks in the shared alley will force them onto Block 9 property. 

For good measure, PMB also alleges the plan violates the city’s Engineering Design Criteria Manual on multiple points, including:

• At 33 feet in width, the primary driveway exceeds a 24-foot limit for commercial driveways.
• Proposed curb cuts violate provisions of the Comprehensive Plan and the EDCM pertaining to and promoting the existence and maintenance of pedestrian sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
• The approved adjustment interferes with both Quay 1 and 9’s and the public’s pedestrian experience and access to the Multi-Use Recreational Trail and to the bay, including vistas of the water. 
• Kolter’s traffic study conclusions were inaccurate.