Hyatt redevelopment adjustment upheld

During its May 5 meeting, the Sarasota City Commission affirmed the Planning Board’s approval of an adjustment application by Kolter Urban to relocate the existing driveway to the Hyatt Regency to accommodate its plans to redevelop the site. 

With no discussion on Monday, the commission reaffirmed its affirmation by a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch opposed.

At its Dec. 11, 2024 meeting, the Planning Board approved the adjustment to allow the current driveway access from Boulevard of the Arts to the Hyatt Regency hotel to be relocated approximately 68 feet to the east. Kolter Urban plans to demolish the 50-year-old Hyatt Regency and adjacent parking structure and, in their place, construct a two-tower development over a single podium building. 

The first phase, dubbed 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, will include a 174-room Hyatt-centric harborside hotel and 117 luxury condominiums. 

The Planning Board’s adjustment approval was appealed to the City Commission by Quay 1 and 9 LLC, the owner of adjacent property it is developing in The Quay.

Consisting of Miami-based developer Property Markets Group and investor MoneyShow of Sarasota, Quay 1 and 9 voiced several objections to Kolter Urban’s plan. Besides the driveway relocation, it challenged the width of the driveway, which, at 33 feet, is 9 feet wider than permitted by code; the validity of Kolter Urban’s traffic study; the plan to build above Kolter’s portion of a shared alleyway between the Hyatt site and Block 9 in The Quay; and more.

Doing business as KT Sarasota Bay LLC, Kolter has also filed an application for administrative site plan approval to allow the redevelopment of the property, which provides the approved adjustment upheld by the commission be a component of the site plan and the time to appeal the approval of the adjustment to the 12th Judicial Circuit Court — should there be one — may not commence until the city has made a final decision to approve or deny the site plan.