Sarasota County provides boost for nursing facility

Florida Living Options, a Galesburg, Ill.-based assisted-living facility company, can receive up to $100,000 in relocation fees from Sarasota County for wetland mitigation.

Florida Living Options purchased five acres at the southeast corner of DeSoto Road and Honore Avenue in north Sarasota County late last year, with plans to develop a 120-bed skilled nursing facility on the site. The company says the project, Hawthorne Village Retirement Community, will create 175 jobs over the next two years with an average annual wage between $48,000 and $52,000.

Dennis O'Keefe of Palm Harbor-based O'Keefe Painter Architects is the architect for the planned facility. GAP Engineering and Planning LLC of Sarasota will handle the engineering.

Deborah Franklin, director of operations for Florida Living Options, couldn't be reached for comment.