Benderson Development moving forward with Siesta Promenade project

Benderson Development, one of the two firms behind the mega mall planned at the University Town Center, has begun the initial pitch for a hotel and shopping center on U.S 41 near the entrance to Siesta Key.

The Sarasota County Development Review Committee heard a pre-application presentation June 19 for Siesta Promenade. For that project, Benderson announced plans to build a 150-room hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail space in 12 structures at the intersection of South Tamiami Trail and Stickney Point Road, according to a site plan.

“We envision a place where customers will park once, window shop, have a nice dinner or just ice cream and simply enjoy another quality Sarasota experience,” Benderson Director of Development Todd Mathes told the Sarasota Observer.

Pine Shores Estates mobile-home park previously occupied a majority of the 24-acre property.

Benderson, using the name Siesta 41 Associates LLP, bought the property in four parcels for more than $20 million in 2005, but it remained vacant after the mobile-home park closed in 2008. The developer aims to rezone the various lots to a commercial general designation.

Plans include more than 1,000 parking spaces situated mostly toward the interior of the development and a new traffic signal for Stickney Point Road.

“I've been working on the project since 2011 — the absolute bottom of the housing market in Sarasota — and not a week has gone by without us contemplating different project forms,” says Mathes.

The company settled on a “lifestyle center” he describes as filled with quaint restaurants and boutique retail stores. He cited a strong demand in the area as a reason to start work on the development.

Benderson affiliate Buffalo Lodging Associates operates under the Marriott and Hilton hotel flags, and Mathes said the local market is trending toward boutique brands from either of them. The firm will await a market study to determine the best fit for the intersection.

Construction on Siesta Promenade is slated to begin by the spring, according to planning documents.

“We'd of course like to hit a home run for the community by way of the tenants and at the same time anticipate a beautiful and inviting project that will stand in very stark contrast to Old 41 retail,” Mathes says.

— reporting by Alex Mahadevan, correspondent