Developers, known for mall, target 'the best building in downtown Sarasota'

More than just UTC retail
Benderson Development Co. has become synonymous with the $315 million Mall at University Town Center and other retail holdings around the Sarasota and Manatee County line.

But Benderson has been forging ahead with office and industrial projects as well.

In downtown Sarasota, Benderson is in the midst of a long-planned, multimillion-dollar facelift and upgrade to the 13-story Ellis Building.

There, the developer is adding a glass atrium to the building's entrance, installing a new drive-thru ATM for incoming tenant Synovus Bank, redoing the 1605 Main St. property's parking lot and adding a three-tiered canopied drop-off with granite pavers.

Larry Fineberg, Benderson's executive director of office, industrial and warehouse properties, says the improvements will be completed by early next year.

“We're really trying to make it the best building in downtown Sarasota,” he says. “Part of that is creating a really grand entrance.”

In addition to Synovus, which is relocating from the mixed-use Courthouse Centre, Ellis is gaining Orange Theory Fitness, Crop and the downtown office of residential brokerage and real estate services firm Michael Saunders & Co.

In committing to more than 15,000 square feet on the building's ground floor, Saunders signed one of the largest new office leases of the year in Sarasota.
Benderson acquired the 131,000-square-foot Ellis Building in 2005 for $13.5 million, records show.

Ellenton outlets making moves
Though its newly opened Tampa Premium Outlets has gotten more attention of late, Simon Property Group's outlet mall in Manatee County has quietly been shuffling some tenants and adding others in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Most notably, fashion designer Michael Kors early next month will move to a more prominent, 5,000-square-foot store in Ellenton Premium Outlets, a move that will add nearly 70% more space to its offering there.

At the same time, women's fashion merchant Talbot's will open a 2,900-square-foot store by the end of the year, while BCBG Max Azria will take control of permanent space around the same time.

Billabong, meanwhile, is slated to move into a 2,100-square-foot store in Ellenton by the end of February, says Colleen Fenton, an Ellenton spokeswoman.