Sarasota Quay hires development manager

Jacksonville-based GreenPointe Communities has hired a development manager ahead of plans to begin construction on a 15-acre, waterfront project in downtown Sarasota.

Brett Blank comes to the mixed-use Quay Sarasota project following a career developing multifamily projects in Colorado for the past two decades. In 2016, he worked on a 1,400-acre, master-planned community called Arden, in Palm Beach County, with Freehold Capital Management LLC, of Boston.

“The opportunity to build something right on the water, in one of the last urban areas available anywhere on the West Coast of Florida was one I couldn't pass up,” says Blank, 47. “And that GreenPointe has such a great history only added to it.”

In addition to the Quay Sarasota — a project planned for 695 residences, 175 hotel rooms and roughly 240,000 square feet of retail and office space — Blank also is coordinating with Florida Department of Transportation officials on a roundabout at the entrance of the roughly $1 billion project and required infrastructure on site.

He is also spearheading efforts to revitalize the Belle Haven Hotel, a historic structure on the Quay property that will become local GreenPointe offices, says Rick Harcrow, the company's regional president for the Tampa/Sarasota area.

Infrastructure at Quay Sarasota is expected to begin next year, with the project being developed in “blocks” for the next decade.