Sarasota developers grappling over site

As part of a comprehensive effort to redevelop its downtown, Sarasota officials last year sold a slice of land for $260,000 adjacent to a municipal parking garage to a development team that included Dr. Mark Kauffman and Joseph Hembree, head of commercial brokerage firm Hembree & Associates.

Together, their State Street Partners (SRQ) LLC planned to build a two-story office and retail “liner” building on the 5,400-square-foot site. Designs were drawn, leases were executed and the project appeared to be moving forward.

Much of the city's confidence in the deal stemmed from Kauffman, who has spent more than two decades developing or redeveloping commercial projects in downtown Sarasota, including the Hollywood 20/Main Plaza complex.

But earlier this year, in the wake of its $17 million acquisition of the 11-story Northern Trust Building downtown in March, Sarasota-based Githler Development Inc. approached Hembree and Kauffman and claimed that its One Thousand — Boulevard LLC — and not the city — truly owned a portion of the land the duo had bought.

Githler, another prominent real estate firm that once owned Sarasota's now-Hyatt Regency Hotel, indicated the city failed to replat a portion of the land when converting it to a park.

Citing deeds going back to 1902, Githler claimed the city, which had owned the disputed 0.124-acre tract since the early 1970s, had no right to sell the tract.

State Street Partners (SRQ) counters that Florida law provides that any holder of property for three decades or more has “marketable record title” that is “free and clear of all claims,” according to a six-count lawsuit filed in Sarasota Circuit Court last month.

Kauffman and Hembree's partnership further states that because of the potential “cloud” on the title, it's unable to proceed with its project, court records show.

Representatives for Kauffman and Hembree declined to comment; Githler did not return a pair of telephone calls; and City Attorney Bob Fournier could not be reached regarding the lawsuit, which Githler has yet to respond to, according to court documents.