Kolter to develop new Sarasota condo tower

The Kolter Group, flush from its success in delivering the mixed-use The Mark in downtown Sarasota, plans to embark on a new condominium tower in the city later this year.

Bayso Sarasota will rise 18 stories on the waterfront Sarasota Quay property and be adjacent to another Kolter Urban project, the 73-unit Ritz-Carlton Residences now under construction. Units there range in price from $2 million to more than $5 million.

Bayso will contain 150 residences priced from the $800,000s, including eight penthouse units. Unit sizes will range from 1,600 square feet to nearly 4,000 square feet.

“The Mark was received very well, we’ve sold out there, and Bayso will be similar from a product standpoint,” says Brian Van Slyke, a Kolter Urban regional president for Florida’s West Coast.

In addition to 157 residences, The Mark also contains about 50,000 square feet of office and ground-floor retail space. Bayso will not contain any retail space.

Kolter’s project also comes as a number of new residential offerings have either begun construction in downtown Sarasota or are about to break ground.

Most notably, a team led by Sarasota-based Ascentia Development Group that also includes Tampa’s Dr. Kiran Patel is planning a 56-unit, luxury offering nearby known as Auteur adjacent to the 294-room Hyatt Regency Hotel. Patel, acquired the Hyatt Regency for $75 million in 2016.

The 18-story Auteur project, slated for completion in 2024, is being designed to maximize water views of Sarasota Bay. Its units will seek prices from $2 million to $5 million. The company has launched a virtual marketing campaign on its website in response to the Coronavirus pandemic and will provide information on the project over the telephone or via a virtual visual presentation.

Also nearby, Core Development Inc. is constructing a 49-unit condo tower called BLVD that highlights expansive outdoor terraces and living areas.

Still, Kolter contends its Bayso project will succeed by balancing price point and unit size and differentiate it from the competion.

“We think we’re very well positioned in terms of size of our units and price point,” Van Slyke adds. “Some of our competition in Sarasota is offering larger units for sale, but we think we’ll be filling a need in a currently underserved market.”

The Delray Beach-based Kolter has filed a site plan for approval with Sarasota officials and plans to acquire the roughly one-acre Bayso property from Quay master developer GreenPointe Holdings LLC, of Jacksonville, in May.

 In 2018, Kolter paid $19.3 million for a roughly one-acre tract where it is building the Ritz-Carlton Residences.

Kolter intends to complete the Bayso development from an SB Architects design that features “expansive terraces with glass balcony railings” meant to extend living areas outside of individual units by early 2023.

In addition to its location within the Quay, a $1 billion project slated to contain more than 700 residences, retail and office space, a hotel and greenspace, Bayso will offer “a resort-style pool and spa deck with inviting cabanas, entertainment areas and an outdoor kitchen” as well as a “state-of-the-art fitness center,” residents’ club room and a private dog park and wash.

It also will contain amenities such as individual climate-controlled storage lockers and a “dedicated lobby staff to service residents.”

Previously, SB Architects designed Kolter’s 41-story One St. Petersburg condo tower and hotel in downtown St. Petersburg and the 18-story Ritz-Carlton Residences.

But in a break with its past, Kolter has tapped Premier Sotheby’s International Realty to market the Bayso project. Kolter’s previous Sarasota projects have been listed by Michael Saunders & Co.

“We felt they could provide access to a lot of our target buyers, and they’re going to develop a great sales center as part of the sales efforts,” Van Slyke says of Premier Sotheby’s.

In all, Kolter’s urban division has either completed or is planning more than $3 billion worth of developments along the Gulf Coast.

In addition to its Sarasota projects — a list that also includes the 18-story Vue Sarasota Bay condo tower and Westin Hotel, besides The Mark — and One St. Petersburg, Kolter also is planning a 35-story residential offering in downtown St. Petersburg known as Saltaire.

Like Bayso, the roughly $250 million Saltaire, which is slated to contain 192 residences priced from $850,000 to more than $1.6 million at 330 Beach Drive NE, has yet to break ground.