Georgia apartment developer buys almost 9 acres in downtown Sarasota

An Atlanta multifamily development firm has bought nearly 9 acres in downtown Sarasota and plans to build a mixed-use development on the site.

How much Brook Farm Group, the Atlanta developer, paid for the property was not disclosed nor was a timeline for the project.

The property sits near the southeast corners of U.S. 301 and Fruitville Road, according to a statement from Harry E. Robbins Associates, the commercial real estate firm that handled the sale. Park District, as the development will be known, will include a retail component as was as market rate and attainable housing.

Brook Farm has built more than 40,000 apartment units and homes and with more than $10 billion in capitalized transaction value, according to its website.

It is developing the Sarasota property with BluPark Capital, says the Robbins firm. BluPark’s main address is listed in Florida’s Division of Corporation Commission as the Sarasota law firm Icard Merrill in care of William Merrill.

Merrill, a real estate attorney with the firm and who was involved in the transaction, says that “as one of the last remaining large assemblages in downtown Sarasota, this is a rare opportunity to bring well-planned development to the” city.

Park District is just one more major development coming to downtown Sarasota, a part of the city that is experiencing major growth.

One of the biggest projects is One Main Plaza which is replacing the former Main Plaza, the 259,000-square-foot at the western gateway to downtown Sarasota.

Construction on One Main Plaza has been underway for months. When complete, it will include two 10-story towers with 418 luxury apartments and 55,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor. A grocery store is also planned for the development. According to plans announced earlier this year, about 376 feet of One Main will face Main Street where the sidewalk will be widened to 20 feet. About 630 feet of storefront will face Links Avenue. The development will also have frontage on Fruitville Road.

And on Main Street and Goodrich Avenue, a proposed 18-story, 180-foot-tall building that will include condominiums, a hotel and a restaurant at the corner is close to winning approval, according to the Sarasota Observer, a sister publication of the Business Observer.

The development, which will be built on 0.43 acres at 1703 Main St. and 22 Goodrich Ave., is planned to include a 4,500-square-foot restaurant, 35 residential units and a 120-room hotel.

According to a July 26 story in the Observer, the project is waiting an approval from city’s Development Review Committee.