Sarasota County's new headquarters projected to cost at least $72 million

Somewhere within 2 miles of Interstate 75 between Fruitville Road and Laurel Road is the target of the Sarasota County administration to build its new government center, where it will relocate after it vacates its facility in downtown Sarasota.

Settling on an 8-acre site in the Fruitville Farms development just north of Celery Fields, many of the administrative staff workers will move to the new four-story, 120,000-square-foot building when the county turns over its current 170,000-square-foot headquarters and two adjoining properties to Benderson Development Co. The county had previously looked at land on Cattlemen Road for the new project. 

Construction of the new building is projected to cost between $72 million to $74 million.

The county sold the properties to Benderson in December 2021 for $25 million, leasing it back until 2025. Built in 1973, county staff estimated the building would need $49 million in repairs over the next 20 years, and moving the administration center to an unincorporated area along the interstate would make it better accessible to more county residents, particularly as the population center moves to the southern part of the county.

At the time, Benderson officials said it would take some time to get to the point the property is ready for redevelopment, including navigating city land use regulations. Benderson saw the acquisition of the county building as an opportunity to invest in downtown, noting plans for urban redevelopment on parcels adjacent to the Ringling Boulevard site.

The new parcel is just south of Fruitville Road near Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, a rapidly developing area east of I-75 near other county facilities, including Ackerman Park, the Fruitville Public Library and the county’s Operations Center on Sarasota Center Boulevard just a few miles east near Lorraine Road.

Commissioners have met with criticism for selling the current headquarters and leasing it back for four years and for spending taxpayer dollars on a new building. Commission Chairman Alan Maio said the county has invested in seven new fire stations and is planning an eighth, and once the new administration building is completed, it will have developed new space to accommodate 80% of the county’s office workers. The investments are necessary, he said, for efficiency and to provide adequate modern facilities for employees.

“For anyone who thinks we're building Taj Mahals, I'd be happy to take you to some of our facilities where our employees work because this hasn't been done before and it needs to be done now,” Maio said. “It's a tremendous expense, but we have workers that sit all day in a seven-by-seven-foot cubicle. We’re now finally getting our standards up to the standards of the private sector.”

Because of term limits, of the five current county commissioners only Vice Chairman Ron Cutsinger will have the potential opportunity to serve in the new space.

“I can tell you that our current office is the smallest office I've ever had,” said Commissioner Nancy Detert. “I think it is the size of a prison cell, and we even get a little skinny window on the side so you can look out, sadly.”

Carolyn Eastwood, the county’s director of capital projects, displayed a first-floor floor plan, which includes a 3,500-square-foot meeting chamber, a 2,400-square-foot “think tank,” conference rooms, functional service areas and a 4,000-square-foot gym.

Detert asked Eastwood how the county can downsize by 50,000 square feet and not have outgrown the new space before it opens, comparing it to the Sheriff’s Office.

“You have to remember with that facility, it was a renovation of an existing building,” Eastwood said. “We're building completely new, and that gives us the opportunity to have more efficient use of the spaces.”

In addition, some departments housed in the Administration Center will be dispersed to dedicated department space elsewhere.

“There are other departments that will be moving into their own administration buildings, such as Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources. Environmental Services will have their own administration center. Planning Development Services, which is currently here in the first floor, we’re going to be looking at building a one-stop permit center and they're going to be housed in that location. So it doesn't need to be as big as this building.”

(This story originally appeared in the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer.)