Hyatt Regency Sarasota to be demolished in 2025 for mixed-use development

The Hyatt Regency in downtown Sarasota is set to be torn down in 2025 to make way for a new mixed-use development that will also include a smaller, more upscale Hyatt-branded hotel.

Delray Beach-based developer Kolter Group, doing business as KT Sarasota Bay, purchased the Hyatt property in July 2022 for $30.67 million. 

“We’re currently planning on the demolition to be summer of 2025,” John Harper, development executive at the Kolter Group, tells the Business Observer of the property and parking structure along Boulevard of the Arts. 

A $250 million mixed-use development will be built in the Hyatt Regency’s place, encompassing two 18-story towers, according to plans submitted to the city.

The towers, the site development plan shows, include a 174-room luxury hotel and 224 condominiums, plus 8,830 square feet of commercial space, nearly half the commercial space is allocated for a restaurant in the hotel.

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Kolter Group intends to continue operating the hotel until it demolishes the structure, which was built in 1970.

The hotel's replacement will be developed by Kolter Hospitality, a division of Kolter Group, and will operate under the Hyatt-branded Thompson Hotels flag.

Thompson Hotels typically have 50 to 250 rooms and are “upper upscale,” according to Hyatt Development. There are 16 Thompson Hotels nationwide, including one in Miami Beach. In addition to featuring high-end design, the hotels are celebrated for their restaurants.

“The hotel will have its own restaurant that is open to the public,” Harper says. It will be 4,350 square feet on the fourth level, according to the site development plan, and include a lobby bar and lounge. Other commercial space that is part of the project could also include a restaurant, Harper adds, separate from the hotel.

The new hotel will have fewer rooms and less event space than the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, which currently has 294 guest rooms and a 9,875-square-foot ballroom. Plans show the new hotel will have a 6,610-square-foot ballroom.

Another change will be the way vehicles get to the hotel. The Sarasota City Planning Board approved at its Dec. 11 meeting a move that will allow for a u-turn on Boulevard of the Arts as a means of entry.

Until the demolition, plans call for business to continue as usual.

Currents Restaurant inside the Sarasota Hyatt is still serving breakfast and dinner, with its Hurricane Hut pool bar offering a venue for lunch, according to Hyatt Regency General Manager Wes Santos.

“We are excited for the 2025 season and will continue operating at full capacity,” Santos says. “There have been no changes that have occurred to our offerings, and we will not be making any changes until the redevelopment.”