$56 million in financing for major downtown Sarasota project

The developers behind the Aster & Links project in downtown Sarasota have obtained $56 million in financing.

The mezzanine loan was originated by Southern Realty Trust, a new West Palm Beach REIT.

According to Southern Realty, which announced the financing, it's putting money into the project because it saw “attractive supply/demand fundamentals and strong population growth in recent years.”

Brian Sedrish, the firm’s CEO, says in a statement that he believes the project “will become a vibrant hub for commerce and community in Sarasota.”

“Strategically, we believe investments in Class A multi-family real estate have the potential for stable cash flow and strong risk-adjusted returns,” he says.

Aster & Links, which many residents know as One Main Plaza, is being developed by Greenwich, Connecticut-based Belpointe, a private equity company formed in 2019 to develop properties in federally designated Opportunity Zones.

Belpointe acquired 8.6 acres of the roughly 10-acre Main Plaza site in December 2019 — its first acquisition since its creation and initial public offering earlier that year — for $20 million. The lead contractor on the project is Suffolk Construction. 

Officials have long declined to disclose a total value on One Main, only to say it’s in excess of a $130 million construction loan it recently obtained for the development.

The development, currently under construction along Main Street and Links Avenue in Sarasota, will be made of two 10-story residential towers with 424 apartments. There will be 778 parking spaces and on the ground floor there will be more than 650,000 square feet of retail space.

It is replacing the 259,000-square-foot Main Plaza at the eastern gateway to downtown. It sits next to Regal Cinemas’ Hollywood 11 theater, which has a lease through 2029.

One tenant is already named, Sprouts Farmers Market. It will occupy 23,000 square feet.

Belpointe was advised by New York-based Lantern Real Estate.