Work starts on $12.8M Sarasota County facility to fight mosquitos

A Lakewood Ranch-based commercial construction company has begun building Sarasota County’s new Mosquito Management Facility.

Halfacre Construction Co. broke ground on the $12.8 million project at 16500 Honore Ave. in Nokomis last week, and work is expected to be complete in the spring of 2025, according to a statement. 

The project is a one-story, 19,822-square-foot storm-hardened building that will include an administration area, laboratories, chemical storage, CO2 trap storage, insectary, chicken coop for baby chicks, mature chicken coop, aquaculture facility to breed and raise mosquito-eating fish, aquaculture plant and a vegetable garden.

It uses will be both for mosquito management and for educational purposes.

According to the news release, the county’s Mosquito Management Services works out of Ashton Road at a site shared with the County Fleet Division and the administrative staff of Sarasota County Area Transit. The division “is dedicated to protecting and promoting public health by managing mosquito populations through environmentally sound and fiscally responsible practices.”