Developer readies a rarity: A new Longboat Key commercial plaza

After three years of obstacles, Mark Ursini is getting ready to break ground on the Brista Commons commercial development project on Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

Brista Commons will bring over 14,000 square feet of new commercial space to Longboat Key and fill the vacant plot around the 3100 block of GMD, at its intersection with Buttonwood Drive. Ursini has more than half of the space leased and hopes that the other leases will be finalized once the project breaks ground. He declines to disclose the specific investment in the project, only to say it's a "multimillion-dollar development."

This new commercial plaza will join a limited list of similar spaces on Longboat Key, including Whitney Plaza, The Centre Shops of Longboat Key and the Shoppes of Bay Isles.

According to the space’s promotional flyer, the plaza will feature contemporary architecture and state-of-the-art facilities. The flyer touts them as having a “prime location, prime exposure” and offers flexible lease options for medical, wellness or boutique stores. 

The plaza’s anchor tenant will be a high-end independent furniture store called Couch. Couch will occupy four of the spaces in Brista Commons. It will include a nearly 5,000-square-foot showroom and a full range of design services, according to Ursini. 

Ursini said Couch’s owners are bringing 30 years of interior design experience to the new Longboat Key store and are looking forward to becoming a part of the island’s future. 

There are two other spaces in the main Brista Commons building. Ursini says discussions are ongoing with possible tenants to get leases finalized in those spaces. One space is 1,500 square feet and the other is 1,266 square feet. 

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The lot also has an outparcel that is 3,422 square feet, which Ursini says could become a walk-in medical clinic. 

The spaces are priced at about $40 per square foot for the annual leases, according to Ursini. For the smallest available space at 1,266 square feet, the annual lease would be a little over $50,000. The leases are also triple-net, which means tenants are responsible for paying for their own taxes, insurance and maintenance.

Building permits for Brista Commons were submitted to the Town of Longboat Key's Planning, Zoning and Building Department Aug. 22. Ursini could break ground on the project in September, which puts the estimated completion date sometime in 2025. 

In the neighborhood

Although the Brista Commons project is new, Ursini isn’t a stranger to the island. 

Ursini is the founder and president of Brista Homes, a company that specializes in custom residential construction and luxury remodels. His wife, Gina, is also the lead broker of Brista Realty.

Between remodels and real estate, Ursini says about 80% of Brista’s projects are on Longboat Key. The company has built about a dozen homes in Country Club Shores and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as numerous condo remodels along GMD.

With so much of their business on Longboat, Ursini says he saw a need for more good-quality commercial space. The vacant lot on the middle of the island was the perfect spot with good exposure, he says. 

It was a natural fit, then, to include a Brista Homes office in the plans for Brista Commons. Ursini says he and his wife have always wanted an office on Longboat, and both are excited to break ground on this new project. 

Not an easy road 

As Ursini puts it, the largest obstacles are behind him now. 

“On the other side of the mountain, that’s for sure,” he says.

Three years ago, Ursini sought to use part of his Longboat land for residential purposes. To do so, though, required a town referendum to let residents decide whether the land could be rezoned to allow more residential density.

The land was zoned as office institutional, and Ursini wanted 0.86 acres to increase in density from office institutional uses to residential uses. According to previous reporting, the land had been zoned for non-residential uses since at least the 1960s. 

In the Nov. 2, 2021 referendum, voters allowed Ursini to move forward with the plans to change the density required for the two residential lots. Sarasota residents voted 66.92% in favor and Manatee County residents voted 62.21% in favor. 

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Since then, the two lots have sold and one home is in the process of being built now, according to Ursini. The homes were expected to have a value of $2 million to $2.5 million.

After the referendum hurdle, it was on to Brista Commons. 

Planning the 14,000-square-foot commercial property required a slew of approvals from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Florida Department of Transportation. 

It also required working with the town on drainage plans for the site, and more background work that all took place during the post-COVID-19 era. Ursini says going through this process after the pandemic made things more challenging and things moved slower.

Ursini’s focus shifted to Brista Commons around 2022, after the approval of the residential properties. Two years later, Ursini and the Brista company are almost ready to break ground. 

Nearing the end of the obstacles, Ursini said the best part is "getting to this stage, realizing all the hard work that goes in that nobody sees, that we’re finally going to be breaking ground hopefully in the next 60 days.

“And then having our offices there in Longboat Key. I think it’s going to be great for my team and the future of the company. We’re really looking forward to it.”

This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.