Newsletter 124

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

RED TIDE INTENSIFIES IN AREA

Red tide continues to intensify in Sarasota and Manatee counties once again.
Samples last week show high levels of red tide throughout the region, continuing an upward trend that started last month when the amount of Karenia Brevis, the organism that causes red tide, had dipped. The highest concentrations in Sarasota County span from Longboat Key down to North Jetty Park, and Manasota Beach down to Englewood Beach in Charlotte County, according to samples from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The highest concentrations in Manatee County were measured near Bradenton Beach. Although levels continue to rise, local beaches have largely remained clear of dead fish, and many beaches have clean water despite the patchy red tide bloom nearby. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium beach ambassadors on Thursday reported some dead fish sightings at Nokomis Beach and Manasota Key Beach. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Red Tide Intensifies

PROJECT POND

A new program plans to help Sarasota County neighborhoods upgrade their drainage ponds so they can better filter nutrients that can feed red tide. The local nonprofit START, or Solutions to Avoid Red Tide, launched the program at a recent press conference overlooking the blue water of the bay. The program is known as a regional Healthy Ponds Collaborative, and most of its funding is coming from a $250,000 grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. Stormwater flows from neighborhood stormwater holding ponds to other retention areas, creeks or rivers and eventually reaches Sarasota Bay. That stormwater is responsible for 65% of the nitrogen in Sarasota Bay, according to START. Karenia Brevis, the algae responsible for red tide in Florida, feeds on chemicals like nitrogen. For more on this story, please click here: Project Pond

STUDY SITES BENEFITS OF MANGROVES

Mangrove wetlands have been called nature’s nursery for their ability to shelter a variety of aquatic life.They also protect shores from storm surge and provide habitat for birds. And new research details another benefit: keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Researchers out of Florida Gulf Coast University’s Everglades Wetland Research Park housed at the Naples Botanical Garden studied red mangrove wetlands at Naples Bay to determine how Hurricane Irma affected the capacity for the plants to store carbon. Lauren Griffiths, lead author of the study, and Bill Mitsch, director at the research park, found mangroves have the ability to rebound and will continue storing carbon in leaves and branches within a couple years following a hurricane, but carbon stores below ground in and around the roots systems remain low. If you’re interested to read more, please click here: Mangrove Study

HOUSING PRICES RISING

The most recent data on the local housing market shows no slack in the demand for residential real estate in Sarasota and Manatee counties, according to the local Realtor’s association. The Realtor’s Association of Sarasota and Manatee’s monthly report on August sales figures recently recorded the 15th consecutive month that the median closed sales price increased compared to the previous year. The median sales price for a single-family home in Sarasota decreased slightly on a month-over-month comparison, but still came in at $390,093 on 815 closed sales.
Manatee County’s median sales figure stayed about flat on a month-over-month comparison with the median sales price of a closed single-family property coming in at $430,000 on 694 closed sales. August, historically a slower month for home sales in the region, did see a year-over-year decrease in the number of closed sales, with both counties down by 7.5%. The combined closed sales across all property types was 2,125 homes. There’s more on this story here: Housing Prices

LBK’S ST REGIS PROJECT IMPACT WILL BE HUGE

The project’s development plans weigh well over a hundred pounds. The legal fees total well over seven digits. And the total cost could eventually come in well over half a billion dollars. Nevertheless, the St. Regis Residences and Hotel could break ground as soon as the end of this month, bringing with it a boost in the national profile for the entire region – not to mention the revival of a local property that once drew the president of the United States, as well as numerous other celebrities.
It is intended to replace The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort, which over several years slowly decayed until the structures had to be demolished amid a decade-long legal quagmire over ownership and other issues. For Orlando-based Chuck Whittall, president of Unicorp National Developments, building Longboat Key’s St. Regis Residences and Hotel will be the milestone accomplishment in the more than 20-year history of his Central Florida development company. Just one meeting of the Longboat Key Town Commission for development approval remains before the planned construction start on the $600 million dollar luxury resort. Please follow the jump for more on this story: St Regis Impact

BEACHFRONT LUXURY ON LIDO

A new luxury condominium project is moving forward on Lido Beach, under development by a Naples-based company, and now, with the involvement of an international hotel chain as well. Naples-based The Ronto Group and Wheellock Street Capital have partnered with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts to build Rosewood Residences Lido Key at 930 and 1008 Benjamin Franklin Dr. The two parcels total 3.89 acres on Lido Beach that had previously been used by two different hotels. Coquina on the Beach was built in 1946 and the Gulf Beach Resort Motel was built in 1955, according to Sarasota city documents. The Ronto Group purchased both properties through a series of transactions in late January to buy out several owners in the Gulf Beach Resort Motel. Those transactions totaled $23.5 million. There’s more on this story here: Lido Beachfront Luxury

300 NEW APARTMENTS PLANNED

A Gainesville-based real estate company has purchased a 13.2-acre parcel just east of Interstate 75 off Fruitville Road to build a $70 million, 300-unit apartment development. The Collier Companies bought the property from the Sarasota Business Plaza LLLP for $5.4 million through the Colliers Fruitville LLC. The property will be adjacent to the Celery Fields, which is likely to generate some opposition from the area’s bird watchers during the permitting process. The transaction closed in late August. This will be the development company’s first Sarasota property, but the Collier Companies is one of the largest developers and operators of multifamily apartment properties in Florida. Please click on the link for more: 300 Apartments Planned

POPULATION, DEVELOPMENT RESIDENTS CONCERNS

Population growth, the quality of local waterways and traffic are some of the most important issues that Sarasota County residents say are facing the county today.
Each year, the University of South Florida conducts a Citizen’s Opinion Survey for Sarasota County. This year, the survey of 1,250 people found that 23.2% of respondents consider population growth and new development as the most important issue facing the county today. Ten percent said there are no serious problems facing the county, while 6.3% said the “quality of our waterways” is the county’s most important issue. Other common answers included “Taxes” (6.2%), “Traffic/Transportation” (6.2%) and “Stormwater/drainage/flooding” (5.4%). There’s more on this story: Residents Concerns

BIG INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL COMEBACK AHEAD?

Domestic travelers have been packing Southwest Florida beaches for months. But it won’t be just Americans soaking up the sun for too much longer. Travelers from the United Kingdom, central Europe, and other places are expected to return to Sarasota and Manatee counties, local officials said, now that the U.S. is lifting travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November. The reopening of international travel means this is the first time foreign visitors will be able to come to the U.S. since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The land border between the U.S. and Canada remains closed, however, meaning snowbirds who want to return for the season will still have to fly. Click here for more: International Travel Comenback?

TOWN OF SIESTA KEY EFFORT GOES FORWARD

If a group of Siesta Key residents have their way, Sarasota County could have its newest municipality by the start of 2023: The Town of Siesta Key. Save Siesta Key Inc., a group of residents and business owners frustrated by what they feel is a lack of responsiveness to their concerns regarding land use issues on the key, beat the Sept. 1 deadline to submit a feasibility study to the Florida Legislature on the proposed incorporation. Members told the Herald-Tribune they submitted it in late August. However, there are still several hurdles for the municipal incorporation effort to leap over before a new town can be created, including approval from local state representatives and a special act of the Florida Legislature. If it clears the Legislature, then the registered voters on Siesta Key would vote in an referendum on whether to become a town with a simple majority vote being enough to see the town formed. Click here for more on this story: Town Of Siesta Key?

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Change is a constant in the world of the performing and visual arts, which often expand their reach through programming introduced by new leadership. In the Sarasota area, nonprofit arts organizations have maintained more stability than the average, with long-serving leaders like the 41-year run of Richard Hopkins as producing artistic director at Florida Studio Theatre and the 39-year tenure of Victor DeRenzi at the Sarasota Opera. Among the dozens of leading arts organizations, more than 15 have artistic or administrative directors in their job for 15 years or more. But the balance is changing through some recent departures and hires, altering the makeup and the future of the area’s arts scene. There’s more to read here: Changing Of The Guard

PINEY POINT LAWSUIT COMING

Environmental groups will file a lawsuit against Manatee County over plans to dispose of wastewater underground at the Piney Point fertilizer plant. The Center for Biological Diversity, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, ManaSota-88, and Our Children’s Earth Foundation notified Manatee County recently about the incoming lawsuit. The notification process is required in any lawsuit against the government. The groups allege that Manatee County has engaged in unlawful “open dumping” under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The same environmental groups filed a lawsuit in June against Gov. Ron DeSantis, the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Piney Point site owners HRK Holdings LLC and the Manatee County Port Authority for the April release of 215 million gallons of wastewater from Piney Point into Tampa Bay. There’s more on this story here: Piney Point Lawsuit

RESTAURANT OWNERS REFLECT ON SUMMER

Typically, summer is the quietest time of the year for Sarasota-Manatee restaurateurs, as season ends, snowbirds leave town and some restaurants temporarily close for vacation. Yet nothing has exactly been typical during the pandemic, resulting in a summer that’s yielded both successes and challenges for the national restaurant industry, reflected locally. Floridians started to receive the COVID-19 vaccine toward the start of the year, and some restaurants reported booming business in the early summer months as newly vaccinated customers were going back out again. Yet even as the economy rebounded, employers, including the restaurant industry, struggled to hire enough staff, attributing it to – depending on who you ask – federal unemployment benefits or workers leaving the field for other careers. Businesses tried to attract potential employees with job fairs and incentives; Ford’s Garage in University Town Center, for instance, posted signs touting a $2,000 hiring bonus as it prepared to open earlier this summer. If you’re interested in reading more, then click here: Restaurant Owners Reflect

SARASOTA BALLET LAUNCHES NEW SEASON

In creating a new piece to welcome back audiences to The Sarasota Ballet after a long break from the coronavirus pandemic, resident choreographer Ricardo Graziano was seeking something celebratory. “I didn’t want to open with anything dramatic and sad. This is a joyful moment for us, and I think I found that joy in what we’re doing,” he said in a recent Zoom interview. “I hope it’s pleasing to watch.”
For the season-opening “New World” program next weekend in the Mertz Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Graziano will be both performer and creator. He will be seen dancing in “Appalachian Spring” featuring Martha Graham’s choreography set to the familiar music by Aaron Copland, which had its company debut in 2018. And he will be standing in the back watching his fellow dancers perform the world premiere of his latest creation, “Sonatina,” featuring music by Anton Dvorak. Click here to read more on this story: Sarasota Ballet Launches New Season