Newsletter 139

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

SIESTA KEY MOVES STEP CLOSER TO INCORPORATION

Clapping and cheers reverberated Thursday afternoon in the Sarasota County Commission Chambers as Siesta Key advocates reached a key milestone in their hard-fought battle to create their own government and take control of local development decisions. Siesta Key residents have more often left that building in disappointment after losing votes by government officials on issues affecting the world-renowned barrier island, such as the dredging of Big Pass and the approval of high density hotels. The losses had galvanized island residents into community action aimed at incorporating the island and creating a town government. The celebration broke out after three of the four lawmakers who represent Sarasota County in the state Legislature in Tallahassee voted to advance a bill in the 2023 legislative session that would put the question of whether to incorporate to Siesta Key residents in a November 2024 referendum. Incorporation advocates had pointed to several existing cities that had been granted waivers from that issue last year when Siesta Key’s local government bid failed to gain enough lawmakers’ support to get the bill before the Legislature. Tim Hensey, chairman of Save Siesta Key Inc., said the group made a late compromise to move the potential referendum date from a proposed election date later this year to the 2024 general election. Hensey said Grant had been uncomfortable in have such a big decision occurring in an off-year election cycle that would likely have had lower voter turnout. However, Hensey noted there’s still plenty of work to make the referendum possible and keep the idea of incorporation alive. The proposed local bill will need to pass legislative committees and the full Florida House of Representatives and Senate and be signed by the governor. For more on this story, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Siesta Key Incorporation

A SAND HAUL FROM HELL

In the thick of the Siesta Key spring break gridlock, a project is slated to begin in March that will see a convoy of 100 dump trucks each weekday head onto the island along the south bridge and then turn south to Turtle Beach. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., those trucks will be hauling a total of 92,505 cubic yards of sand to renourish 2.1 miles of the southern portion of Turtle Beach that was washed away during 2016’s Hurricane Hermine – just four months after a previous $21.5 million renourishment project. This new window of opportunity is only about 60 days long because sea turtle season begins May 1 and the species is federally protected. The trucks will be accessing the shoreline through the county parking lot at the beach.

The project was originally projected for 2026, and then moved up several times by Sarasota County officials due to pressure from FEMA. Now, it goes into hurry-up mode because the $4 million grant FEMA provided has been determined to expire June 30 of 2023. The agency gave out several grants to area’s impacted by Hermine, and Sarasota County is the only entity to not yet utilize it. In short, FEMA wants it off its books. Bob Luckner of the Siesta Key Association civic group has expressed concern in recent months regarding traffic, road wear, resident and tourist safety, and whether or not the plan is even realistic. It goes out for bid soon. “I don’t think they’ll be able to pull it off,” Luckner said. “Who out there right now has the manpower and the equipment that can do it all in such a short amount of time?”

Still, the county took step one in October by hiring a firm from Florida’s east coast to begin the planning and engineering for the project. The price tag was more than $370,000. FEMA will be paying for 75% of the project, the Florida Division of Emergency Management 12.5%, and Sarasota County 12.5% through its Tourist Development Council. Previous renourishments there have been conducted by barge via dredging, but Smith said such a plan is not on the table. “It would cost $4 to $5 million just to get a dredging boat to commit to the project,” he said. “And there’s not time to go back (to FEMA) and argue that with them.” Others have suggested that existing sand currently blocking Midnight Pass could be used, but Smith said it’s also not a consideration. No such need is in play for Crescent Beach, which has never required renourishment. “We have beaches in this county that seem to behave this way,” Smith said. “For some reason, the Gulf doesn’t move sand around the Point of Rocks.” To read more on this story, courtesy of Siesta Sand, please click here: Sand Haul From Hell

LANE CLOSURES PART OF REPAVING PROJECT

Recently, a Florida Department of Transportation-approved road project for Midnight Pass Road in the middle of tourist season commenced on Siesta Key’s main drag. There was no public notice by the county – which oversees the road — of the initiative, according to Bob Luckner of the Siesta Key Association. Nonetheless, as of Dec. 4, island residents began dealing with a projected 250 days of work that will include temporary lane closures of one to one-and-a-half lanes. They will be monitored for alternating traffic flow by flagmen. Luckner learned of the $3.6 million project through his connection to FDOT officials, he said. He also said he didn’t believe that part of the Key needed repaving – pointing to parts of Beach Road being in more need — but the project is on the books. Message boards notifying residents of the project did not appear, near the public beach, until late November. The repaving project will likely push the start of the approved roundabout project at the intersection of Midnight Pass Road and Beach Road back to December of 2023 at the earliest, Luckner added. The resurfacing was originally slated to take place in conjunction with the roundabout project, but the county has since taken over that massive roundabout initiative. The 1.635 miles of repaving work will take place between the Midnight Pass Road and Stickney Point Road intersection and Shadow Lawn Way, which intersects with Midnight Pass Road at the entrance to the Siesta Isles neighborhood. It will involve mostly resurfacing, but will also feature the smoothing of sidewalks, the widening of shoulders and turn lanes, and possibly some drainage-related work near the flood-prone area near the former site of the Wells Fargo bank at 5810 Midnight Pass Rd., Luckner said.

AJAX Paving Industries of Venice will do the work. “Not only will tourist season make this difficult on residents, but consider the idea of the sand being hauled to Turtle Beach (at the south end) and the possibility of the new hotels beginning construction — depending on the outcome of lawsuits — and you’ve got most of the island” in potential gridlock, Luckner added. Please click here to read more: Lane Closures

ST REGIS CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES ON LBK

More than a year ago, the Longboat Town Commission gave their approval for the Residences at St. Regis Resort to be built at the former site of The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. Since then, Moss Construction has been busy building what the developer says will be the nicest resort in all of Florida. When it is complete, the 166-room hotel along with three condo buildings comprising 69 units will be a landmark destination on Longboat Key, reviving a popular destination that invokes nostalgic memories in many local residents. Chuck Whittall, president of Orlando-based Unicorp National Developments Inc., said construction was “on budget and on time,” and he expects the construction phase of the project will be completed in March 2024, with occupancy of the condo units expected in July 2024. The condo units in the property have all been sold, he said. The St. Regis project on Longboat Key has been a passion project for Whittall as it’s taken more than 10 years from when he became involved to when he expects the project to be completed. “Most of our projects take just two or three years,” he said. “But this one will have taken 12 years, but it’s going to be beautiful. “Because of The Colony’s ownership structure, a protracted legal fight ensued after the resort closed its doors in the early 2000s, which wasn’t resolved until Whittall became involved in redeveloping the property. Not even Hurricane Ian, which lashed southwest Florida with strong winds and rain, has been able to slow down the construction progress. “There’s been many barriers,” Whittall said, “and none of them has stopped us.” If you are interested in reading more, then click here: St. Regis Construction

20 STORY CONDO PLANNED

After purchasing the Hyatt Regency, the hotel’s parking lot and the air rights above the lot for more than $85.6 million in 2022, Palm Beach’s Kolter Urban has released renderings and details for its plans to build along downtown Sarasota’s bayfront, as well as an estimated construction start. The company aims to bring another Ritz-Carlton branded condo tower to Quay Sarasota called Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sarasota Bay, on what is now the parking lot for the Hyatt Regency Sarasota.

Kolter also developed Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sarasota, another luxury condo tower about a block south from where it plans to develop the new Ritz-Carlton-branded condo property. “The Residences are ideally situated in the epicenter of downtown in Quay Sarasota, placing its owners in the middle of a highly coveted waterfront destination,” Kolter Urban President Bob Vail said in a news release. “On the heels of the overwhelming sales success and 2021 delivery of The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sarasota, we could not be more delighted to introduce another luxury address under the legendary Ritz-Carlton brand.” Coral Gables-based SB Architects will design the 20-story, 78-unit condo tower with each condo being between 3,500 to 6,000 square feet. Units will have views of Sarasota Bay, downtown’s cityscape and the Gulf of Mexico, according to the news release. Kotler Urban sees Sarasota as a core market after developing several luxury condo buildings in the downtown area, including The Mark, The View and Bayso Sarasota, said Kolter Urban regional president Brian Van Slyke. Kolter bought the air rights above the development site from a limited liability company controlled by Jacksonville’s Greenpoint Holdings for $24 million in March before purchasing the parking lot for $31 million in July from the previous owner of the Hyatt. Kolter also purchased the hotel in July for $30.7 million. There’s more on this story here: 20-Story Condo Planned

REPLACING VAN WEZEL

Several internationally prominent architectural firms and others that have created recognizable projects around the world are on the list for potential companies to design the proposed Sarasota Performing Arts Center. Gehry Partners LLP, the firm founded by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s best known architects, who designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is among the 18 firms that have been invited to submit proposals by the architect selection task force. The panel was put together to recommend a firm to the city of Sarasota and the Van Wezel Foundation, which is overseeing the project. The proposals will not feature a potential design for the new building but are intended to show each firm’s ability to take on the scope of the new building.

The cost of the center was initially estimated to be between $300 million and $350 million but has been reduced in recent months to $275 million to $300 million.

Also on the list is Renzo Piano Building Workshop, whose recent work includes the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles; Adjaye Associates, which designed the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture; Arquetectonica, the Miami-based firm that designed the former headquarters for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune; and Diamond Schmitt, which designed the renovation of David Geffen Hall in New York and the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto, home to the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada. The committee also is seeking proposals from: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which worked on the renovation of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the renovation and redesign of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and more prestigious firms. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Replacing Van Wezel

HOME PRICES REMAIN HIGH

Home sales have continued to decline across the nation — including in Sarasota-Manatee — yet median home prices have stayed high in southwest Florida, according to monthly reports maintained by the Realtors Association of Sarasota and Manatee. There were just 1,252 closed sales in November, a 41.5% decrease from this time last year, according to the most recent report released. The Realtor’s association attributed the lower sales to Hurricane Ian causing delays in closings and its impact on delaying some signing of home contracts in October. “In November, single-family homes in Sarasota County saw the lowest number of closed sales all year, while Manatee County saw the second-lowest month of sales for 2022, with September rounding out the fewest sales for the MSA,” Tony Veldkamp, 2022 President of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee and senior adviser at SVN Commercial Advisory Group, said in a news release. “This is most likely due to the effects from Hurricane Ian, where September closings were pushed to October, but the lack of contracts in late September and early October has led to fewer closings in November.” Still, since March year-over-year home sales have been down by at least double-digit percentages, including a 16.9% decline in August, a 22.7% decline in July and a 24.9% decline in June. Median home prices have hovered at or above the $500,000 mark in Sarasota-Manatee, even as more homes came on the market and fewer of them sold. The median home price for a house sold in Sarasota-Manatee came in at $500,000 in November, a 15.6% increase compared to November 2021. That’s at the same time that the number of homes for sale has increased. The number of homes on the market has increased by 190.2% compared to last November. So what’s happening? Why has an increase in supply not resulted in a plunge in the median home price? Robert Goldman, a Venice area realtor with Michael Saunders & Co., said he believes that “the short answer is that the supply of homes for sale, although increasing due to more buyers marginalized from higher interest rates, is still not able to keep pace with demand.” Undoubtedly, there’s lower demand in the Sarasota market, Goldman said, as bidding wars over any appropriately priced home are not occurring as they did throughout 2021. But don’t expect real estate prices to take a nose dive anytime soon, he said. There’s more on this story here: Home Prices Remain High

TOP HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

Several local master-planned communities had strong sales in 2022 and placed near the top of a list for the largest residential developments in the country, according to a list maintained by RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. Lakewood Ranch, located in Manatee and Sarasota counties, placed second behind only central Florida’s The Villages with 1,846 total sales in 2022. That was a decline from 2021, when the more than 33,000-acre development posted 2,574 sales. Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. is the developer of Lakewood Ranch. The Villages, which has held the top spot for several years, sold 3,932 homes in 2022, down from 4,004 in 2021. However, RCLCO notes that rising interest rates and affordability issues “had a significant impact on visitor traffic and new sales,” leading to a 20% decline in sales among the top 50 master-planned communities in the United States.

Babcock Ranch, developed southwest of Punta Gorda by Kitson and Partners, recorded 934 sales in 2022, compared to 714 in 2021. It was only one of 12 communities that had more sales in 2022 than in 2021. This year it ranked as the fifth-fastest selling community in the nation. Wellen Park, a master-planned community in south Sarasota County developed by Wellen Park LLP, reported 722 sales in 2022, down by 24% from the community’s 2021 total of 951 sales. Florida master-planned communities dominated the top 10 with four of the top 5 spots and six of the top 10. Despite the slower sales pace, RCLCO noted optimism in long-term demand from master-planned community developers. “Many community developers continue to express confidence in the long-term demand for single-family homes, despite near-term headwinds,” the report said. “Most believe that a significant difference in outcomes can be expected for master-planned communities, as compared to the broader housing market.” Although, there is optimism from master-planned communities, some have reported builders adapting strategies. “To some degree, our builders have revisited some of their product lines to introduce or accelerate smaller, attached homes at more affordable price points,” said Laura Cole, senior vice president at Lakewood Ranch. “A majority of our builders are also offering incentives, mostly on closing costs.” Please click here for more: Top Housing Developments

INSURANCE REFORM TO TAKE TIME

Florida lawmakers recently made changes that will hopefully provide “much needed relief” in the troubled property-insurance system, but effects of the legislation won’t be immediate, the AM Best financial-rating agency said in a new report. The report pointed to parts of the new law designed to curb litigation, which insurers have long blamed for driving up costs. But it also cited underlying issues in the system, such as national insurance companies being leery of doing business in the state and Florida carriers being heavily dependent on reinsurance. Reinsurance, which is critical backup coverage, has become more expensive and difficult for Florida insurers to buy — with costs passed along to homeowners. The law approved during a special session recently included steps such as providing $1 billion for a temporary program to help insurers get reinsurance coverage. “The five largest national homeowners insurers account for over 50% of the U.S. market outside of Florida, but just 15% of the market in Florida, demonstrating just how dire the situation is,” Sridhar Manyem, senior director, industry research and analytics for AM Best, said recently in a prepared statement accompanying the report. “The legal environment and reinsurance market are two significant issues addressed by the special session that may ultimately make the market more attractive, but the effectiveness of reform will require time.” The law made a series of changes to try to reduce litigation costs. Those changes included eliminating what are known as “one-way attorney fees,” which have required insurers to pay the attorney fees of policyholders who successfully file lawsuits. Also, the law eliminated the long-controversial practice of assignment of benefits for property-insurance claims. Assignment of benefits involves policyholders signing over claims to contractors, who then pursue payment from insurers. Insurers contend the practice has led to increased lawsuits. The AM Best report said that if “these measures prove effective, they could significantly lower insurers’ defense and cost containment expenses.” It also said the changes “will bring about much needed relief, but such relief is unlikely to be immediate.” Among other things, the report said the law is likely to draw court challenges. “Until the courts rule, national writers may still be wary of the environment in Florida,” the report said. Please click on the link, courtesy of WUFT, for more: Insurance Reform To Take Time

CITIZENS POLICY COUNT UP

With private insurers dropping customers and raising rates, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. saw its number of policies increase about 50% in 2022. Citizens had 1,145,178 policies as of Dec. 30, up from 759,305 at the end of 2021, according to numbers posted recently on the Citizens website. Citizens also added about 19,000 policies in December. Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort and is something of a measuring stick for the health of the private insurance market. Citizens had 542,739 policies at the end of 2020 — meaning its policy count has more than doubled over the past two years. During a special legislative session last month, lawmakers passed wide-ranging insurance changes that included trying to reduce litigation and help steer policies out of Citizens into the private market. Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway has long blamed heavy litigation for many of the industry’s problems. “This is historic legislation,” Gilway said last week on The Florida Insurance Roundup podcast hosted by insurance lobbyist Lisa Miller. “It’s going to have a huge impact on this marketplace going forward.” Gilway, who announced after the special session that he plans to retire, said he thinks the legislation will help draw new companies into the market, as they will not be stuck with past losses and will be able to charge actuarially sound rates. He expressed confidence that companies will take policies out of Citizens — though that might not come until late 2023 after the threat of hurricane damage subsides. “We’re getting calls from investors saying, ‘Hey, is now the time to come in and provide capacity in this overall marketplace?” Gilway said on the podcast. “And, of course, our attitude is yes. I would expect a significant … attempted depopulation (of Citizens) in the November-December ‘23 time frame. I think that’s probably when we’re going to see the biggest impact of more capacity entering the market. But it’s unlikely they would do it before that simply because they’re not going to come in before the storm season.” State leaders have long sought to keep policies out of Citizens, at least in part because of the risk that policyholders across the state could get hit with extra costs — known as assessments — if Citizens can’t pay all of its claims after a hurricane or multiple hurricanes. Along with trying to reduce litigation and taking steps to help insurers obtain critical reinsurance, lawmakers also made changes specifically geared toward Citizens. There’s more on this story here, courtesy of law.com: Citizens Policy Count Up

SRQ AIRPORT HAS RECORD-BREAKING YEAR

The Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport finished 2022 with a record-breaking annual passenger total and a record-setting December. Airport officials said 3,847,606 total passengers traveled through SRQ last year— an increase of more than 21% in travelers compared with the 3,163,543 visitors who passed through the airport in 2021. Airport CEO Rick Piccolo said December alone brought in the highest monthly number of passengers in the airport’s history. A total of 377,775 passengers traveled through the Sarasota Bradenton in December 2022 compared to the 347,268 passengers that visited in December 2021. Piccolo expects the airport to continue its growth trend with record-breaking passenger numbers each month for the foreseeable future. Despite having 204 flight cancellations in December, partially due to the winter storm that affected a wide swath of the U.S., “more passengers traveled through SRQ last month than any December in the history of the airport. The airport also shattered last year’s record of 3.1 million passengers by nearly 700,000 with over 3.8 million passengers using SRQ in 2022,” Piccolo said in a news release. With its growth over the past five years — despite a sharp downtown after COVID-19 hit in 2020 — the airport has seen its passenger traffic triple from just under 1.2 million passengers. The airport is expanding with additional gates, concessions, parking, and other amenities to meet the increased demand, Piccolo noted. Piccolo said, “We look forward to serving you in 2023 as we continue to grow beyond the 56 nonstop destinations currently offered by the 11 airlines serving our airport.” SRQ will be adding new destinations in 2023, including Raleigh-Durham via Avelo Airlines and Buffalo, Minneapolis, and Providence via Southwest Airlines. The airport will add return routes from Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C., via Southwest beginning March 11. Click here for more: SRQ Record-Breaking Year

WARM MINERAL SPRINGS PLAN OPPOSITION

North Port residents continued to oppose the city’s plan to partner with a business to develop Warm Mineral Springs and support reopening the water body to public access as soon as possible at a recent workshop. The public outcry at the workshop – which had been scheduled to discuss the city’s development code, including growth plan changes needed to allow such a partnership – comes on the heels of several public protest rallies against the springs’ development. The most recent rally, on Jan. 6, included an appearance by City Manager Jerome Fletcher, who attempted to explain the city’s interest in developing the 61.4-acre site surrounding the 21.6-acre historic area that includes the springs itself. Access to the springs, which is believed by many users to have healing properties, has been closed since Sept. 27 – the day before Hurricane Ian made landfall on Cayo Costa in Lee County. Last summer, after bids to restore three historic buildings at the springs came in more than double the $9.4 million the city had budgeted, the City Commission decided to solicit a private partner to help with the task, in exchange for the right to develop the parkland not immediately earmarked for historic preservation. While those negotiations will take months, North Port is bringing in temporary bathroom facilities and hiring staff to reopen Warm Mineral Springs to the public. Fletcher said the hope is to have it reopened around spring break.

David Iannotti, one of the organizers of the protests, said that the recent public feedback should clearly illustrate “that this is not the right place to do this type of development. “I hear lots of generalizations about why it’s OK to do – a lot of them financial – and I find that very hard to stomach when we still, as a city, don’t even collect proper impact fees for our residential building, but yet we’re going to use this property as a means for financial gain,” added Iannotti, who was elected to the commission in 2021 but stepped down days after being sworn in because of health concerns. Please click here for more: Warm Mineral Springs Opposition

VOLATILE MARKET HITS FPL CUSTOMERS

Over the decades, the Sunshine State’s largest electric utility has moved away from using coal and oil to fuel its power plants. Florida Power & Light has touted the changeover, noting it is no longer in need of imported oil and that its power plants burn cleaner fuels. Yet as FPL relied more and more on natural gas, customers became less shielded from the whims of the fossil fuel market. While natural gas prices have been relatively stable for the better part of a decade, they have been on the rise since the summer of 2020. That exposure certainly played out this year, since utilities pass on the cost of fuel to their customers on their monthly bills. FPL is seeking to recoup about $2 billion in natural gas fuel costs it did not recover from customers in 2022 because of unpredictable market conditions. FPL uses several sources of energy to run its power plants, including natural gas, nuclear, solar and still some coal. Since the early 1990s, there has been a concerted effort by the utility to shift toward natural gas to fuel its power plants since these types of electricity-generating facilities are more efficient. FPL traded in its oil-fired power plants with the distinguished candy cane-striped smokestacks for natural gas-burning “clean energy centers.” The majority of FPL’s energy source has been natural gas for at least two decades. Natural gas as a fuel source has grown from 34.8% in 2003 to 72.6% in 2021, according to documents the utility filed with state regulators. The share of natural gas in the utility’s fuel mix reached a high of 74.7% in 2020. Costs in the U.S. natural gas market have jumped from $1.63 per MMBtu, the industry standard measurement, in June 2020 to a 14-year high this August of $8.81 per MMBtu, according to the Henry Hub spot price, which is a wholesale cost used as a U.S. market indicator. The cost has since slumped to $5.45 per MMBtu in November. As it stands, an FPL customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity will be charged $125.39 in January, thanks to one-month savings from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, and then $129.59 in February. A northwest Florida customer in the former Gulf Power region will be charged $155.60 in January and $159.81 in February. There’s more to read here, courtesy of The Palm Beach Post: Volatile Market Affects FPL

PINEY POINT WASTE PLAN MOVING FORWARD IN 2023

The amount of waste to be injected deep underground in Manatee County as a result of the environmental disaster at the former Piney Point fertilizer plant continues to grow as cleanup efforts are set to ramp up this year. Authorities are preparing to inject hundreds of millions of gallons of waste at the former Piney Point fertilizer processing plant deep underground once construction of a new injection well is completed in 2023, a major step in the ongoing effort to clean up the troubled facility. The cleanup also requires millions of gallons of bleach to treat polluted Piney Point waste water before it is injected underground just across the street from the site. Late last month, county commissioners also agreed to allow the company that produces that bleach in Palmetto, Allied New Technologies 2 Inc., to dispose of its waste in Manatee County. “We are preparing within hopefully six months to begin injecting (Piney Point waste), and we will be getting if not hundreds of thousands of gallons of bleach from Allied, maybe millions of gallons of bleach from Allied, to treat the Piney Point waste before it goes down the Piney Point well,” County Administrator Scott Hopes said at the November meeting. Manatee County already owns three operational Class I injection wells and is building its fourth to specifically dispose of waste from the Piney Point facility. The waste produced by Allied New Technologies, however, will instead be disposed at a separate injection well at Buffalo Creek, located in the outskirts of Palmetto at the county’s North Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The Buffalo Creek well was originally built to meet the needs of a future salt water treatment plant that will not be used for years, but the county modified it’s permit for the already constructed injection well earlier this year to make way for Allied’s waste as well. The wells are designed to federal standards, and are viewed by proponents as one of the safest options to dispose of certain types of waste. Their use will mark the first time waste created at Piney Point, or as part of its cleanup effort, is injected underground in Manatee County. There’s more on this story here: Piney Point Waste Disposal