SARASOTA – Developer Civix LLC has proposed building a 150-room hotel at Main Street and U.S. 301, a lodging property that, if completed, will be the first downtown in nearly a decade.
But to do so, Civix would first have to swap the Sarasota County-owned parking lot at that corner with a nearby site now occupied by the Lawyers Professional Building, 2051 Main St.
Civix is working to acquire the 52-year-old Lawyers Professional site from a partnership led by real estate maven Michael Saunders. The developer would then raze the building and construct an 86-space parking lot.
Rod Connelly, Civix’s president, said he has “a signed letter of intent” to bring a boutique hotel managed by the Kimpton chain to the 20 N. Washington Blvd. site.
Kimpton operates the famous Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco, and the Epic, in Miami, along with lodging properties in Sedona and Scottsdale, Ariz.; Aspen, Colo.; and Santa Barbara and Vero Beach, Calif.