Downtown Sarasota is the urban center of Florida’s 5th largest metropolitan area. Despite being one half the size of metropolitan Jacksonville, Sarasota’s core faces many challenges that downtown Jacksonville does. For starters, Sarasota is no longer the largest city in the metropolitan area. That honor now goes to North Port, a sprawling Nocatee on steriods that is now home to 60,380 residents, after having less than 12,000 residents in 1990. Then there’s the Mall at University Town Center (UTC). The first regional enclosed mall to open in Florida in years, Sarasota’s version of Jacksonville’s St. Johns Town Center includes a Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Dillards as anchors to its more than 100 specialty shops and restaurants. While Jacksonville ponders the future of its struggling convention center, Sarasota doesn’t even have one.
Despite these challenges, downtown Sarasota is rapidly becoming one of Florida’s most desired central business districts. Currently, there are more than 33 development projects underway in Sarasota’s core. This number includes over 2,800 residential units, 1,154 hotel rooms and 370,000 square feet of commercial space.