21-03-2025
Everything we know about the latest 18-story condo project proposed for downtown Sarasota
The Adagio, another towering residential project in Sarasota's growing portfolio, is in the development pipeline for downtown. Here's what we know about it:
The Adagio proposes 167 residential units and commercial space across two towers, the first stretching 18 stories and the second reaching nine stories. The development would also include 457 parking spaces dispersed throughout basement and lower-level parking areas.
The project's residences are proposed as a combination of market-rate and affordable units, with 100 market-rate condos proposed the first tower and 67 affordable apartments in the second. Local development consultant Joel Freedman and DT Sarasota Development LLC, whose listed owner is Michael Hoyt, are attached to the project.
The Adagio's proposed site lies at the intersection of Palm Avenue and Ringling Boulevard, just off the roundabout north of the Burns Court area. Its listed addresses of 1360 Ringling Blvd., 330 S. Pineapple Ave. and 301 and 303 S. Palm Ave. total 2.2 acres valued at $5.6 million, according to Sarasota County property records.
Developer DT Sarasota Development LLC cited the the Live Local Act, a state tax credit program aimed to incentivize affordable housing, to support the development at a pre-application conference with the city of Sarasota's Development Review Committee. The act requires local governments to designate multifamily projects that meet state affordable housing criteria — at least 40% of its residential units priced as attainable — as allowable uses in areas zoned for commercial, industrial or mixed-use purposes.
Attainable, in this case, is defined as 80% to 120% of the area median income — and the Adagio proposes attainable units at 120%. Sarasota County's area median household income is $77,705, according to county data.
Live Local also stipulates that local governments must allow the project to build up to the municipality's largest permissible density and up to the height of the tallest building within a mile of the proposed development. Nearby properties like The Westin and The Ritz-Carlton, each within a mile of the proposed Adagio, reach 18 stories.
The project's proposed density of around 74.5 units per acre renders it both eligible for and subject to the city's downtown density bonus program, which allocates additional height and density to projects that meet affordable housing requirements. The program will allow the Adagio to build 200 units per acre if the developer designates 15% of its bonus units as attainable housing — the local definition of which includes more criteria than the state level.
Sarasota's attainable housing guidelines require the developers to intersperse the affordable units among the market-rate units and for all units to share a common entrance, and the affordable units must be functionally indistinguishable from the market-rate units. The Adagio proposes its affordable units and market-rate units in two separate towers, so it will have to either adjust its site plan in a formal application to meet these local requirements or reduce its density so they're no longer held to those standards.
The Adagio would add another figure to Sarasota's growing skyline, with buildings like Westin and The Ritz-Carlton already to the top of the city's height parameters and future projects like The Obsidian looking to match. More downtown development has proven a daunting prospect for some local residents like Dean Scarborough, who lives at the Sansara Condominium development on Pineapple Avenue.
Scarborough told the Sarasota City Commission the Adagio's height could damage property values of smaller surrounding developments like his, and he's concerned that Live Local's height and density benefits will serve the developer without requiring enough attainable housing in return.
'The city's zoning integrity is breached,' Scarborough said during public comment at a March 3 meeting. 'Many of us bought condos in this area with the understanding that 10 stories was the maximum allowable height.
Others, however, are encouraged by the Adagio's possible contribution to downtown's vibrancy and growth. Denise Kowal has owned the Historic Burns Square Boutique Hotel, now Burns Square Historic Vacation Rentals, since 1986. The building at 531 S. Pineapple Ave. is about a quarter of a mile from the proposed Adagio, meaning Kowal would be the project's close neighbor if it's approved.
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Kowal said she welcomes a compact structure like the Adagio as an alternative to urban sprawl. As the Burns Court area and Sarasota at large continue to grow, Kowal said she's hopeful that residences in the heart of downtown will mitigate surrounding traffic help bolster the city's character.
'Downtown, I believe, should be a place that people live and work and do cultural experiences,' Kowal said. 'Having more people living downtown is going to make it more vibrant, and that's what we all want.'
Contact Herald-Tribune Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@ Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: What we know about the high-rise condo project proposed for Sarasota
