Manatee County development officials will open a new annex in Ellenton to issue permits to contractors and builders. The move comes as developers turn attention to construction in the northeast part of the county. 

A ribbon-cutting will be held at 2pm on January 12 at the new annex, which opens to the public on January 17. “We’ve had overwhelming support from our customers that they now have an option to do business north of Manatee River,” says John Barnott, Building and Development Services director for Manatee County. “An informal poll showed that seven out of eight customers will prefer to use that building instead of coming downtown to do building and permitting business with the county.” Permitting services will still be available at the department’s main office in Bradenton, but county leaders in May decided there was ample need for the annex, which will be housed in a former Sheriff’s Office substation now renovated for its new use. 

Jon Mast, CEO for the Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association, says development interests for years have been buying and assembling major properties north of the river, particularly in the east part of the county. “If we talk globally, there are not enough new housing starts to meet the demand for purchasers, so as a developer gets permission to build on land, people are buying it,” Mast says. 

Over the past two years, more projects have been approved for northeast Manatee so a surge in permitting is not unexpected. Developers building include both locally headquartered builders such as Neal Communities and Medallion Homes and national firms like Taylor Morrison. “It’s a myriad of developers building there,” Mast says. Most of the permits being pulled now, he notes, are on projects approved by county commissioners a year ago or longer.  

The new facility will be located at 5030 US 301 and will operate 8am-4pm daily.