Golden shovels finally turned over dirt at the site of the once and future Quay on Wednesday. City leaders and officials from GreenPointe Communities gathered on a long vacant piece of land on the Tamiami Trail for the groundbreaking of a $1-billion mixed-use project that could provide important connectivity between Sarasota’s Bayfront and Downtown. “This couldn’t have been in a better place,” GreenPointe Communities President Grady Miars told SRQ at the event.

It’s been a long road for the Quay Sarasota Waterfront District. Plans for a major hotel and commercial project at the site won Sarasota City Commission approval in 2007, and a memorable pyramid structure on the site got leveled to make way for the new development, but financial disputes at the peak of the Great Recession led to those plans’ demise. GreenPointe in 2014 announced its own plans to buy the site, then got their own plan approved in 2016. The company ultimately plans to build six structures, and will also leave in place the historic Belle Haven hotel. “I’ve watched this project unfold and I've been really excited about it,” says Mayor Liz Alpert. 

Even at the groundbreaking, some officials remain reticent about the new project. Commissioner Jennifer Ahearn-Koch shrugged at the project kicking off despite outcry two years ago at the potential for new traffic detrimentally affecting the community. “It is what it is,” she says. “The good part is the public process. The planning part will be vetted.” She notes that every phase of the project moving forward will need a sign-off by Sarasota’s Planning Board, a special stipulation put on the massive project. Miars says he’s happy to have that requirement in place. “We concentrate on placemaking,” he says, noting GreenPointe’s history with master-planned communities.

Already, Sarasota is looking for ways to bring in the community as the project moves forward. GreenPointe will work with engineering and architecture students at Booker High School, and officials from the Sarasota County School District took the stage at the groundbreaking on Wednesday. Martha Jane Flynn, who leads the robotics and engineering programs for Sarasota County schools, brought to the groundbreaking Antonio Hanamean, a sophomore Booker High student studying architecture and who will be among the students participating in the planning, design and construction of the Quay. “I told him he has no idea how cool it will be 10 years from now when he drives by this and can say 'I’m part of this,' ” she says.

Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie, who helped bring together the schools and the developer, says the prospect of educational outreach was among the best parts of the project. “Early on we asked, how can we use this project as an opportunity to keep the best and brightest in the city,” she says.

Miars says the complete buildout of the Quay will take years.  The company has a five- to seven-year timeline in mind, but notes market and economic conditions could affect that.