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Largo looking south for ideas

Sarasota's redevelopment efforts might be a blueprint for the city.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published January 21, 2007

If you want to learn about Largo's prospects for reviving its downtown, it might help to look at Sarasota.

That, at least, was why 15 city and business leaders from Largo got on a chartered bus last week for a trip south.

About 20 years ago, Sarasota's mostly commercial downtown core was stagnant. In some areas, there was little action after 5 p.m. In others, nothing was going on at all, day or night.

Despite efforts to redevelop the area, few developers wanted to build there, Sarasota City Manager Michael McNees said.

"It was as close to dead as a downtown could get," McNees said.

Today, Sarasota's downtown is bustling, with hundreds of additional homes, shops and offices and several more mixed-use, multistory complexes on the way.

On Thursday, Largo officials and business leaders toured downtown Sarasota to see whether they could apply elements of Sarasota's plan to Largo's West Bay Drive redevelopment area.

They can, they said.

In recent years, the West Bay Drive district of about 300 acres has seen a couple of successes.

Hyde Park Builders built West Bay Village, a 54-townhome and retail project and the BayStar Hotel Group's Hampton Inn & Suites.

Both were spurred by city involvement that included giving developers big discounts on city-owned land.

But since then, no major developer has stepped in to bring Largo's downtown to the next level, City Manager Steve Stanton said.

Over the years, the city spent more than $1-million on about 20 properties on or near West Bay Drive, hoping to market chunks of property to private developers.

And the city is looking into spending an additional $2-million to buy property in the 500 block of West Bay Drive.

"I suspect the downtown community isn't ready for redevelopment yet," said Stanton, who manages the city of about 75,000 residents. "That's why the city is stepping up like Sarasota did, saying we will be the master developer."

A jumping-off point

Though smaller in population than Largo, Sarasota - even 20 years ago - benefited from its glittering beaches and top-shelf cultural attractions:

- John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

- Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

- Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

- Asolo Center for Performing Arts.

Still, Sarasota officials said, downtown didn't quite click. Like Largo, it lacked downtown residents and amenities to attract them.

After several unsuccessful attempts to rejuvenate the area, Sarasota leaders hired Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. in early 2000.

The urban planning firm created a long-term master plan for redevelopment, with a goal of creating a pedestrian-friendly downtown where people could work, shop and play.

"We started to get huge redevelopment interest because people knew we had a plan," said McNees, who manages the city of about 55,000 people.

Just like Largo, the city pumped millions of dollars into streetscape improvements and incentives to businesses and developers.

In one of its first orders of business, Sarasota followed the advice of urban planner Andres Duany, who urged officials to help develop a grocery store downtown.

The city enticed Casto-Zenith Ventures LLC to build a two-building project with 95 condominiums, shops and a 36,000-square-foot organic foods grocery called Whole Foods Market.

In exchange, the city provided a portion of the land and about $3.3-million to build 300 public parking spaces in the complex's nearly 600-space parking garage.

McNees said the Whole Foods project became a catalyst for downtown revitalization, because it told other developers that it was safe to invest there.

The city also offered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of incentives when the Sarasota Herald-Tribune moved its newspaper and other operations to its new, $27-million headquarters on Main Street last year.

A handful of multiuse projects followed, and more are on the way, many of which have no financial support from the city, McNees said.

Largo's city manager said Sarasota's downtown growth stemmed from a key realization.

"They made a conscious commitment as a community to say, 'We want to be a city,' " Stanton said.

Limits to change

On Thursday, as Largo leaders passed a yellow 11-story stucco and stone building at First Street and Central Avenue, a few of them "Oohed" and "Aahed."

"I could see this in downtown Largo," Commissioner Rodney Woods said of the building known as One Hundred Central, across from Whole Foods Market.

Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier and Commissioner Gay Gentry likewise said they could envision such a structure at West Bay Drive and Clearwater-Largo Road, occupied right now by a shuttered Eckerd drugstore.

But Gentry said she didn't want to see "walls of 10-story buildings" lining both sides of the road.

City and business leaders also got a glimpse of several multistory condo and retail projects that are taller than what Largo city leaders were proposing and what Sarasota's current code allows.

That's because Sarasota recently reduced to 10 stories the maximum allowed height of projects in the downtown core. It had been 18 stories.

Largo, which also wants to cap heights at 10 stories, is moving in the opposite direction. It's revamping its redevelopment plan to allow taller buildings than the one- and two-story shops and homes that dominate the district.

Community development director Mike Staffopoulos said he has applied elements of Sarasota's plan to Largo's.

For example, he said, he divided the West Bay area into various character districts, suited for residential, institutional, mixed-use development or entertainment.

And like Sarasota's plan, Largo's would include requirements that limit the number of stories near the road and allow for taller development farther back.

Staffopoulos said it may take at least a year to revamp the plan and get city, county and state approvals.

The most challenging issue, he said, will be projecting long-term traffic impacts and coming up with strategies to deal with them.

Stanton said he hasn't ruled out hiring a consultant to help update the plan. But he emphasized that blocks to development have little to do with the plan itself.

"Our problem isn't the plan," Stanton said. "Our problem is community will."

One reason the city formed a partnership with the Largo/Mid-Pinellas Chamber of Commerce is to help get businesses and property owners on board, he said.

A half dozen chamber leaders, including president Tom Morrissette, joined city officials on the Sarasota trip.

In recent months, some residents and property owners have come to city meetings to say that Largo shouldn't mess with the city's small-town ambience.

But Stanton said Largo can learn from Sarasota without losing its identity.

"Largo will never be a Sarasota," he said. "Largo is always going to be a family-oriented community."

Lorri Helfand can be reached at 727 445-4155 or lorri@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 00:14:55]