Clearcutting in Downtown Sarasota?

More "progress" on Main Street. To make room for the new mixed use condo building at 1350 Main, it was apparently expedient to remove 3 beautiful black olives that stood in the way. The trees were simply cut down and hauled away.

In their place we are promised an urban setting complete with an arcade that will stretch from the building front to almost the curb. No more room for trees and vegetation. We are saddened by the loss.

But the die has been cast - our new downtown code gives incentives to developers that will include an arcade in their design. There will be no room for trees on an arcade covered sidewalk.

We will also give the developer the public space above the arcade: a 12' width space, the length of the building frontage and 3 stories in height. This giveaway equates to 3600 sq ft of space for every 100 ft of building frontage - the equivalent of two nice size condo units. In today's market this is worth well over $1M, or $10,000 per lineal frontage foot on Main Street. That's a nice incentive for the developer.

The trees? They are gone.