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MARCH 2017 941.349.0194 | ISLAND VISITOR PUBLISHING, LLC
www.THELANDINGSOFSARASOTA.com
Benderson buys, plans to renovate Landings Shopping Center By Roger Drouin
THE GREATEST GENERATION
|Company will spruce up the center built in 1988; is in talks with new tenants to fill the voids
Told through the eyes of one veteran - Dr. Ray Doherty
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KID’S CORNER
Meet Brendan D’Silva,7, 2nd grader at Phillippi Shores IB World School
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The Landing Shopping Center has a new owner, and before next tourism season arrives, the plaza will have a refreshed look and some new tenants. Through a foreclosure auction Jan. 24, Benderson Development Co. — which owns and manages over 700 properties nationally and is headquartered in Lakewood Ranch — purchased the large center that has been plagued over the recent years by vacancies. The company plans to undertake a renovation estimated to be completed this summer, as well as improving landscaping. As these improvements start, Benderson also will work to fill empty storefronts in the center. The development firm expects to have the center re-tenanted by next winter, Todd Mathes, Director of Development at Benderson, told the Eagle. But the first order of business, Mathes said, included a walking tour of the property by Benderson representatives, as they check on what deferredmaintenance issues need to be addressed
as well as aspects to include in renovation work — since the foreclosure purchase was made without inspection. “We are walking the property, getting to know it,” Mathes said. Nearby residents, meanwhile, have voiced relief that the center, which
has been struggling to fill retail spaces over the past few years and went into foreclosure last year, will get some new life. “We are all thrilled,” said Bill Whitman, president of The Landings Homeowners Association, Inc. Continued on page 19
14 Siesta Promenade - Traffic studies and other
NANCY DETERT
Commissioner Nancy Detert addresses SKA members
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analyses should be completed by end of March
By Rachel Brown Hackney www.SarasotaNewsLeader.com With a consultant for Benderson Development getting traffic studies underway for the firm’s proposed Siesta Promenade project, questions remain about whether the Sarasota County Commission is following the appropriate steps in considering the mixed-use development for a Critical Area Plan (CAP). Asked in a Feb. 16 telephone interview about the analyses the county has requested, Todd Mathes, Benderson’s director of development, replied, “They’ve started. There’s a lot of data collection.”
Kimley-Horn and Associates of Sarasota is continuing to serve as the firm’s consultant in undertaking the studies, he confirmed. Mathes also acknowledged that he was too optimistic in late January with his hope that the firm’s application for a CAP designation for Siesta Promenade could reach the county’s Planning Commission before the end of March. After the County Commission’s Jan. 25 approval of staff’s recommendations for the scope of work for Siesta Promenade, Mathes talked of his hope that the application could undergo its first public hearing
during season. However, on Feb. 16, he said March no longer seemed realistic, adding that even “April is aggressive.” Mathes said the timeline largely will depend on county staff, as it must review the materials Benderson provides it and then determine whether more work is necessary. He added that it is impossible to predict how much “back-and-forth” will ensue. A Jan. 25 staff report to the commission indicated that the staff review would take 30 to 45 days. Continued on page 24