The Rosemary District

By: Anita Lambert, GRI, CWS, PMN, C2EX, Certified International

RASM GBC Chair

You may well ask: “Which is Sarasota’s hippest downtown neighborhood?” Why the eclectic Rosemary District, of course!

In the early 1890s, several African American families settled in an area that was called ‘Overtown,’ and today it is known as the Rosemary District, which features all kinds of boutique enterprises, including retail/commercial, community social services, the Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences, plus apartments and residential condominiums. The district dates back to 1885 and used to be home to warehouses and industrial enterprises. It is located between Tenth Street to Fruitville Road (north to south) and Cocoanut Avenue to Orange Avenue (west to east).

While Gillespie Park is the single-family home community just east of the Rosemary District, the Rosemary District features condominiums and hip new apartments. Condos can go from $500,000 to $3M, with the ‘hot spot’ going from $500,000 to $1.5M. There are very few available for less than $500,000, and plenty more are available in the $1.5M+ range.

Several locally designed, award-winning European architecture and new construction boutique development projects are also available, such as Villa Ballada, which means “House of Harmony” (translated from the Czech language) at 430 Kumquat Ct, featuring one-level condos priced from $840,000 to $2M.

In addition, a recently sold-out contemporary, new construction project is Zahrada 2 (which translates from ‘gardens’ in the Czech language). Today, this eclectic and walkable community is only one block away from Whole Foods Market and 4 blocks to the new 53-acre The Bay Sarasota park, and it now features many culinary delights such as Spice Station, Mandeville Beer Garden, Artisan Cheese Company, the Rosemary & Thyme restaurant and café featuring its outdoor Mediterranean courtyard as well as numerous sidewalk cafes. Experience the best of Sarasota’s coastal, outdoor lifestyle of the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center and other live music venues, art galleries, contemporary furniture stores, dance and fitness studios. You can also enjoy the district’s most recent hip new hotel addition, the Sarasota Modern, with its dreamy pool and bar entertainment venue, as well as the vibrant, everchanging Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, barely north of 10th St.

For more information, check out: www. rosemarydistrictassociation.org , or reach out to longtime Sarasota and Rosemary District residents, Frank Lambert or Anita Lambert, Global Real Estate Advisors, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, 941-920-1500. •