Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk

A chance for 'affordable housing,' but will they take it?

Sarasota just wants to give its land away, but no one seems able to take it. Since 2000, the city has been trying to give a qualified developer a 2.25-acre parking lot the city owns on Palm Avenue, with a market value of more than $3 million, in exchange for getting a few hundred public parking spots out of the deal. Two previous deals have fallen apart because the developers selected have failed to meet expectations.