Meshad's JWM Management proposing 10-story hotel

A developer has submitted plans to build a 10-story hotel and apartment tower at one of downtown Sarasota's most visible corners.

Preliminary plans for the project, named “One Palm,” at the corner of Palm Avenue and Ringling Boulevard, describe hotel and apartment units surrounding a central courtyard.

The project is slated for an acre of vacant land at the southern corner of a 2.95-acre property at 240 S. Pineapple Ave. The vacant land on the propertyhas sat undeveloped since 1986, when earlier plans to develop a hotel on the site fell through. That project had called for a pair of office towers and a 250-room Radisson Hotel. Radisson withdrew when developer JBS Ltd. defaulted on a loan and could no longer afford to build the project.

In addition to the vacant tract, 240 S. Pineapple Ave. currently houses a parking lot and three existing buildings, including a two-story office building, an 11-story, 129-000-square-foot office tower and an eight-level parking garage, which will be tied into the hotel and apartment project.

JWM Management Inc., a Sarasota-based commercial development firm run by attorney and developer John Meshad, submitted preliminary plans to the city May 30. The floor plan shows a new tower on the vacant parcel with a hotel lobby and drop off facing Ringling Boulevard, and an apartment lobby facing Palm Avenue. The apartment units will overlook Palm Avenue.

Meshad could not be reached for comment.

The property last changed ownership in 2006 when Michigan-based real-estate firm Triton Inc. purchased it for $15 million. Triton's 111-unit luxury condo tower planned in 2006, also called “One Palm,” was never built.

“That was the site of [proposed condos] during that time when a lot of projects were proposed and many didn't get built,” says downtown commercial broker John Harshman.

Harshman says the location could be a good one for a mixed-use building with a hotel.

“When you go to a resort you want to be near the water, and Ringling and Pineapple is a pretty dynamic location,” Harshman says.

JWM Management Inc. will go before the city's planning board June 12 to seek three adjustments for the One Palm project.

Current plans submitted to the city show only a preliminary outline for the project and do not list the number of hotel rooms or apartment units.

JWM Management Inc. owns and manages more than 1 million square feet of commercial space in Sarasota and Atlanta. The company also developed the St. Regis hotel in Atlanta.
— reporting by Roger Drouin, correspondent