Palms look promising for bank

A downtown Sarasota patch of grass once used for lunchtime food trucks is the latest sign the banking industry is hungry for a bigger piece of the economic recovery.

This one comes from Sabal Palm Bank. Bank president and CEO Neil McCurry recently announced the lender, with $125 million in assets through June, will be the anchor tenant of the four-story Sabal Palm Plaza. The 30,000-square-foot office complex, from prominent developer Dr. Mark Kauffman, will be built on the south side of Ringling Boulevard, just west of U.S. 301. The site has been deserted for a few years, but was once home to food trucks that sold cheeseburger sliders and fish tacos.

The building, the resurrection of a project sidelined in 2007 by the recession, will likely be ready for occupancy in fall 2017. But McCurry says the bank will leave its current facility, on Fruitville Road near Interstate 75, and move into temporary downtown offices by the end of the year.