Mercato success spawns project

The co-developer of the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota and the upscale, golf-centered Concession community in east Manatee County has proposed a $200 million collection of upscale condominiums, retail and entertainment space and offices on a 31-acre tract near Sarasota Square Mall.

Developer Kevin Daves tells Coffee Talk the project, Cassia Cay, represents a “logical” progression for Sarasota County, and that the area is “extremely underserved” in regard to retail space and restaurants. Extremely underserved in retail and restaurants is also the calling card used by developers behind the most recent large-scale retail development in the market, the $315 million Mall at University Town Center.

Cassia Cay will be patterned after the successful Mercato lifestyle center in Naples, Daves says. Prudential Real Estate Investors bought that prominent upscale development earlier this year for $240 million.