Lack of convention space — again — concerns business leaders

The lack of a large, or even mid-size, branded convention center and meeting space in downtown Sarasota — long an issue for business and civic leaders — is inching closer to an inflection point.  

The crux of the issue: the new owners of the Hyatt Regency, at 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, plan to demolish the hotel and rebuild it into a Hyatt-branded Thompson Hotel. A timeline for that project, originally set for summer 2024, isn’t definitive. But whenever the Hyatt goes, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom that can seat some 750 people will go with it.