Developer readies a rarity: A new Longboat Key commercial plaza

The project will provide over 14,000 square feet of commercial space among six spaces in a prime mid-Key location along Gulf of Mexico Drive.

By Carter Weinhofer
| 5:00 a.m. September 11, 2024
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

A rendering shows the Brista Homes office and Couch space in the Brista Commons plaza.

Manatee-Sarasota

After three years of obstacles, Mark Ursini is getting ready to break ground on the Brista Commons commercial development project on Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Brista Commons will bring over 14,000 square feet of new commercial space to Longboat Key and fill the vacant plot around the 3100 block of GMD, at its intersection with Buttonwood Drive. Ursini has more than half of the space leased and hopes that the other leases will be finalized once the project breaks ground. He declines to disclose the specific investment in the project, only to say it's a "multimillion-dollar development."

This new commercial plaza will join a limited list of similar spaces on Longboat Key, including Whitney Plaza, The Centre Shops of Longboat Key and the Shoppes of Bay Isles.