Pair of luxury condo towers to replace 1950s buildings in Sarasota

Since the late 1940s, the Pier 550 condominiums in Sarasota, on the east side of Golden Gate, have embodied the mid-century emergence of the city. Now in the shadows of towering luxury residential buildings, the collection of two-story buildings will be razed to make way for more of the same.

In its place will be Amara, a two-tower, 54-unit project, which on Jan. 8 received unanimous approval from the Sarasota Planning Board. The eight-story buildings will replace Pier 550, a collection of 51 low-rise condominiums built between 1948 and 1953 along a 2.26-acre stretch on Golden Gate Point.

Naples-based Ronto Group completed the acquisition of the properties in May, and their prior owners vacated by September. The site is now surrounded by a construction fence and demolition has begun.