- November 13, 2026
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A Baptist church in one of the most high-traffic areas of Main Street in downtown Sarasota is in expansion mode — the combination of an aging structure and a fast-growing congregation.
The cost estimate for the master plan for the project for the organization, First Sarasota Church, is $37 million. The first phase, already underway at the 4-acre campus at 1661 Main St., tucked between Orange and Osprey avenues, is projected at about $17 million. Currently surrounded by blue construction fencing, initial components of the project include everything from a new steeple to interior renovations to a public park are planned.
The project is coming together after about five years of planning, according to Senior Associate Pastor Keith McBroom.
“Our buildings were long overdue to be refreshed and renovated,” McBroom says. “We were not ADA compliant, but now we will be. We didn't have a fire suppression system. We will now. There were so many things that we were not up to code on that we now will be as far as just safety and access.”
The church sanctuary along Main Street was completed in 1963 and renovated over 20 years ago.
“We're literally replacing everything from the steeple to the plumbing,” McBroom says. The steeple is being sent off for repairs after it was damaged in Hurricane Milton, while the sanctuary and an adjacent three-story building are poised for complete interior overhauls.
Since January, the sanctuary has been closed to prepare for construction, McBroom says. It is undergoing asbestos abatement and will soon be gutted, he adds in a November interview.
In the meantime, the congregation has been meeting in the Family Life Center, which McBroom says has been unifying for members.
“They are enjoying being closer together because the room is smaller,” he says. “The services are much closer together time-wise, and so they see one another going and coming…It's brought our church together in a lot of ways.”
Next to the sanctuary on Main Street, construction fencing cordons off an area where a public park will be created.
“We demolished an old gas station, dry cleaner and some retail space [there] back in the spring,” McBroom says. “That will be a grass park that will just remain green space right there on Main Street.”
Naples-based DeAngelis Diamond is the general contractor, while Lakewood Ranch firm Lawson Group Architects is overseeing the design.
As part of the first phase of First Sarasota’s master plan, the interior of the sanctuary and an adjacent three-story educational building will be completely redone, while externally they will appear the same.
In the sanctuary, everything from the electrical to plumbing to air-conditioning systems will be replaced, while a new elevator will be installed and restrooms are being expanded, according to Don Lawson, whose company is the architect. His firm also worked on the church’s last renovation project around 1999, and he has been a parishioner there for decades.
“I told them 27 years ago the electrical system was outdated,” says Lawson. “The equipment deserves to be in a museum."
In addition to getting updated utilities and improved accessibility, the seating arrangements are going to change dramatically in the sanctuary, according to Lawson. In place of pews will be theater seating featuring “soft chairs” that can recline comfortably, he says.
Lawson, whose firm has been the architect for nearly 500 churches, says one feature that will set First Sarasota apart will be its use of technology. A 16-foot-tall, 40-foot-long video screen will be installed in the sanctuary that can showcase interactive messages behind the pastor.
“I don't know anywhere else where we'll have an indoor video wall of this size and magnitude with the capabilities that we're going to have,” Lawson says. “We're just making it a more beautiful building that is way ahead from a technology standpoint than anything anybody in this community has seen.” The acoustics will also be improved, he adds.
The interior of the three-story educational building behind the church will be totally redone too. “We're taking all those old, outdated classrooms and creating three stories of just wonderful meeting spaces and bathrooms and lounges,” says Lawson.
Once the sanctuary and educational building renovations are finished, contractors will create a public park on Main Street where the retail space used to be. Until then, that currently vacant area will be used for staging and construction trailers, Lawson says.
When it is complete, the park will contain green space as well as a "little stage and amphitheater" with room for 750 to 1,000 people, according to Lawson.
Lawson says he was impressed with the church's generosity to donate the site for the park. “I thought that was an incredible gesture because the value of that piece of dirt is many, many millions of dollars,” Lawson says. “The church said, ‘We need a park. The downtown Main Street needs a place between 301 and 41 that is green, and so that’s what we’re doing.’ And the church is maintaining it.”
Construction on the first phase of the master plan — including sanctuary and education building renovations and creation of the public park — is expected to begin in November and take 12 to 14 months, according to Lawson.
The next phase includes a welcome center with a coffee bar. It will also call for connecting the historic chapel that was built in 1924 with the rest of the campus, Lawson says.
Handling the master plan in phases enables the church to raise funds for each piece separately.
The greatest challenge in working on church projects, in general, is that “their ministry needs and aspirations exceed their ability to pay for it,” Lawson says. “It doesn’t make any difference whether the church has 30 seats in their sanctuary or whether it has 3,000 — it’s always the same. So we’re always working to find that place of equilibrium.”
So far, the First Sarasota congregation has pledged $10.4 million toward the $17 million first phase and contributed $7.7 million, McBroom says. He notes that the project overall is designed to ensure the church is around for generations, for everyone.
“The overarching reason for doing this is … to extend the life and the scope of First Baptist Sarasota's reach in the community,” McBroom says. “Downtown is growing, and we want to be part of that."
