- October 10, 2026
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The builder of some of the lowest-priced housing in Sarasota is teaming up with the broker of some of its most expensive for 48 attainable apartments across School Avenue from Payne Park, just south of Main Street.
Sarasota-based One Stop Housing is partnering with Michael Saunders — the individual and not her eponymous real estate company — who owns the 0.875-acre site at 295 School Ave. All apartments are planned to be priced at 60% or below area median income, according to One Stop Housing Managing Partner Mark Vengroff. (Both Saunders, in 2019, and Vengroff, in 2026, have been named Business Observer Top Entrepreneurs. )
Named On The Park, the plan is to construct a five-story building with surface parking next to the David Weekly Homes-built Payne Park Village townhomes. It will include some 1,300 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, likely a cafe-style use.
Saunders says she sought Vengroff to develop the vacant parcel, which she has held since deciding to not build her company’s main office there. It instead occupies space at 1605 Main St.
“The situation with affordable housing has been so disturbing and so frustrating because our staff can't afford to live close enough to the office,” Saunders says. “I hate that they have long commute times, so I've been grousing about no affordable housing and speaking up about it at different meetings.”
Recognizing she holds a piece of property in a prime location she could otherwise have sold — she says had she listed it the price would have been $3.75 million — why not work with Vengroff and put her money where her mouth is?
“She told me I have this piece of land, and I'm not going to sell it to you, but I want to participate,” Vengroff says. “She said 'I wanted to contribute this land to give back into the community that I've been so grateful for helping me build my business.'”
Vengroff went to work to successfully request $4.2 million in Sarasota County Resilient SRQ funding and secured bank debt of $4.7 million to build the project. As a full vertical business model, Vengroff says One Stop Housing can build the project for 40% less cost than a traditional for-profit developer, or approximately $139,000 per door at a hard construction cost of just less than $6.7 million. That allows him to offer all the units at affordable housing rents.
One Stop Housing will manage the property, which will continue to provide at least 51% of the apartments at 60% area median income or less for at least 41 years. There are no price restrictions on the remaining units, but Vengroff says the intention is to price them low enough to accommodate law enforcement and other public employees who work nearby.
Setting an AMI ceiling, he says, often forces workers out of affordable housing when they receive a promotion and salary increase, but the income remains less than needed to move to higher-priced housing.
“We are working on a priority agreement with Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office,” Vengroff says, adding the agency struggles in recruiting because of a lack of convenient housing for employees. “They’re having a difficult time. They have dispatch nearby so we thought it was a wonderful way to create some housing opportunities to help them recruit and retain their talent.”
Like all other One Stop Housing projects, On The Park is intended to provide housing opportunities for service industry and public sector workers to reside until tenants can save enough to buy their own homes.
Although much of its inventory is comprised of former roadside motels converted into apartments, the company also builds new construction in Sarasota and Manatee counties as well as other states. It is currently developing Sarasota Station, a similar model to On The Park.
“Nobody's making any money on this. It's just a little cash flow, enough to support itself aside from putting the proper reserves away,” Vengroff says. "We’re trying to keep rents as low as possible.”
Affordable apartments are often relegated to lower-rent locations where land, a significant driver of development cost, is less expensive. The location of On The Park offers unique advantages for the financial model and the future residents.
The site is vacant and on grade, utilities are largely in place and the location is surrounded by the Payne Park Village townhomes to the south and market-rate Lyra Apartments to the east.
“We’re very excited about it,” Vengroff says. “Great rent, a lot of demand will be there right across from Payne Park. We'll have a restaurant or a cafe that we're going to be putting in and I've talked to a few of the restaurateurs in the area for that, which will be really nice for the residents, the neighbors next door and folks at Payne Park.”
The rare opportunity for a prime location paired with affordability, he says, is thanks to Saunders’ contribution of the land.
“This is the first time to have an entrepreneur or private business owner like Michael come to us,” Vengroff says. “I have had a number of organizations or municipalities that would approach us about land and trying to create housing opportunities, but this is a really wonderful thing that she started, where she's contributing the land to give back into the community.”
In partnering with One Stop Housing, Saunders says she hopes her involvement in On The Park sets an example for others who may hold surplus land in the city.
“I hope other business people step up,” Saunders says. “I want this to be something that could encourage others to take excess land they have and use it for affordable housing.”
She lamented that the process has taken two years to reach the stage of submitting to city staff, but delays were largely because of regulatory hurdles from the use of federal hurricane relief funds funneled through the county via the Resilient SRQ program.
Although the city’s affordable housing density bonus program is gradually adding to the city’s inventory, she says it's not happening quickly enough.
“I believe this is the answer to affordable housing, more so than putting six units in a branded Waldorf Astoria, or putting 15 units in whatever,” Saunders says. “I think designing a lovely community where the amenities will be suited to the people who are going to be living there, and that it's located near a bus line and all the things that people who have jobs need, as opposed to just tacking them into a for-sale building, is a better way.”
A version of this article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.
