- October 14, 2026
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A Naples developer is making a significant shift in strategy with a downtown Sarasota project: it is moving on from what was planned as a mix of 178 market-rate condos and attainable-priced rentals to a 169-unit independent living complex.
The project, from Lutgert Cos., has a few other tweaks, too. The name is now Lumora, a blended word generally associated with “new beginnings." Gone is the former name, Adagio. Gone, too, is the project's Live Local Act status.
And, notably, rather than supporting two towers — one 18 stories, one 10 stories — the new version is all in one 10-story tower. Also, rather than 113 market-rate condos and 76 attainable-priced rental units, Lumora will offer 169 condos and 9 attainable units, utilizing the city’s affordable housing bonus density program.
The changes to the project went before the city of Sarasota’s Development Review Committee at an Oct. 7 meeting. With much of the technical site matters already resolved under the prior filing, Lumora received partial sign-off of the DRC.
The decrease in height — taking out the 18-story tower part — will likely come as some relief to neighbors of the project at the roundabout at South Palm Avenue and Ringling Boulevard bordering historic Burns Court, that location surrounded by buildings topping out at 10 stories. (As a Live Local development, Adagio would have had the latitude to exceed the 10-story and density limits in the Downtown Core zone district and bypass most local approvement control.)
But Mike Hoyt, chief operating officer of developer Lutgert Cos. of Naples, hinted the change is not the result of a combination of condo market shifts nor any complexities of a Live Local project.
“We were really happy with the direction of (Adagio). It still met our original thesis to go that direction. It just so happened that folks in the independent living space came along and started talking to us about it,” Hoyt told the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer. “We did a little bit of study on it and said we think we can make this work. We thought Adagio is great, and this might even be better.”
According to documents submitted to the city, Lumora will offer two- and three-bedroom condos averaging 2,385 square feet. The attainable units include five one-bedroom units averaging 900 square feet and four two-bedroom units averaging 1,185 square feet.
The commercial space is proposed to include a fine-dining restaurant, coffee bistro, medical offices, office space for nearby Church of the Redeemer — previous owner of a portion of the property — and general retail.
In addition, independent living developments in Sarasota's urban core are on the rise, both literally and figuratively. Under construction just a few blocks away from Lumora in Burns Court is The Reserve Sarasota at 307 S. Orange Ave., where developer NexCore Group is building a seven-story, 161-unit senior living rental apartment building with levels of care including independent living, assisted living and memory care.
And just off the Ringling Causeway on Coon Key, an expansion of the venerable Plymouth Harbor will soon be underway, adding 153 new independent living apartments plus additional amenities. Plymouth Harbor also offers the full range of elder care levels.
Lumora’s units are for sale — the nine affordable apartments will be for rent — and Hoyt says he expects the ownership demographics to be similar to what was anticipated for Adagio.
“It will be high-end folks with this type of product, although the age group will skew a little higher,” Hoyt says. “When you get to this type of product, the level of it will attract people who are maybe just before your average independent living customer because it will (be) fully amenitized. It will compete with the amenities that we were planning for Adagio, maybe even better because it will have more services baked into the program.”
The building itself will occupy the same footprint as Adagio. Rather than supporting the two towers, though, the four-story podium will envelop three levels of parking behind 32,740 square feet of street-level commercial and retail space. The fourth floor will include the amenity deck beneath six floors of residential.
“We're still respecting a lot of the elements in the podium that we originally had, which were retail on the primary retail areas and also residential liner units (to conceal parking) on the second and third floor, as well as an amenity deck on the fourth floor,” Kemal Muskara of the Miami architecture firm Kobi Karp told the DRC panel.
Design remains in the early stages because of the transition, but Muskara said the top floor will include a collection of “minimal amenities.”
A version of this article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.
