- September 10, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
A Sarasota entrepreneur with a passion for cars is creating what he calls a “social club for the driven.”
And Scott Stevenson, the founder, isn't shy about pounding the gas pedal to get there with the project — which he estimates will cost $14 million to $15 million.
To wit: when it is built over the next year, Sarasota Motor Club, he says, will offer its members not just good company but also a place to store their luxury, exotic or collector vehicles; access to a fleet of high-end autos; and amenities like a racing simulator, event space, podcast studio, wine storage, restaurant and private dining room.
It’s a “fairly new model,” Stevenson says, noting there are car-based social clubs around the country in places like San Francisco, Philadelphia, West Palm Beach, Miami and Scottsdale, Arizona. He notes Sarasota is home to country clubs and yacht clubs — but not really a club for car enthusiasts like himself.
While Stevenson's specific model is fairly new, as are the luxury amenities he seeks to deliver, auto clubs with various models have been trending upward in the region for a few years. Naples has several and there a few in Tampa Bay, too, including The Motor Enclave, a $150 million, 200-acre project built in 2023 by entrepreneur Brad Oleshansky, who, like Stevenson, is a car guy. Oleshansky announced last year due to both projected demand and the success of the Tampa project, he would be building a luxury private garage community in Manatee County near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport on U.S. 41.
Financial services executive Jeremy Keller, meanwhile, has another take on the car club trend with Prestige Auto Experiences, which he recently opened in Lakewood Ranch. In an interview earlier this summer with the East County Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer, Keller said the Prestige model is more like a boat club approach offering tiered access to high-end vehicles.
Also in Lakewood Ranch, at the Luxe Dream Garage, David Slone has been building car condos for luxury car lovers looking for safe storage, a customizable space and community since 2022.
Even in different models, Keller, Oleshansky, Slone and Stevenson share one common theme: they are all into cars.
"I've always loved cars," Keller says. "I've had a passion for them. I loved the way they run, the way they work."
Sarasota Motor Club will be located in the city’s Gillespie Park neighborhood, which Stevenson notes is close to downtown and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
Construction for the club is starting this month, renovating a 25,000-square-foot building that used to house a manufacturing facility at 1060 Goodrich Ave. Through an LLC, Stevenson purchased the location for $5.8 million in November, according to Sarasota County property records. It was formerly the headquarters for drone maker Lumenier, which Stevenson says moved out July 31 and relocated to Palmetto.
Nearby, Stevenson also bought 1716 10th Way for $535,000 in April, Sarasota County property records show. He says he plans to use the site for additional parking and donated a house that had been there to Breakfast House owner Wendy Lee Goldberg for a restaurant.
The $15 million estimate is to ensure every part of the project is top-notch.
“We don't want to spare any expense,” Stevenson says, noting the car racks alone — the club will have a capacity to store about 100 vehicles — are $1.5 million. “We want to make sure that when the event space is done, it's a true first-class event space. We want the social club to be as nice as any other club in town. It may be a car club, but it's not a garage.”
Venice-based JE Charlotte Construction is building the project, while DSDG of Sarasota is the architect.
Inside, there will be 8,000 square feet of club space overall. An event space that can accommodate 80 to 150 people will span 4,500 to 5,000 square feet, Stevenson says.
The event space, Stevenson promises, will provide something Sarasota has never seen before.
“We’re building out the car storage area so it’s not warehouse space — it’s event space,” he says. “The [car] racks are around the outside. So the center will be event space…It's just that the decorations on the wall are the cars.”
The goal is to have the car storage completed by the end of 2026 and the social club built out by July 1, 2027.
“We already have several reservations for the fall of 2027 for the event space,” Stevenson says, including two corporate functions and a pre-wedding event. “We'll be able to do events not only for club members, but private events for non-members.”
In addition to the event space and car storage, the club will feature a mezzanine, wine storage area, private dining room, restaurant with full kitchen, podcast studio, board room, cigar lounge, golf and racing simulators and outdoor area.
Once it is built, the business is projected to have about 15 staff, including those working in the kitchen, maintaining vehicles and handling fleet access, Stevenson says. Linda Krysinski started as the club’s membership director on Sept. 1.
To join Sarasota Motor Club, members must pay a one-time fee of $25,000. (The early access rate is $20,000 until Nov. 1.)
There are four levels of membership, with monthly fees ranging from $500 for the “social experience” with access to the club space to $1,095 for the “collector experience,” which includes vehicle storage, battery tending, detailing, valet service, vehicle delivery and full vehicle care. There are also two additional tiers — “drive experience” from $2,000 a month that includes club access plus the ability to drive the luxury and exotic fleet and “podium experience,” which starts at $2,595 a month and includes vehicle storage, fleet access and club membership.
Through a business Stevenson’s son runs called Sarasota Luxury Car Rentals, members will have access to a curated collection of exotic, luxury and sports cars like the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, Bentley Bentayga, Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II and Lamborghini Urus.
Sarasota Motor Club began accepting membership inquiries July 1. Already, several residents from places such as Bird, Lido and Siesta keys have expressed interest in the vehicle storage that Sarasota Motor Club will afford, Stevenson says.
“They don't want to store their cars on the islands,” he says. “They want someplace where they can keep them when they're not when they're not in town.”
The club will be 22 feet above sea level, providing hurricane protection. It will also have hurricane-rated windows, concrete-block construction and 24/7 security monitoring.
“The amount of response and the positivity … has me thinking about the next steps,” Stevenson says in an Aug. 28 interview. He notes some other car clubs he has seen around the country have off-site vehicle storage space to meet the demand.
So far, Stevenson says, about 40% of those interested have been “car-centric” people looking for the social aspect; 40% are looking for car storage and have interest in the club; 10% are interested in the club plus the fleet access; and 10% just want fleet access.
Overall, Stevenson is aiming to get about 200 to 250 members.
“We want our members to be able to come in and meet new people and for it to be social,” Stevenson says. “But we don't want it so busy that it's crowded, that it doesn't fit with the neighborhood. So we want to keep it small and exclusive.”
Given the real estate mix and social landscape in Sarasota, Stevenson saw the market for the club and started planning it about a year and a half ago.
“What do we have — 3,500 luxury condos going in [in Sarasota]?" Stevenson says. “Seeing that trend and not having this already in the market, and seeing the car culture that is here…I've no doubt that Sarasota can support it.”
Stevenson, now a Bird Key resident who has eight vehicles, used to live in Maine. There, he owned his family’s pest-control company, founded in 1945 by his grandfather. He retired five years ago after selling the business to a Swedish private equity firm because, he says, “we didn’t really have a next generation” that wanted to run it.
Since moving to Sarasota in the last 10 years, he says he has seen firsthand the number of “car people” like himself, and it convinced him of the demand for Sarasota Motor Club.
"Sarasota is a big car community," Stevenson says. "And if you're spending a lot of money on a condo — millions — and you're a car person, you probably have more than two cars" and may need a place to put them.
Mainly, Sarasota Motor Club will rely on recurring revenue from memberships and vehicle storage. Yet there is another aspect of the business that he foresees taking off.
“As we move on, I think the event space will become a bigger piece of the revenue than I had originally anticipated,” Stevenson says. “It's needed in town. So I think we'll be able to stay pretty busy. I think we'll be busier than we thought.”
