The six-story former Sarasota County Administration Building was engineered to support nine stories. More than four decades after it opened, Benderson Development is exploring whether to finally add them.
City commissioners voted unanimously Monday to give Benderson greater freedom to transform the vacant building at 1660 Ringling Blvd. Conceptual renderings show the dated concrete structure recast as a glassy office building with ground-floor retail, landscaped entrances and several additional floors.
The commission voted 5-0 on both a comprehensive-plan amendment and companion rezoning. The votes don’t approve a final design. Benderson hasn’t submitted a site plan, and the architecture, parking, traffic circulation, access and drainage will undergo further review.
But the decisions resolve a zoning line that ran through the existing building and allow Benderson to advance its plans for Class A offices with shops or restaurants below…