In the more than two years since the city began offering incentives for developers to include affordable housing units in new residential developments in downtown, and a year since extending it to commercial centers and corridors, Sarasota has more than 900 attainable units at varying stages of planning and development.
The City Commission approved incentives to developers to include affordable housing in their residential projects on Sept. 19, 2022. Then on April 4, 2024, it passed a similar ordinance for the commercial areas of the city.
Although 15 of the 22 projects are private sector developments representing 269 of them, Planning Director Steven Cover said the overall number of attainable housing apartments in the pipeline has exceeded his expectations…