Construction is officially underway on one of downtown Sarasota’s most historically significant blocks.
—Mira Mar Residences, an ultra-luxury condominium project on South Palm Avenue, held its official groundbreaking ceremony on the morning of Wednesday, May 20.
—The event drew the project’s principals and a roster of local leaders. On hand were Patrick DiPinto, head of Sarasota-based Seaward Development, and his business partner, Michael Markovitz of Mira Mar Acquisition Company; project architects Rick Gonzalez of REG Architects and Igor Reyes of Nichols Architects; and city dignitaries including Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Heather Kasten and City Commissioners Liz Alpert, Jen Ahearn-Koch and Kyle Battie.
“This is an exciting day for the Mira Mar Residences project, as construction can officially begin,” said DiPinto, owner of Seaward Development. He called the property “a true trophy site and one of the last great opportunities on South Palm Avenue,” noting that it spans nearly an entire city block.
—A trophy site with a storied past
—The Mira Mar opened in 1922, conceived by Chicago industrialist Andrew McAnsh and built in roughly 60 days — fast enough to earn the nickname “the 60-Day Wonder.” Stretching nearly 400 feet along Palm Avenue, it was the city’s first hotel and first luxury residences, part of a complex that once also held an auditorium, a casino and a cigar factory. The auditorium was razed in 1955 and the hotel in 1982, leaving the Mediterranean Revival apartment block that the new project will preserve and restore.
—The road to groundbreaking was not smooth. When Seaward sought to demolish the aging building in 2022, the city’s Historic Preservation Board refused. Rather than appeal, DiPinto’s team spent nearly two years crafting an alternative: fully restore the original structure while funding the roughly $29 million rehabilitation with revenue from the new condominiums. The plan required rezoning the site from Downtown Core to Downtown Bayfront — a change neighbors opposed and planning staff initially recommended against — before the City Commission approved it unanimously in 2025. Preservation advocates have since called the project a model. “We finally have a developer who is listening to the community,” said Erin DiFazio of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation. National firm Suffolk Construction, recently the builder on the Waldorf Astoria New York restoration, is the general contractor.
—Resort-level living
When complete, the development will offer 70 residences across two 18-story towers, with expansive three- and four-bedroom floorplans and amenities the developer says will rival any five-star Gulf Coast resort. Planned features include a 19th-floor Sky Speakeasy Lounge, a 70-foot resort-style outdoor lap pool, a wellness retreat with indoor water-therapy pools, an infrared sauna, steam and massage rooms, and a dog spa with an open-air turf park. Services will include complimentary valet parking, a hospitality concierge, resident handyman service, a lifestyle activities coordinator and a luxury car-and-driver service. Prices start in the high $3 millions, and the towers were designed with stepped, “wedding-cake” setbacks to protect bay views, light and breezeways for neighboring buildings. Completion is targeted for the end of 2028.
