Sarasota Livin'

It seems to be getting hard to find a place in Sarasota where private developers can build affordable housing. So many people want it but there is no "just right" place to build it. With land prices what they are most of the city is just not going to be "affordable" to privately build single family homes with the current density.

It seems the places where developers have tried there have been an abundance of hoops. If anyone thinks there is anything close to a free market in real estate development ....

From Today's SHT:

Home idea stuck in neutral

Developer wants to build affordable housing in Sarasota, but opposition is growing

By MICHAEL POLLICK
michael.pollick@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- The woodsy five-acre tract a few blocks north of the Ringling School of Art and Design seems like an ideal place to build affordable housing within the city of Sarasota.

The property on Old Bradenton Road is not in a high-rent district, so the developer, low-income-housing owner Harvey Vengroff, isn't giving up millions by not building McMansions.

Yet it's close to downtown Sarasota and to many employers, so residents won't be trading a low mortgage for high commuting expenses.

But when it comes to actually giving Vengroff -- or the guy who owned the land before him -- the right to squeeze a few more lots onto the parcel, City Hall has tended to move in slow motion and look for a way out.

In the Bayou Oaks neighborhood where Vengroff has taken up his affordable housing quest, buyers can find a house for $200,000 to $250,000, which is at the lower end of what is available in all of Sarasota County.

What Vengroff wants to do is build prefab houses, push them a little closer together than usual, eliminate the garages to save land, and start them off at a low, low $140,000.