Gulf Gate Beat: $500,000 Gulf Gate Village Plan

This is the third post in a series I have been writing about Gulf Gate’s rise from disrepair to what is being called Little Brooklyn. Like Il Panificio and Jim’s Small Batch Bakery, Gulf Gate Area Merchants Association piggybacks off the insightful predictions of Sarasota Magazine’s Bob Plunket.

In his 2012 article “The Next Hot Sarasota Neighborhoods,” Plunket correctly predicts that Gulf Gate Estates will become the sought-after area we homeowners (and Realtors®) know it to be. In fact, a I just sold a Gulf Gate Woods home in just under 20 days. In that time, my client chose the best of three offers from qualified buyers. Plunket credits Gulf Gate Village for bringing new residents. He sees the success of restaurants and bars as the key driver just as Brooklyn once attracted Manhattanites. To see the listing I talked about, click on its custom website-www.2415CardwellWay.com.

The reality of the retail stores located in Gulf Gate Village is not as glamorous. A recent memo from retailers to the Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) explains that improvements to the Village still linger from 2004 when property owners were “generally opposed to any financial contribution that required an assessment or tax." In the following articles, Sarasota Observer documents more recent efforts by area merchants, which have put them in the driver’s seat for developing a Neighborhood Plan with $500,000 earmarked by the County for 2019’s "Gulf Gate Village Beautification.”

March 31, 2016

In his article “Gulf Gate Lures Young Entrepreneurs,” Sarasota Observer’s Alex Mahadevan covers the opening of a Lounge, a rental space for educational opportunities and special events, in the Village’s wellness-oriented Wild Ginger Apothecary owned and operated by Nicole Leffler. Mahadevan uncovers a developing culture of collaboration among Millennial retailers.

“I think what we’re trying to do is create a little Brooklyn,” one young owner told Mahadevan. “Sarasota can have its downtown and Central Park, but we’re kind of OK being Brooklyn.”

May 19, 2016

Sarasota Observer’s David Conway reports in his 2016 article “Gulf Gate Merchants Plot New Association," that the first meeting of a spirited group of village businesses was held in Leffler’s new Lounge. According to Conway, merchants reached out to Sarasota County government for guidance on ways to initiate and fund village enhancements. The creation of a merchants association, they were told, would strengthen their position by allowing them to flex their collective muscle to get the long overdue improvements to Gulf Gate Village.

Leffler answered the call by filing the Articles of Incorporation for Gulf Gate Area Merchants Association (GGAMA), which just celebrated its one-year anniversary on February 23, 2017. I discovered the nonprofit organization through my research on the Division of Corporations website. That led me to the address of its president, Nicole Leffler and Little Brooklyn’s Ground Zero—Leffler’s Lounge on Superior in Gulf Gate Village.

This is where my story begins.

March 5, 2018

In a memo signed by the BCC, Director of Planning and Development, and Neighborhood Services & Long-Range Planning Manager Jane Grogg, Neighborhood Services summarizes the background for this public-private venture to improve Gulf Gate Village. According to the document, talks began in 2004 between county staff and Gulf Gate business and property owners. Fast forward to today, and we find out there is a $500,000 earmark for improvements to the Village!

If we imagine these improvements, what predictions can we make?

My immediate concern is the Village as an incubator operates using a cheap-rent model. Improvements could bring the value of the landlord's properties so high they decide to sell (or their children decide), and the the hip new Mom & Pop shops are priced out of the area.

According to Leffler, "Rents are moderately rising 5% to 10% per year."

March 21, 2018

I attended Sarasota County Neighborhood Services' first formal meeting with GGAMA and resident stakeholders. Neighborhoods Services Manager Jane Grogg and Planner Katie White facilitated the meeting with residents, property owners, business owners and other stakeholders to design a Neighborhood Plan.

The BCC earmarked the half million for the capital improvements to Gulf Gate Village from a Penny Sales Tax Program called Neighborhood Capital Improvement Program or NCIP. The resulting numbers from the plan will be presented to the Sarasota County Board of commissioners for approval to pay for the work.

Minor Glitch

“Turnout for Neighborhood Plan was great,” Leffler writes in Facebook Messenger. “Even if a majority was there in support or opposition of the church vs. alcohol license issue.”

I arrived to the meeting in the middle of it. Leffler says that the first hour was spent quieting supporters from both sides of an issue completely unrelated to the improvement initiatives. Grogg recently presented to the County Commission on an issue that relates to selling liquor for onsite consumption.

A local law, created in 1974, affects Gulf Gate Village businesses in 2018. It prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol at bars and restaurants within 800 feet of a school or church. The Superior Word Church recently moved into a commercial strip in the Village, leaving new business owners high and dry when it comes to liquor licensing.

“Some change is needed because of what happened in Gulf Gate," says Commissioner Charles Hines. “I think we can all agree on that." Click here to watch.

The BCC was in agreement with Hines and requested that the County Administrator draft an ordinance to remove Sarasota County's restrictions, so that the new County restrictions mirror the State of Florida's, which only address the separation of schools and bars at 500 feet.

The group did work together at lists that will ultimately be prioritized. Words like crosswalks, lighting, and signage echoed previous decades, but now that there is a $500,000 carrot dangling in the Lounge, I imagine we can pull together and decide how to spend it.

In the short time that I've been researching Gulf Gate Village businesses, I've learned that there are 200 or more business owners and co-owners working tirelessly to serve the community. At one time I was a real estate broker with my own firm and agents, and I know that the merchants of Gulf Gate Village are the first ones in the door (if they get to sleep in their own bed), and the last ones to get paid. Let's support them; they made Gulf Gate hot. Shop Gulf Gate!

“A stronger unity is where it starts,” Leffler writes in a Facebook Message. (Brooklyn’s motto is “Unity in Strength.”)

Become Involved

Email: neighbor@scgov.net