1000 North, the private club and dining brand co-founded by Michael Jordan and other big-name partners, announced this week that it's under contract to purchase an adjacent property in downtown Sarasota. The new property expands the project while the club is still under construction in the BLVD building at the corner of Boulevard of the Arts and North Tamiami Trail, near the entrance to the Rosemary District. The new parcel is located just east of the BLVD building, between it and The Sarasota Modern hotel.

It’s too early to say whether it will be built out to be attached to the existing building or be a standalone. Currently, the parcel is part of The Sarasota Modern's grounds, where an older, unoccupied home sits.

Sarasota's 1000 North location, whose official address is 520 N. Tamiami Trail, is an expansion of the original 1000 North club in Jupiter, which was founded by developer Ira Fenton and a slew of sports stars, including Jordan, former New York Giant Tucker Frederickson and golf legend Ernie Els. Serena Williams, Ahmad Rashad and Bryant Gumbel, among other notable names, are listed as partners.

Chief operating officer Alex Elshimy says membership demand in Sarasota has exceeded the company’s early projections, which gave the team the confidence to move forward with the adjacent property purchase. He says the additional parcel totals 10,500 square feet, while the current club spans a little more than 13,000 square feet. 

Elshimy says the strength of demand had come as something of a surprise. Memberships will cost $6,000 a year, although Elshimy declined to provide more detailed membership figures, including the initiation cost.

Still, we have a clear sense of what 1000 North is going to establish in Sarasota: a members-only club built around dining, drinks and the assertion that access itself is part of the product. Plans call for a two levels, with private dining rooms, a wine lounge, members’ wine and liquor lockers and an upstairs lounge.

1000 North will be a private social environment where food anchors the experience but doesn't wholly define it. Dining will be centered on steaks, seafood and seasonal ingredients, along with tasting menus, a roster of international visiting chefs and tableside French service—and no, that doesn’t mean salads or guacamole. French tableside service is dinner with a bit of theater: dishes finished, assembled and served beside your table, so the meal arrives with some choreography instead of just a plate drop. There will also be a piano bar and programming includes salon-style talks and culinary events, all meant to make the place feel less like a restaurant and more like a closed circuit of dining and social life. Concierge services will include connecting and curating international travel, dining and cultural experiences for members.

The Sarasota club is being developed by Kevin Daves, whose past projects include The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota and The Concession Golf Club. 

The interiors will be lush. JKM Luxury Lighting Design and JKL Kurt Lucas Design Company describe a lighting plan intended to shift through the day and a build-out shaped by walnut millwork, brass-accented wine lockers and a quartzite bar top with green veining. More than 2.1 miles of walnut have been used throughout the club, “equal to the distance from the club's doors to St. Armands Circle," according to the club's most recent press release.

The club’s sound system is embedded, with no visible speakers, and will have backup internet, a generator system to protect wine rooms and other critical equipment, and televisions that guests can pair with their own earbuds through Bluetooth, with capacity for up to 2,000 devices per screen. 

Access begins before opening day. Members can request private “hard hat” walkthroughs of the unfinished site and use a portal to submit questions directly to the leadership team. In that way, the build itself becomes part of the membership benefit, a preview of the exclusivity of the finished club.

For Sarasota, 1000 North arrives at a moment when private clubs, branded luxury and members-only spaces have become more visible markers of the city’s changing social geography. In a city increasingly crowded with luxury projects, the message isn't merely comfort. It’s continuity: the promise that nothing will interrupt the experience.

1000 North will be located in the BLVD Sarasota building at 520 N. Tamiami Trail. To learn more, call (941) 777-1000 or click here.