Render Legacy Trail, a newly opened 450-unit rental complex in Nokomis, is one of several large residential projects in South Sarasota County as growth continues to push steadily south. 

The project, located near the Legacy Trail at 15560 Render Way, opened in early December. So far, Greg Minder, managing director for Central Florida at Crescent Communities, says about 40 percent of the apartments have been leased. The Legacy Trail is an 18.2-mile paved recreational trail in Sarasota County that follows a former railroad corridor from downtown Sarasota south to Venice. It’s used for biking, walking, running, and other non-motorized activities.

The opening comes amid a broader wave of development reshaping southern Sarasota County, particularly along the U.S. 41 corridor. While downtown Sarasota has absorbed much of the public attention around growth, South County has quietly become one of the region’s most active areas for large-scale residential and mixed-use projects.

Just north of Nokomis, a 325-unit apartment community known as Tapestry Sarasota is under construction near Palmer Ranch, marking one of the largest multifamily developments in South Sarasota in decades. Farther north along U.S. 41, the long-planned redevelopment of the former Sarasota Square Mall site is moving forward as a mixed-use district expected to bring roughly 1,200 apartments alongside retail, transforming a property that once served as a regional shopping destination into a higher-density residential center.

Minder frames Render Legacy Trail as part of that larger shift rather than an outlier. “The area is still growing at a strong clip,” he says, even as the pace of new apartment construction begins to slow after several years of heavy delivery. 

Render Legacy Trail consists of four-story buildings offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Minder says the community draws a mix of age groups that reflects South County’s changing demographics. “It skews older in that area,” he says, “but a third of our community is below 35 years old—this project in particular.” He adds that about 35 percent of residents are families with children, many of whom are not yet ready to buy homes in a market where home prices, property taxes and insurance costs remain elevated.

Rents currently average about $1,800 for one-bedroom units and about $2,600 for three-bedroom units, according to Minder, excluding utilities. Water, sewer and trash service are included.

A​​ccording to local rental market trackers, the average rent for all apartments in Sarasota sits around $1,760 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, with two-bedrooms near $2,079, while three-bedroom units average roughly $2,704—figures that reflect modest year-over-year declines of about 4 percent to 5 percent from 2024 levels.

Minder says proximity to the Legacy Trail played a central role in shaping the project’s target market. “Legacy Trail has been big,” he says, describing residents who want outdoor access without a downtown or urban lifestyle. “We attract active adults. A lot are still working but want to come home to a manicured landscape and don’t want to go totally urban.”

Recent leases, he adds, have included renters relocating from out of state. He also points to growth tied to the medical sector near Laurel Road, citing expansion at Sarasota Memorial Hospital's Venice campus. As the hospital has expanded services, he says, related medical offices, rehabilitation facilities, and support services have followed, bringing additional employment to the area. 

The community includes a heated saltwater pool, outdoor kitchens and grilling stations and a fitness center. A clubroom has shuffleboard, televisions and micro-offices for remote work. The property also has a fenced dog park and multiple pet stations, electric-vehicle charging stations, bike storage, and rentable garages. The property also hosts regular on-site programming, including coffee hours, evening events, grill-out nights, pool gatherings and occasional cooking classes. The development also includes bike storage, with shared equipment such as pickleball gear and kayaks available on site.

Taken together, Render Legacy Trail reflects a familiar pattern playing out across South Sarasota County: large rental communities arriving alongside redevelopment and long-planned master-planned neighborhoods, reshaping an area once dominated by low-density housing and aging commercial corridors. 

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