The deal to sell Sarasota’s Historic Downtown Village to an apartment developer has fallen through, ending the purchase agreement behind a proposal to replace the colorful cottages along Fruitville Road with 324 apartments.

In an Oct. 3 email to tenants, property owners Alex and Marlene Lancaster said the contract was no longer in effect and that they intend to continue owning and managing the property.

“We are not listing the property, marketing the property, or seeking a buyer,” they wrote. “The property is not being offered for sale.”

The proposed development, known as 1899 Fruitville, would have occupied about 3.44 acres between Fruitville Road, Fourth Street, North Osprey Avenue and Gillespie Avenue. Tennessee-based Bristol Development Group planned a five-story apartment building with six levels of structured parking and 36 attainable housing units. The existing buildings were slated for demolition.

The sale’s collapse changes the immediate outlook for the 17 local businesses operating on the block, where the existing buildings were slated for demolition. Among them are FAM Cuisine, The Breakfast House, Siegfried’s Restaurant & Biergarten, The Artful Giraffe and Discover Sarasota Tours. For months, tenants had been weighing relocation options while seeking clarity about when they might have to leave.

 For Laetitia Kepecz  of FAM Cuisine, the email turned rumors into something she could believe. She says she’d heard the deal might have fallen through but didn’t trust the news until confirmation arrived from the landowners.

She’s relieved, at least for now, to have more time to figure out the restaurant’s future. Finding another downtown space that would keep FAM close to its existing customers had seemed financially out of reach. Even when spaces were available, she says, the downtown Sarasota rents made a move difficult to justify.

The restaurant had been looking for another location, likely outside the downtown core, though Kepecz  says they were open to anywhere that made sense. For now, she’s happy to stay in a community they love.

Some tenants had already taken significant steps toward relocating. In July, Breakfast House owner Wendy Lee Goldberg purchased about an acre at 128 N. Briggs Ave., roughly a mile east near Fruitville Road and Tuttle Avenue, with plans to convert an existing house into the restaurant’s new home. She and neighboring business owners were also exploring a Sarasota Bungalow Village, potentially moving several cottages onto the property and arranging businesses around a community green with shaded walkways. 

The Breakfast House’s proposed relocation and rezoning are scheduled for review by the city’s Development Review Committee on Oct. 7.

The Lancasters’ email also addressed their silence during the development review process. They said the buyer approached them directly, rather than responding to a listing, and that a nondisclosure agreement prevented them from discussing the potential transaction with tenants or the public.

“Our lack of communication was not intended to create uncertainty or concern; rather, we were contractually required to maintain confidentiality,” they wrote.

The email did not explain why the agreement ended.

Philip DiMaria of Kimley-Horn, who represented the project through the city’s review process, confirms that the transaction did not go through. He says he hopes any future proposal incorporates the public benefits that had been planned for this development.

Those included preserving two grand oak trees and creating a publicly accessible green space at the northeast corner of the property. In August, the Planning Board unanimously approved two zoning adjustments tied to the project’s design. Bristol committed to retaining the trees and making the green space available to the public, although details such as access hours were still to be resolved.

The proposal also included wider sidewalks, shade trees, underground utilities and drainage improvements intended to improve the pedestrian environment and infrastructure along the block.

Mark Klecka, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty, says the deal’s failure may not end developer interest in the property. Given its location, zoning and previous redevelopment proposal, he believes another developer is likely to approach the owners eventually.

But for now, that’s a forecast. The Lancasters told tenants their intention is to retain the property and provide the stability they had before the offer arrived.