The Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners voted on Tuesday, Dec. 16, to allocate approximately $57 million in federal disaster recovery funding through the Resilient SRQ Infrastructure Program, a HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) initiative tied to Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. The funding was distributed among nine projects countywide, with awards ranging from large-scale floodplain and transportation initiatives to targeted community and infrastructure improvements.

The largest awards included approximately $16 million for the Sarasota County Forest Lakes Floodplain Creation and Mitigation Initiative and roughly $15 million for Sarasota County’s River Road Interstate Connector infrastructure upgrades in Englewood. The City of Sarasota’s St. Armands Resiliency & Flood Mitigation Project received $13.5 million, making it the third-largest award approved under the program. Additional allocations included $6 million for the Bahia Vista Flood Mitigation Project; approximately $3 million for the Southgate Regional Lift Station Expansion; $3 million for the Newtown Boys & Girls Club rebuild; $750,000 for Venice YMCA campus improvements, including a commercial kitchen rebuild; $261,000 for the Family Promise Shamrock Emergency Shelter Project; and $179,000 for the Sarasota County sewer lift station bypass pumps project.

Public speakers who spoke to the St. Armands project included St. Armands residents, business owners and commercial property owners; representatives of the barrier islands’ employers; leadership from the City of Sarasota; and officials from the Town of Longboat Key, including the mayor and deputy town manager. Additional elected officials also attended in support.

Among those addressing the commission was Eleni Sokos, executive vice-president and managing partner of Oysters Rock Hospitality, which owns Café on St. Armands (formerly Café L’Europe). Sokos acknowledged that commissioners were being asked to direct a significant share of available funding to a district often perceived as affluent, while emphasizing that the Circle’s economy depends heavily on low- and moderate-income hospitality workers and independently owned businesses. She framed the decision as a strategic investment in economic viability rather than a symbolic one, noting repeated flooding impacts on businesses and warning that without infrastructure protection, local commerce, culture, and livelihoods risk long-term erosion.

The $13.5 million allocated to St. Armands is intended to fund new and improved stormwater pumps, backup generators, discharge piping, and hardened outfalls with check valves. County commissioners did not support funding for underground storage vaults, permeable pavement and bioswales, or aluminum flood barriers included in the original application. Sarasota County’s stormwater department will be responsible for design and construction. No project timeline has been established.

Shore Restaurant, which operates locations on Longboat Key and near Orlando (at Disney Springs), previously had a St. Armands Circle location but closed that site in late 2024 following flooding and storm-related impacts. The former Shore space at 465 John Ringling Blvd. was later leased and reopened in 2025 as a combined Tommy Bahama restaurant and retail store.

A potential return of Shore to St. Armands is now moving through the City of Sarasota’s development review process. A pre-application conference took place yesterday, during which representatives from Kimley-Horn spoke on behalf of Shore Restaurant. The new location is proposed for 24 and 28 North Boulevard of the Presidents, with United Associates Ltd. and Kauffman Family Partnership #1 Ltd. listed as the applicants. The project would combine the two parcels into a single structure and add a third floor. 

According to submitted materials, the redevelopment would proceed in three phases, beginning with partial demolition and substantial renovation of existing buildings. Rezoning from the existing Commercial Tourist (CT) designation is not required, but the project remains in a preliminary stage and would need to complete as many as 17 review steps, including traffic studies, site plan submittals, and required community workshops. The proposal would require Planning Board approval, but not City Commission approval.

Conceptual renderings included in the application packet show a three-story development incorporating a restaurant, café, retail space and a boutique hotel component, with a courtyard-style pool planned for the third floor. Project materials indicate that, if approved, the St. Armands location would function as a flagship property, with an anticipated opening timeline of spring 2027.

Ownership entities United Associates Ltd. and Kauffman Family Partnership #1 Ltd. are connected through Florida Department of State records to Sarasota property owner and developer Dr. Mark Kauffman, his daughter Mindy Kauffman, and Sarasota-based Red Property Management.

The St. Armands award comes in addition to the county’s prior approval of full funding for the City of Sarasota’s Hudson Bayou and Whitaker Bayou dredging projects at a previous commission meeting, positioning St. Armands as one of the most heavily supported resilience initiatives approved by the board during the current Resilient SRQ funding cycle.