A quarter will be “attainable.” But critics say people in the community won’t be able to afford it.
By Ed James III
Original Air Date: July 24, 2026
Host: Earthmoving operations are underway for the Gracewater Midtown development—a massive master-planned project bringing hundreds of new apartments to the eastern edge of the historic, working-class Black community of Newtown. WSLR reporter Ed James III examines the ongoing construction, the stark economic contrast and feedback from a local business owner, and a housing advocate.
Ed James III: Heavy machinery has been turning the once county-owned piece of nature between Martin Luther King Jr Way, Tuttle Avenue and Myrtle Street into barren land ready to be built on. Earthmovers, bulldozers and land-clearing equipment are reshaping 113 acres of previously undeveloped land.
This is Gracewater Midtown, also referred to in planning documents as Midtown SRQ. The master-planned community is designed to introduce roughly 1,500 new residential units, featuring apartment complexes, townhomes and lifestyle amenities. The developer commits to making one quarter of the apartments “attainable.” Proponents describe the project as a modern, high-density residential node intended to address regional housing demand, positioned just minutes from downtown Sarasota.
However, the western boundary of this massive influx of mostly market-rate residential construction sits immediately adjacent to Newtown Estates and the broader historic Newtown community.
To understand what this physical transformation means for local commerce and working families, I spoke with Rhonda Callahan, owner of the Right Touch Beauty Salon, located just one-and-half miles away from the Gracewater master-planned community.
Rhonda Callahan: I just feel that it’s not affordable for the people that live in this community to be able to live there. I was saying that the younger generation have to move further out to be able to afford to live. I just don’t understand why it’s so expensive to be in this community.
EJ: The contrast is visible. On one side of the dividing line: historic neighborhood grids with multi-generational family homes, community churches and local commercial corridors with businesses like Ms. Callahan’s salon. On the other side: active grading, heavy haul trucks and staging zones for a development projected to bring thousands of new residents and vehicles to the Martin Luther King Jr. Way corridor.
County planners approved the framework for Gracewater Midtown under guidelines intended to encourage transit-oriented and infill development. Proponents point to regional housing studies highlighting a severe shortage of affordable rentals across Sarasota County.
To break down how these large-scale master-planned projects impact overall housing accessibility and affordability, I spoke with Lewis Dean, a local commercial real estate professional and chair of Housing and Development for the Sarasota Branch NAACP. He is more optimistic than Ms. Callahan.
Lewis Dean: My take on the development is that it would be beneficial to the area because of the affordable housing component. It would provide about 25% more affordability for the next 10 years. Or the requirement is that the housing is about 370 affordable units, with a 25% affordability possibility for 10 years. The requirement is that the housing is 370 affordable units with 25% affordability possibility for 10 years. With the fact that it’s being developed not directly in Newtown—though I guess that’s called Newtown. It’s just on the other side of Newtown estates, I would say.
EJ: Yes. It’s on the outskirts of Newtown.
LD: It abuts the Newtown area. So it could benefit housing—affordable housing and market-rate housing, potentially for school teachers, police officers, firefighters, et cetera. But even with the market-rate housing, it would help develop an—for lack of a better term—improvement of the area with more economic market housing being built along with affordable housing.
EJ: While the project incorporates a projected 370 affordable units under its multi-year framework, a significant gap remains between median market pricing and local workforce wages. Dean notes that median housing prices in Sarasota County hover around $400,000, while typical lower-end household incomes in the immediate area range between $40,000 and $80,000.
LD: A family of four making $40,000, it’s going to be difficult for them to achieve the necessary financial opportunity to buy a home.
EJ: Infrastructure capacity—drainage in particular—are also concerns for this section of Sarasota. Newtown sits between low-lying regional watersheds that have historically experienced localized flooding during heavy summer rainfall. When asked what mechanisms are necessary to ensure big developments like this coexist with rather than displace historical neighborhoods, Lewis Dean emphasized coordination and making sure mixed-use planning frameworks make sense for lower-income households.
LD: The mixed development concept is good. I still think it might be a challenge for the lower end.
EJ: Adding to the affordability squeeze is an upscale development with hundreds of homes going up one block north of Gracewater Midtown. Homes at Gracewater Sarasota go from $400,000 to more than a million.
As earthmoving continues at the Gracewater Midtown site, the project serves as a real-life case study in the friction between rapid regional expansion, affordability and historical neighborhood preservation in Sarasota. WSLR News will continue to follow the development phases, infrastructure adjustments and community response as construction moves forward.
For WSLR News, I’m Ed James III.
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