Existing McCown Towers residents oppose it, but the neighborhood association wants public parking.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: January 7, 2026
Host: More public housing for seniors in walking distance from downtown. What’s not to like? Well, the devil is in the details, and in this case, that’s parking. On Monday, the Sarasota City Commission decided to go ahead with a design for a garage that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Rendering of the McCown Towers North project. The garage would be built behind the residential buildings. Courtesy Sarasota Public Housing Authority
Johannes Werner: The opportunity for the Sarasota Housing Authority to expand the McCown Towers public housing project in the Rosemary district came about unexpectedly. But it’s a complex project. Long story short: It hinges on a federal disaster recovery grant administered by the county, and the Housing Authority is seeking partial funding commitment by the City of Sarasota to build a garage at the core of the complex. The soon 50-year old tower and annex with 170 apartments for seniors and disabled people could expand with more than 60 affordable units. They would be built on four floors along Cocoanut Avenue and Boulevard of the Arts, plus retail space, and the garage would cover the inside court.
Footprint of the McCown Towers North building and garage. The apartment complex would sit on the corner of Cocoanut Avenue and Boulevard of the Arts.
The discussion began with six public commenters—and they immediately laid out the complexity.
Three of the speakers—representing the Rosemary Neighborhood Association and the nearby School of Arts and Sciences—supported the city’s garage project. Three—including a neighbor who ran unsuccessfully for city commission and two people speaking on behalf of current residents at McCown Towers who are opposed to the project—urged commissioners to vote against the garage.
Here is Valerie Buchand, a long-time activist for public housing residents.
Valerie Buchand
Valerie Buchand: I’m sitting here speaking on behalf of our citizens at McCown towers and the annex, and they are totally against public parking. At first, even the housing that is proposed to go there. Now, they settled—they got a little easy about the housing—but they only wanted parking for the residents. They do not want public parking.
JW: Meanwhile, the neighborhood association and the charter school advocate for the garage, arguing on-street parking in the Rosemary District is getting increasingly tight. But it’s not easy to fill a for-pay garage. The city’s parking manager explained that the city would have to expand metering on streets—at least in front of commercial buildings—in the neighborhood in order to make it work, and that’s not popular.
Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, who helped put the topic on the agenda, pointed out that the new garage would add to the city’s loss-making parking operations.
The total cost of the project could close in on $12 million, according to a rough estimate by interim City Manager David Bullock.
Even so, the commissioners voted 4-1, with Jen Ahearn-Koch objecting, to pay an estimated $200,000 to design a garage with one floor of resident parking and two floors offering 160 parking spaces.
Ahearn-Koch weighed her “no” vote carefully, and her vote against the suggestions of a neighborhood association is rare. She agreed parking is much needed. But the public housing residents’ opposition and a tight budget prompted her opposition.
Jen Ahearn-Koch
Jen Ahearn-Koch: The residents of McCown towers are all elderly senior residents. They are a vulnerable population—a lot of them are persons with disabilities—and they do not want this. They just don’t. For me, I think that it’s not the only option. The residents’ concern, I take extremely seriously, and I’m very concerned about the financial impact that this is going to have on the City of Sarasota and our budget, which is so tight.
JW: Despite Jen Ahearn-Koch’s “no,” the city commission went ahead, and more affordable housing coming to the Rosemary District, plus a public garage, is one step closer.
For WSLR News, this is Johannes Werner.
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