At a community workshop, Gillespie Park neighbors seem to be supportive of the project.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: July 17, 2026
Host: An upscale business wants to move to Sarasota’s Gillespie Park—and it actually got a warm welcome in a neighborhood workshop. Ramon Lopez reports.
Rendering of the proposed club. | Courtesy Sarasota Motor Club
Ramon Lopez: Area golfers have country clubs, and boaters have yacht clubs. A local entrepreneur is launching a Sarasota Motor Club. It will cater to rich Sarasota exotic and classic car buffs. But a previous project crashed and burned, leaving the expensive four-wheel treasures no place to be fawned over.
A required community workshop was held Wednesday night at Selby Library to discuss pending construction of the private car club at 1060 Goodrich Avenue, just north of the Gillespie Park neighborhood.
The Sarasota Motor Club would be a members-only exclusive auto club built around luxury, exotic and collector vehicles. At the workshop attended by a dozen or so locals, Scott Stevenson laid out what he envisions.
Scott Stevenson: I’ve always been passionate about cars. The project is—what we want to do is a private social club. The idea is, you can come to this facility, enjoy the cars—you don’t have to own a car. Enjoy the cars, enjoy like-minded people, and have fun in this private club. The idea is not to be a night club.
RL: The Sarasota Motor Club will be located in a building being vacated by a local drone manufacturer who is moving to Ellenton.
It will provide a premium private playground and indoor car storage lot for the 250 members who will pony up a $20,000 initiation fee and a $500 per month membership fee. There’s also a separate charge of $595 per month for each vehicle stored and displayed there.
The ground floor will have 21,000 square feet worth of offices, conference rooms and storage for 90 luxury cars. The mezzanine will provide 4,000 square feet for cocktails and fine dining for members and their guests. The club will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
It’s a two-phase project, the first being vehicle storage setup through the end of this year. Build out of the social club would run into next year. A grand opening is targeted for July 2027. That is, if city approval is awarded and if all goes well with the construction work.
Rendering of the proposed club. | Courtesy Sarasota Motor Club
Community workshops often draw neighbors worried about traffic and excessive noise. Several workshop attendees raised practical questions about potential top-volume car engine revving, parking, flooding, traffic calming, sidewalks and tree preservation. But they voiced overall support for the club concept.
We hear from a local resident and Kelly Brown, president of the Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association.
Resident: I’m not a car person, but I love the concept, and I’m looking forward to having you in the neighborhood.
Kelly Brown: I personally think your idea is great. To see more activity in that area of our neighborhood, I think, is great. The more activity we have, the more we activate. I think it’s wonderful. I’d love to see all those brick buildings have cool businesses in them to create some excitement along the edges of our neighborhood, especially since we’re losing all of the businesses at 1899 Fruitville.
RL: Stevenson’s venture is not the first attempt to establish a luxury car club in Sarasota. Two years ago, another entrepreneur pitched a similar concept to the city’s Development Review Committee. Called the Lux Car Club, it would have been at 1374 Fifth Way in the trendy Rosemary District.
That project was also pitched by Joel Freedman. He said it never progressed. Stated Freedman: “The guy just disappeared on me.”
When asked about this, Stevenson said he wasn’t in any way dissuaded by its demise.
SS: It was a different concept—a different property. It was different enough that, no, it didn’t dissuade me.
RL: He believes there’s a need and desire for a Sarasota Motor Club.
SS: We’ve been working on it for a year, and just almost unanimous positive feedback.
It’s a passion project, but obviously it needs to generate revenue and fund itself.
RL: And Stevenson predicts his exclusive car club will be a successful business.
SS: There isn’t a car club like this in town or in the area. We’ve been to a few around the U.S. There aren’t a lot around, but the ones that are out there are doing very well, so we tried to borrow the best from each one. Hopefully we’ll get it right.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
Correction: The report we aired on July 17 attributed a soundbite to the wrong person. The correct attribution should have been Kelly Brown, president of the Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association. We changed the transcript accordingly. We apologize for the error.
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