And the new Rosemary District park gets a name: “Overtown Square”
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: August 23, 2024
Host: The Sarasota City Commission met this week, to vote on providing land for a cultural center at the heart of Newtown, the majority African American neighborhood. Ramon Lopez reports on that, and other matters that came up.
Ramon Lopez: There was a full and varied agenda for the Sarasota City Commission at Monday’s regular meeting. The future for historical houses in the city was on the agenda, as was how the commissioners would handle lobbyists in the future. Ownership of downtown’s Cross Street was also determined, as was the name of the new park in the Rosemary District that will hopefully open for business in September.
First up for the city commissioners was sale of city-owned land on Martin Luther King Way to the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, the SAACC, to build a cultural center. In 2021, the non-profit and soon-to-retire City Manager Marlon Brown started drafting an agreement for a proposed African American Art Center and History Museum. A year later, the City entered into a lease agreement with the SAACC on property adjacent to the cultural center, whereby the group would utilize the historic Leonard Reid House to begin operating the planned art center and museum. All want to see the facility built, but the City and the group needed to work out legal options, which included a land-hold agreement, long-term ground lease, short-term lease, purchase and sale agreement, and an option agreement before the City Commission on August 19th. The option agreement lets the city hold the land for SAACC for up to five years, for no charge. This gives the group time to raise all the money it needs to both purchase the property and develop and build the Cultural Center. The group then pays the city a $5,000 deposit towards the purchase of the $201,000 property and the deal is finalized.
But the devil is in the details, and several city commissioners — namely Mayor Alpert, Erik Arroyo and Kyle Battie — questioned how best to sell the city-owned land to the non-profit with no risk to the city. Alpert wanted a motion either with different terms for an option to purchase or a long-term lease. In the end the motion passed four to one for a revised option to purchase agreement versus a lease deal.
Leonard Reid House
The historic single-story frame Leonard Reid House was relocated to Newtown two years ago, becoming the first home for the black art center and history museum, as noted by Vickie Oldham, president of the SAACC. The house is named for Leonard Reid, the highly respected early pioneer who helped establish Sarasota’s first Black community, Overtown, now known as the Rosemary District. We hear from Vickie Oldham:
Vickie Oldham: I just want to say thank you to this commission for your support of this very, very necessary cultural asset in Sarasota. And I thank Marlon Brown, for everything that you have done to push this initiative forward. Since we opened in December 2023, About 1,400 visitors have come to the Leonard Reid House to learn about black history. SAACC is no longer that startup that we began as, but we’ve grown. We have 46 partnerships, and that means 46 signed agreements with arts and cultural organizations who want to join us in bringing programs to the Leonard Reid house, and whatever facility that we get after that. We are ready to take the next step.
RL: Meanwhile, a majority of the city commissioners voted down an ordinance for formal lobbying rules proposed by Commissioner Arroyo. The city hall leaders, especially Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, felt the proposal entailed too much regulation for an issue they did not feel was a big problem. Commissioner Battie also voted ‘nay’ to it. Commissioner Debbie Trice called the ordinance ‘overkill’ but a new rule will require all speakers at city commission meetings to say whether they are being paid to appear and speak. Arroyo believes much of the public testimony at hearings is genuine. But he doesn’t want to hear from lobbyist with interests that go beyond common welfare.
The fate of Sarasota’s Cross Street was also decided by the city leaders. Developer Orange Pineapple LLC won a Cross Street right-of-way vacation, clearing the way for a major downtown site redevelopment. The motion passed four to one, with Ahearn-Koch casting the lone dissenting vote. The move comes after the commissioners allowed demolish of the historic McAlpin House, should it not be moved to another location. The vote regarding 0.62 acres of public street is part of a 32 million dollar real estate development involving 3.1 acres of prime downtown real estate at the intersection of Ringling Blvd and Orange Avenue. The company remains tight-lipped about the project, but the land is zoned to build up to ten stories and 50 residential units per acre. And more units if affordable housing are included. The zoning also allows for condos, apartments, hotels and retail space.
Finally, the new city park coming to the Rosemary District now has a name, as workers add finishing touches to the park at the corner of Central & Boulevard of the Arts, with a grand opening next month. There were five names voted on, including Rosemary Park and Overtown Square. Rosemary Park got 166 votes, while Rosemary Central Park got 93 votes. Overtown Square only got 87 votes. After much discussion, the commissioners by a unanimous vote named the new community park in the Rosemary district Overtown Square.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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