Oct 23, 2026 · 57 min · 11 segments
The pencil tower is back for the fourth time. The would-be Obsidian developer keeps turning up for another try at site plan approval. Ron Shapiro joins Cathy Antunes to discuss this latest effort, and…
So I want to walk through some of the process because I don't think people really understand.
You know, a lot of times people in Sarasota will be like, looking at something they consider um out of scale or imposing or just lacking charm and they'll say how did that happen like how in the world did that project get approved well folks you know listen in today because you're gonna understand how these things can get approved um The reason for the really massive height for this project, and this I think is something that makes people go, are you kidding me? Because Sarasota's got a rule about buildings being 18 stories.
So in other words, more than enough for another apartment in between each of the floors, which is where you get this massive height.
And it doesn't at all conform with the spirit of the code, which is 18 stories.
And yet that's not the reason that I would think that interstitial space of 14 feet between floors would be a reason that this project would be denied.
And, you know, just to back up a little bit, maybe two things once this project got initiated and I got involved in it.
the average person, when they heard about the size and the scope of this project, said, well, there's no way that can be approved because that doesn't make sense in this particular location.
On the other hand, I was also told, well, of course it's going to be approved because developers get whatever they want in Sarasota.
As you kind of mentioned earlier, Kathy, when you just go around the city and you see some of these places that have been approved in recent years, how did that ever happen? And so...
I decided that I was going to do everything I could to keep this from getting approved because I didn't think it was appropriate, the size and scale of the project for the specific location.
Yeah, I think most people when they look at it and they understand what the proposal is, they agree that it's completely incompatible with the city.
So I want to walk through some of the process because I don't think people really understand.
You know, a lot of times people in Sarasota will be like, looking at something they consider um out of scale or imposing or just lacking charm and they'll say how did that happen like how in the world did that project get approved well folks you know listen in today because you're gonna understand how these things can get approved um The reason for the really massive height for this project, and this I think is something that makes people go, are you kidding me? Because Sarasota's got a rule about buildings being 18 stories.
So in other words, more than enough for another apartment in between each of the floors, which is where you get this massive height.
And it doesn't at all conform with the spirit of the code, which is 18 stories.
And yet that's not the reason that I would think that interstitial space of 14 feet between floors would be a reason that this project would be denied.
And, you know, just to back up a little bit, maybe two things once this project got initiated and I got involved in it.
the average person, when they heard about the size and the scope of this project, said, well, there's no way that can be approved because that doesn't make sense in this particular location.
On the other hand, I was also told, well, of course it's going to be approved because developers get whatever they want in Sarasota.
As you kind of mentioned earlier, Kathy, when you just go around the city and you see some of these places that have been approved in recent years, how did that ever happen? And so...
I decided that I was going to do everything I could to keep this from getting approved because I didn't think it was appropriate, the size and scale of the project for the specific location.
Yeah, I think most people when they look at it and they understand what the proposal is, they agree that it's completely incompatible with the city.
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