Downtown Sarasota is a comfortable but modest downtown with solid urbanity and historic architecture, especially for a Florida dwtn. Consistant medium density Commercial fabric runs down Main Street crossing east to west through the extent of Dtwn. Solid secondary street along Pineapple running north to south on the western edge of Dwtn. Dwtn Sarasota also excels at solid cultural amenities (esp. food & beverage), decent bike lane system, good parks, lots of local shops and boutique stores, and a sizable residential population. The biggest urban faux paws are the edge boulevards (i.e. Fruitville, Washington, Bayfront), which make it uncomfortable at times to walk to Dwtn. Also limited K-12 schools and colleges in and around Dwtn and few regional amenities (i.e.. sport stadiums and convention center). My hope is that dwtn can continue to build up its population edge along its stroad edges, add more rental options, and attract a satellite college campus to open up.

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URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk and ADA infrastructure, especially in the core of the Dwtn. The edge streets often lack ADA standard curbs and sidewalks that are narrow and underinvested.
* Solid density for a Dwtn district.
* Other than the wide Blvds on the border of Dwtn  hosts mostly comfortable streets for pedestrians and has not wide one way pairs.
* Solid bike system across the City and even extending across the Metro area. 3 bike lane routes within Dwtn. Also a decent dockless scoter/bike share system serving Dwtn and surrounding inner city neighborhoods.
* Overall Dwtn is safe and with limited vacancy.
* Solid cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants, bars & cafes, a Botanical Garden, the Sarasota Art Museum.
* Solid historic architecture with many blocks of intact early 20th century main street commercial along Main St and Pineapple Blvd.
* Also solid urban infill in large chunks of Dwtn with the exception of the more autocentric Blvds on the edge of Dwtn.
* Great urban form and streetscaping in the core of Dwtn. Not great in the Blvd that form the edges of Dwtn (i.e. Fruitville, Ringling & Washington).
* Solid pedestrian activity esp. in the core of Dwtn.
* Decent amount of for-sale hsg for a dwtn area but expensive. 1-beds range from 300K-850K, 2-beds btwn 500K-1.5M. 3 beds btwn 750K-3M. 4 beds are limited but quite a few in Laurel Park.
* Solid park and plaza spaces including the expansive and multi-faceted Payne Park and several waterfront parks.
* Solid cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants, bars, cafes, several art galleries, a couple cinemas, the Sarasota Opera House, a couple performing arts centers, a couple local museums, and the Botanical Gardens.
* Regional amenities are limited to a concentration of courthouses and City Hall Dwtn. * No real statistics on number of employees in Dwtn Sarasota but it seems to have a decent work population as there are 170K Sarasota overall.
* Solid retail amenities including a Whole Foods & Sprouts Market, a couple drug stores, several home good stores, plenty of boutiques & clothing stores, lots of local gift stores, a couple book stores, several banks, plenty of bakeries & dessert joints, a dwtn post office & public library, a handful of doctor’s offices & clinics on the western edge of dtwn, several churches, and plenty of gyms. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Skyline is not very distinctive although there are lots of mid rise residential and some office towers.
• Fair amount of rental properties but pretty expensive. 1-beds lease in the 1Ks & 2Ks, 2-beds btwn 2K-4K, although some higher end apts rent for more.
• Quality transit is concentrated to Dwtn Sarasota and the more urban neighborhoods north of Dwtn along with Bradenton, but transit access is actually decent throughout the metro, and much better than similar sized metros (i.e. Lakeland-Winter Haven and Ft. Myers).
• No schools within dwtn but some schools within 1-2 miles of a decent size and rating including Sarasota HS, an elementary school, and Sarasota School of the Arts.
• No colleges/universities downtown. The closest is the Ringling College of the Arts and a Community College about 4 miles to the north.
• Some events in Payne Park but not the strongest Civic Park as its located on the eastern edge of Dwtn and not in a highly trafficked area. Really no other park in Dwtn that can claim the Civic heart of Dwtn.
• Limited regional amenities like stadiums and convention centers.