Mira Mar Residences Sarasota: Reservations Now Open on Downtown's Most Historic Luxury Address
A Century in the Making — and Worth Every Year of the Wait
On the morning of Wednesday, May 20, 2026, Sarasota officially broke ground on Mira Mar Residences — and in doing so, set in motion one of the most consequential real estate developments in the city's modern history.
This is not simply another luxury condominium project. This is the resurrection of Sarasota's founding cultural landmark — a building that hosted Joe DiMaggio, Greta Garbo, and Rudolph Valentino; that the Sarasota County Times called "the dawn of a new era" when it opened in 1922; that stood for decades as the city's most prestigious social address before time and commerce gradually diminished it. And now, more than a century after its original creation, it is being reborn as something extraordinary: 70 ultra-luxury residences in two 18-story towers rising above a meticulously restored Mediterranean Revival facade on South Palm Avenue, with prices starting in the high $3 millions and reservations now open.
Developer Seaward Development's Patrick DiPinto stood at that groundbreaking ceremony and said it plainly: "To be stewards of the history and legacy at this site is an incredibly humbling position that we take very seriously."
If you've been watching downtown Sarasota's transformation — The Bay, BAYSO, the Waldorf Astoria, the restaurant explosion — and wondering where the next defining development would come from, you're looking at it.
The History: Why This Site Is Unlike Any Other in Sarasota
1922: The Dawn of a New Era
The original Mira Mar complex was conceived by Chicago industrialist Andrew McAnsh — a man who arrived in Sarasota with a vision for what the young city could become and the capital to back it. Groundbreaking occurred on October 6, 1922, and within an astonishing 60 days, the apartment buildings were finished — an extraordinary construction pace that itself became a talking point for a city eager to announce itself to the world.
The hotel and auditorium followed quickly. The Sarasota County Times declared the project "the dawn of a new era in the city's history of development." It was not an overstatement.
Sarasota's First Great Social Stage
The Mira Mar Hotel became Sarasota's most glamorous address — a Mediterranean Revival-style landmark that drew the most celebrated figures of its era. Its guest list reads like a roster of 20th century icons:
Joe DiMaggio — baseball's greatest player, who found in Sarasota the kind of privacy and elegance that befitted his stature
Greta Garbo — the world's most famous actress, whose desire for seclusion the Mira Mar's quiet Palm Avenue location accommodated perfectly
Rudolph Valentino — the era's defining romantic figure
Mae West — who brought characteristic flair to everything she did, including arriving in Sarasota
Will Rogers — the country's most beloved humorist and social commentator
Bobby Jones — the greatest golfer of the century, a man whose connection to Sarasota ran deep
The Mira Mar also hosted a Metropolitan Opera concert featuring Luise Homer and Agnes Ayres — bringing world-class cultural programming to a Florida city that was already demonstrating the artistic aspirations that define it today.
For more than two decades, the Mira Mar wasn't just Sarasota's finest hotel. It was Sarasota's living room — the place where the city gathered, celebrated, and introduced itself to the world.
The Decades of Decline — and the Preservation Debate
As travel patterns shifted toward the new motels and motor courts along US-41, the Mira Mar Hotel gradually lost its primacy. It closed as a hotel in the 1960s and was demolished in 1982 — a loss that still registers in the architectural memory of anyone who has studied Sarasota's history. What survived was the original apartment block, now known as Mira Mar Plaza — a beloved commercial building whose 400-foot frontage on South Palm Avenue has housed dozens of businesses and remained one of downtown's most recognizable facades.
The fate of that surviving structure — and what should rise behind it — has been the subject of years of vigorous civic debate. Demolition vs. preservation. Scale. Height. Historic integrity vs. contemporary ambition. That debate, which played out through multiple city commission hearings, community forums, and design revisions, ultimately produced something better than what either side originally imagined: a solution that preserves the historic facade with full restoration investment while enabling the contemporary residential development that the site's extraordinary location demands.
The community and the developer arrived at the right answer. The May 2026 groundbreaking was the moment that answer became permanent.
The Project: Two Eras, One Address
The Preserved and Restored Mira Mar Plaza
The existing Mira Mar Plaza structure will receive approximately $29–30 million in historic rehabilitation investment — a commitment that exceeds what most developers would spend on a comparable new-build and that reflects the seriousness with which Seaward Development has approached its role as steward of this landmark.
The 400-foot South Palm Avenue frontage will house retail and restaurant space once restoration is complete, reconnecting the landmark facade with the pedestrian energy of downtown in a way that respects its original commercial character while equipping it for 21st-century uses. Early conversations with first-to-market dining concepts and boutique retailers are already underway, suggesting the restored plaza will become a destination in its own right — not merely a backdrop for the towers behind it.
Presiding over the restoration is Rick Gonzalez, president of REG Architects and recently appointed to the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation — a credential that places him among the country's foremost authorities on saving and restoring historically significant structures. His guidance during construction is driven by a fundamental commitment to structural integrity: "Everything being done in the beginning will be to stabilize the current structure and to not jeopardize the strength of the building. This is an exciting process that has to be done right."
The Residential Towers: Two Elegant 18-Story Buildings
Rising behind the restored historic facade, two 18-story residential towers will contain 70 ultra-luxury condominiums — a deliberately limited total that ensures the exclusivity and scale appropriate to both the development's price point and its historic setting.
The project architect is Igor Reyes of Nichols Architects — the firm responsible for the restoration of the St. Moritz Hotel in Miami Beach and the conversion of Miami's Seville Hotel into the acclaimed EDITION Miami Beach. That résumé is instructive: these are transformative projects that honored historic bones while creating thoroughly contemporary luxury environments. That same sensibility — the marriage of historical authenticity with modern luxury — is exactly what Mira Mar Residences requires and what Nichols Architects has been commissioned to deliver.
The General Contractor: Built to the Highest Standard
Suffolk Construction serves as general contractor. Suffolk is not a regional builder — it is a nationally recognized construction firm whose recent completed project list includes the billion-dollar restoration of the iconic Waldorf Astoria New York City. That single credential speaks to a level of craftsmanship, project management, and historic preservation expertise that is rarely available in any market. Its involvement in Mira Mar Residences is a signal about the caliber of construction that buyers are purchasing into.
Construction Sequence
The construction timeline unfolds in three deliberate phases:
Phase 1: Structural stabilization of the existing historic building — reinforcing the 1920s foundation that has stood for more than a century and ensuring its integrity for the generations ahead.
Phase 2: Construction of the two 18-story residential towers.
Phase 3: Interior restoration of the historic portions, completing the transformation of the Palm Avenue facade into the retail and restaurant destination it is designed to become.
Estimated completion: End of 2028.
The Residences: What You're Buying
Scale and Configuration
Mira Mar Residences takes deliberate aim at the top of the downtown Sarasota luxury market — not through volume but through size and quality. The 70 residences are configured as three-bedroom and four-bedroom estates, ranging from approximately 3,300 to 6,000 square feet. These are not typical downtown condominiums. They are large, estate-scale residences that happen to sit in a building with a historic soul and an extraordinary address.
The size parameters alone set Mira Mar apart from every other downtown Sarasota luxury tower currently available or under development. BAYSO's largest standard units top out around 2,600 square feet. The DeMarcay is similarly scaled to the urban luxury buyer. Mira Mar is designed for a buyer who wants the space of a waterfront estate with the lifestyle of a downtown address.
Pricing
Residences at Mira Mar are priced from the high $3 millions, with current active listings including:
Unit Bedrooms Bathrooms Square Feet Price 702 3 4 3,302 sq ft $4,165,000 804 3 5 3,734 sq ft $4,965,000 1001 3 4 3,412 sq ft $5,695,000 1205 3 4 3,395 sq ft $6,475,000 1503 4 5 3,855 sq ft $8,275,000
These prices reflect not only the size and finish level of the residences but the irreplaceable context in which they sit: a 400-foot historic Palm Avenue facade, a construction team that has built the Waldorf Astoria New York, and a downtown Sarasota address that is transforming faster and more dramatically than at any point in the city's modern history.
The Views
The two towers' orientation places upper-floor residents above both the historic roofline and the surrounding downtown streetscape, with views that encompass:
Sarasota Bay — visible from upper-floor and penthouse-tier residences facing west, with the same extraordinary bay and barrier island panoramas that define the city's finest waterfront properties
The Downtown Sarasota Skyline — the city's most dynamic visual story, with new towers rising and The Bay park's transformation visible in real time from east-facing units
The Gulf of Mexico Horizon — clear on days when conditions allow, from the highest floors
The combination of bay views, cultural address, and historic context creates a view experience that no purely new-build downtown tower — including the Waldorf Astoria or BAYSO — can replicate.
The Location: South Palm Avenue and Why It Matters
65 South Palm Avenue is not simply a downtown address. It is the address most associated with Sarasota's founding cultural identity — the street where the city's first great hotel stood, where its social life began, and where the civic conversation about preservation, development, and the city's future has played out most publicly and most passionately.
Palm Avenue today is a mixed street of historic buildings, restaurants, galleries, and boutiques that gives downtown Sarasota some of its most distinctive pedestrian character. The full restoration and activation of the Mira Mar Plaza frontage will make this block — and this building — the anchor of downtown's most authentic and historically resonant address.
Proximity to downtown's finest:
Sarasota Opera and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall: walking distance
The Bay park (53-acre bayfront transformation): minutes on foot
Bayfront Park and Marina Jack: minutes on foot
Downtown Sarasota's restaurant and cultural core: immediate
St. Armands Circle / Lido Beach: 15 minutes by car
Sarasota Bradenton International Airport: 20 minutes
For buyers who want to live in the most culturally significant downtown Sarasota address — not just the most amenity-rich or the most recently completed — Mira Mar Residences occupies a position that is genuinely irreplaceable.
Mira Mar vs. Downtown Sarasota's Other Luxury Towers
Feature Mira Mar Residences BAYSO Waldorf Astoria Sarasota Status Under construction (est. 2028) Complete (2023) Under construction Units 70 149 ~80 Unit size 3,300–6,000 sq ft 1,600–2,600 sq ft 1,800–5,200+ sq ft Bedrooms 3–4 BR 2–3 BR + den 1–4 BR Price range $3.8M – $8M+ $1.5M – $6M+ $2.5M – $25M+ Historic element Yes — 1922 landmark No No Architect Nichols Architects SB Architects N/A General Contractor Suffolk Construction Kolter Urban TBD Address character Historic Palm Avenue The Quay waterfront Five Points district Best for Historic address, estate-scale spaces Bayfront views, immediate occupancy Branded luxury, highest service tier
Mira Mar occupies a distinct and non-overlapping position in the downtown luxury market. Where BAYSO wins on completed bayfront product, Mira Mar wins on scale, historic identity, and Palm Avenue's irreplaceable cultural address. Where the Waldorf Astoria wins on global brand recognition and branded service, Mira Mar wins on authentic architectural heritage and the intimacy of a 70-unit building with estate-sized residences.
Why the Reservation Window Matters
Reservations for Mira Mar Residences are now open following the groundbreaking and construction permit issuance. With only 70 total residences — the smallest total inventory of any downtown Sarasota luxury tower currently in development — the reservation window is genuinely time-limited in a way that larger developments are not.
The precedent from comparable historic luxury developments is instructive: BAYSO sold its 149 units in under 12 months and generated $200M in sales. Mira Mar has half the inventory, larger residences, higher per-unit prices, and an architectural story no competitor can match. Early reservations secure both priority unit selection and the pricing that is available before construction progress drives further appreciation.
For buyers who have been watching the downtown Sarasota market and waiting for the development that felt truly exceptional — this is it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mira Mar Residences Sarasota
What is Mira Mar Residences Sarasota? Mira Mar Residences is a luxury mixed-use development at 65 South Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota, developed by Seaward Development. The project combines the full historic rehabilitation of the 1922 Mira Mar Plaza — Sarasota's original first hotel — with two 18-story residential towers containing 70 ultra-luxury condominiums. Reservations are open with prices starting in the high $3 millions and construction expected to complete by end of 2028.
When did Mira Mar Residences break ground? The official groundbreaking ceremony was held on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, on South Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota. The city's construction permit was issued in April 2026. Work began immediately with structural stabilization of the historic building, followed by the two residential towers, and finally the interior restoration of the historic portions.
What are the prices at Mira Mar Residences? Residences start in the high $3 millions. Active listings range from $4,165,000 for a 3-bedroom, 3,302 sq ft unit to $8,275,000 for a 4-bedroom, 3,855 sq ft residence. The project targets the top tier of downtown Sarasota's luxury condo market with estate-scale residences between 3,300 and 6,000 square feet.
How many units are in Mira Mar Residences? Mira Mar Residences will contain 70 ultra-luxury condominiums in two 18-story towers. The deliberate limitation to 70 residences ensures exclusivity and maintains the scale appropriate to both the building's historic context and its luxury market positioning.
Who is developing Mira Mar Residences? Mira Mar Residences is developed by Seaward Development, led by Patrick DiPinto and partner Michael Markovitz of Mira Mar Acquisition Company. The project architect is Igor Reyes of Nichols Architects. Historic restoration is led by Rick Gonzalez of REG Architects, recently appointed to the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The general contractor is Suffolk Construction, whose recent portfolio includes the billion-dollar restoration of the Waldorf Astoria New York City.
What is the history of the Mira Mar Hotel? The original Mira Mar Hotel was built in 1922 by Chicago industrialist Andrew McAnsh. It opened as Sarasota's first luxury hotel and became the city's premier social and cultural destination, hosting celebrities including Joe DiMaggio, Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Mae West, and Will Rogers. The hotel closed in the 1960s and was demolished in 1982, but the original apartment block — now Mira Mar Plaza — has remained on South Palm Avenue and will be fully restored as the commercial and historic anchor of the new development.
When will Mira Mar Residences be completed? Completion is expected by the end of 2028.
How does Mira Mar compare to BAYSO or the Waldorf Astoria Sarasota? Mira Mar is distinct from both. It offers the largest individual residences (3,300–6,000 sq ft) of any downtown luxury development, a historically irreplaceable Palm Avenue address, and the most authentic architectural identity in the market. BAYSO is a completed bayfront tower with smaller residences and immediate occupancy. The Waldorf Astoria prioritizes global brand prestige and hotel-caliber service. Mira Mar is the choice for buyers who want estate-scale space in a building with genuine historical resonance at downtown Sarasota's most culturally significant address.
Are reservations open at Mira Mar Residences? Yes. Following the May 2026 groundbreaking and April 2026 city construction permit, Mira Mar Residences is actively accepting reservations. Floor plans and interior renderings are available. Given the limited inventory of 70 total residences, early reservations are advisable for buyers targeting specific floor levels or unit configurations.
The Bottom Line: Sarasota's Most Significant New Address
Luxury developments come and go. Historic landmarks — the kind that carry a century of genuine cultural memory, that once hosted Greta Garbo and Joe DiMaggio, that were declared "the dawn of a new era" when they opened and are now, genuinely, beginning a new era again — do not.
Mira Mar Residences is that development. The Waldorf Astoria Sarasota will be magnificent. BAYSO is extraordinary. But neither of them can say what Mira Mar can say: that the building you are moving into has stood on this block, in some form, since 1922 — that it has been part of Sarasota's story for over a century — and that its next chapter will be its most remarkable.
That is the case for Mira Mar Residences. And it is a case that no other address in downtown Sarasota can make.
Interested in reserving a residence at Mira Mar or learning more about available floor plans and pricing? Our team is available for private consultations and can walk you through the full range of available units, the construction timeline, and how this development fits within the broader downtown Sarasota luxury market. Reach out today.
Nest Group
shaun@nestgroupre.com
