Sarasota's Bayfront Goes Vertical Again: Hyatt Centric Harborside, the Waldorf, and the Trades That Follow a Tower
Kolter's 20-story hotel-and-condo tower on the old Hyatt Regency site and the 18-story Waldorf Astoria Residences at Five Points are the next two downtown jobs on the calendar, and a third project just dropped eight stories. Who gets hired, in what order, and what to film while the fences are still up.
5 min read · October 15, 2026 · Florida Construction Media
The story
In July we mapped five projects rising in downtown Sarasota. The towers in that piece are now mostly in finish season. The next wave is two buildings on the bayfront side of downtown, and they sit at very different points on the calendar.
Hyatt Centric Harborside, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts. The old Hyatt Regency is gone, and Kolter Urban is putting a 20-story tower in its place on the Quay. In June, Sarasota Magazine reported the plan: 174 hotel rooms on floors six through 14, and 117 condos on floors 15 through 20. The condos are priced from about $1.4 million to about $4.5 million, run 1,400 to 3,100 square feet, and were just over 20 percent sold. Kolter's Ed Jahn told the magazine the company expected to break ground by the end of the third quarter, with completion estimated for December 2028. Florida YIMBY names 10 Design as the designer, counts more than 7,000 square feet of event space, and says Kolter plans a second residential tower next door. In late June, Hoodline reported the site cleared and Kolter finishing permit submittals and staging plans ahead of foundation work. No general contractor has been named in any of these reports.
Waldorf Astoria Residences, 1390 Main Street. At Five Points, sales opened on January 28 for an 18-story tower the Business Observer expects to finish in 2029. Sarasota Magazine's August preview lists 86 residences priced from about $3 million to more than $20 million, 14-foot ceilings, roughly 60,000 square feet of amenities, and more than 40,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Construction is expected to start in summer 2027. The team is Jebcore Companies with WMG Development, ODP Architects, interior designer Workshop/APD and DWY Landscape Architects. Before any of that, three buildings on the site have to come down.
And one tower got shorter. On October 14 the Business Observer reported that a downtown project dropped its 18-story tower. This is the former Adagio, near South Palm Avenue and Ringling Boulevard, not the Waldorf. The Observer adds that it is now Lumora, one 10-story independent-living condo building from Lutgert Cos. It would hold 169 condos and nine attainable units over 32,740 square feet of street-level commercial space. It has partial sign-off from the city's Development Review Committee, and a demolition permit is still tied up in a historic-preservation case.
One tower climbing, one still on paper · Illustration: Florida Construction Media
What it means for you
Two towers on two clocks. Read them in order.
Harborside is a 2027 job for the shell trades and a 2028 job for everyone else. When a hotel and condos share one building, the hotel floors get built to a brand standard. Those packages are usually bought by the developer's team in bulk. The condo floors on top are the part a local trade can actually reach. The sticker range and floor plans point to people buying a finished home in the sky, not a bare shell. So the owner-side work at handover is the upgrade list: closets, window treatments, lighting control, audio-visual, built-ins and terrace work. We covered how that tower work runs in remodel marketing in a condo-tower town.
The Waldorf is a demolition job first. Taking down three structures on a tight downtown corner means demolition, abatement, shoring, utility relocation and haul-off. All of that happens before vertical work begins. Then come the long-lead packages for a building with 14-foot ceilings and $20 million penthouses: curtain wall, stone, millwork, specialty glass and elevator interiors. Those buyers are paying for finish quality, and the finish trades will be picked on proof.
Lumora is the signal. A project that reworks itself around an independent-living operator tells you who downtown is being built for: older, settled owners who want services in the building. That is the same client we described in the 55+ renovation market. Their contractor checks are slow and thorough, and the board will be just as careful.
Where the next towers rise · Bayfront Park, Sarasota · Photo: Stellar Media Collective
The play
- Subs on the current towers: film for these bids now. With the general contractor's written permission, capture crew size, staging on a tight lot, sequence and cleanup. That footage answers a construction manager's real question, which is risk. Build it like a developer-facing portfolio, not a highlight video. When Harborside and the Waldorf name their contractors, you want the proof already cut.
- Demolition, abatement and shoring firms: the Waldorf is your showcase. Taking down three buildings in the middle of downtown while the neighbors watch is the hard part of this job. A short video on how you protect the street, the dust and the schedule is the pitch.
- Finish and interior trades: own the building names before the buyers move in. "Hyatt Centric Harborside" already shows up in Google's suggestions. Few trade businesses are writing about it. A dated, plain-English page on what owners in a building like this tend to upgrade at handover will sit where future buyers search. Name the building, link the developer's own pages, and do not claim work you have not done.
- Everyone: keep your camera off other people's sites. Film your own crew, on jobs where you have permission. A developer's site is their brand. Fence footage you have not cleared will cost you the bid it was meant to win.
The fences on the bayfront are up for at least two more years. That is how long you have to stand in front of them with something specific to say.
Briefing published October 15, 2026; project details, prices, dates and unit counts are from the sources linked above, checked October 15, 2026, and will change as permits and schedules move. Florida Construction Media is published by Stellar Media Collective, Sarasota, which works with the kitchen, bath and remodel trades mentioned here.