Main Street merchants in Sarasota have both sticker shock and construction shock over preliminary cost options for a Main Street project that could cost as much as $14 million and take years to complete.
As it stands now, the project would include bricking both Main Street and the sidewalks from Bayfront Drive to Orange Avenue in the historic district. It would cost the DID and taxpayers approximately $2.9 million to perform that portion of the work, which includes converting angled parking to parallel parking and refurbishing utilities underneath the road, from Bayfront Drive to the Five Points roundabout.