"When it was built in the late 1980s, it was
an ill-conceived downtown retail mall,"
Harshman said. Part of the problem was that
it was built when the local tax structure and
financing encouraged development even if
demand did not exist for a particular proj-
ect. "That was a time when they built five or
six new office buildings downtown when we
needed one," Harshman noted.
When anchor tenants Hollywood 20 and
Applebee's came in, however, Main Plaza
benefited.
Despite these anchors, the plaza has a 60.9-per-
cent occupancy rate, according to Cushman
& Wakefield. %
Cushman & Wakefield has provided this listing information for Main Plaza. Contributed image
The site of the planned Kimpton Hotel has a
view of the Synovus Bank (left) and part of the
Main Plaza complex (right). Photo by Norman
Schimmel
Sarasota News Leader August 8 & 15, 2014 Page 11
