Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/268408
now it is mostly surface parking for the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Any developer will tell you that is hardly the highest and best use of the site. As the real estate market was peaking in 2007, the city adopted a master proposal for the area and called it the "Cultural Park Concept Plan." The document's approval did not come with a unanimous decision; it passed with a 3-2 vote. And in nine months, it was dead. The idea was grandiose. It featured an 1,800- space parking garage, more than four times the size of the one proposed for State Street. Nonprofit organizations were encouraged to think about massive fundraising campaigns to construct new buildings, perhaps as much as 430,000 square feet for the arts. More than $30 million was proposed for public improve- ments and another $28 million for the public side of public-private partnerships. The city-owned property at 1330 N. Osprey Ave. remains one of two preferred locations for a homeless shelter in Sarasota. Image from Google Maps Sarasota News Leader February 28, 2014 Page 61