Sarasota developers push to demolish historic house while advocates fight to save it

With pressure from developers to tear it down, the clock may be ticking for a historic Sarasota structure.

Virginia-based developer Orange Pineapple LLC’s petition to demolish the McAlpin House — where one of Sarasota’s most influential developers lived — will remain in limbo after the City Commission tabled a decision at an Oct. 2 meeting. Now, the developers have to prove the house should go while advocates argue the opposite.

The house, located at 1530 Cross St., is in a prime spot for new development. Its location in Sarasota’s downtown core allows developers to construct a variety of projects, and at only a few minutes from the bayfront and downtown shops, it’s right in the middle of a hub for commercial activity.

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Orange Pineapple LLC acquired the property in May as part of a $32 million purchase of seven nearby parcels. The company plans to build a mixed-use development across the more than 3 acres it now owns, according to application documents, though it hasn’t yet submitted a formal site plan to the city.

The company argued the presence of the McAlpin House would hinder development efforts, and applied to demolish it through the city’s Historic Preservation Board in July. When the board denied the request, Icard Merrill law firm — which represents Orange Pineapple — appealed to the City Commission, where a second application now sits inconclusive.

Orange Pineapple LLC and Icard Merrill did not respond to requests for comment.

What is the McAlpin House?

Hesitation to scrap the building stems from its historical significance. With ties to one of Sarasota’s most influential developers and a distinctive architectural style, preservation proponents have lobbied for it to stick around.

Dave Baber, vice president of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, said buildings like the McAlpin House are Sarasota’s distinguishing features — standing out from modern development projects that would otherwise render municipalities identical to each other.

“What makes (Sarasota) unique and special is the historic buildings that have grown organically over time,” Baber said. “You tear those down and build pretty generic new buildings to replace them, you lose that special, unique sense of place.”

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The house belonged to George McAlpin, a concrete magnate who oversaw the construction of Sarasota’s curbs and sidewalks in the early 1900s. Locally, he’s most known for his partnership with Owen Burns, who developed most of the city’s historic structures and monuments.

Constructed in 1912, the McAlpin House is significant not only for who built it but for how it was built, experts say. McAlpin used his pioneering rusticated blocks — concrete blocks made to look jagged and rough to mimic a stone — for the house’s structure. It’s a style that fell out of favor as the post-World War II movement toward modern architecture set in, making The McAlpin House a rarity.

Structures like the Wilson House in Urfer Park and the Halton House on Cocoanut Avenue also incorporate the rusticated block technique, and representatives from Orange Pineapple argue the still-standing buildings adequately preserve the history of the style. But Lorrie Muldowney, president of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, said the McAlpin House’s value as a product of its time and a reflection of its owner makes it especially worthy of preservation.

“It sort of hits it on all the points,” Muldowney said.

The building received local designation as a historic place in the 1980s, and while it’s yet to receive that distinction nationally, Muldowney said it could qualify based on its significance. The title would secure the house a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, affording it access to grants, federal tax incentives, and other benefits.

While preservation on its original site is the goal, moving the McAlpin House to another location may be a viable solution to keep the house. Correspondence as early as 2018 between consulting firms and the city has considered relocation, and the preservation board granted the previous owners a Certificate of Appropriateness to move it.

The possibility of preservation

The question now is whether practicality trumps possibility. Though relocation is possible, new owners argue efforts to move or preserve the structure on-site unnecessarily expend resources and threaten the success of future development.

At more than 100 years old, the building would require significant repairs and restoration efforts to be usable, and attempts to contact the county and other parties that may have taken the house off the developers’ hands were unsuccessful. Moving it has proven a challenge, Icard Merrill attorney Maclaire King said in the July 11 preservation board meeting: The building wouldn’t clear nearby power lines and traffic signals due to its height, rendering transportation impossible.

“The applicant has diligently and repeatedly tried to relocate the structure,” King said. “Unfortunately, all of those efforts have been unsuccessful.”

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Developers suggested alternatives to total preservation at the Oct. 2 city commission meeting, proposing only identifying structures like the front door, the historical plaque, and the rusticated blocks be salvaged to open the site for development and still commemorate McAlpin.

Advocates say these efforts aren’t enough. Erin DiFazio, program director for the Sarasota Preservation Program, said its location and surroundings — not just the structure itself — complete its historic image.

“We can’t take all of our history and ship it to somewhere else,” she said. “It would deprive the city in a big way.”

The house’s fate is uncertain now. With the tabled decision from the commission, developers and preservation advocates are working to make their cases when the item appears on an agenda again. The commission said this will likely happen early next year.

Meanwhile, preservationists are left with more questions than answers following Orange Pineapple’s appeal. The company hasn’t offered any details for its development, stating only that it will consist of a mix of commercial and residential units in its demolition application.

With information scarce, Muldowney said demolition is too drastic a move.

“Buildings should not be knocked down until the development that’s planned there is absolutely approved, defined, designed, funded,” Muldowney said. “Otherwise it’s just not a fair conversation.”

Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota developers push to tear down McAlpin House in downtown