A plan to open a high-end restaurant and bar in downtown Sarasota passed with a 4-0 vote by the Sarasota Planning Board on Wednesday night.
Several residents who live in downtown Sarasota asked board members to deny Cask and Ale, which serves a tapas menu and hand-crafted cocktails at its St. Petersburg location, a conditional nightclub license for fear it could morph into a nuisance nightclub.
Cask and Ale CEO Jeff Catherell told board members his business, which would be at 1548 Main Street, next door to Evie’s Tavern, isn’t a nightclub. He offered several concessions, including an expanded full-time food menu and declining an option to package alcohol offered in the license.
Catherell also said he would close a garage door façade put in place by previous tenant Taco Bus — which never opened — earlier than most bars downtown to reduce noise.
Board members weighed precedents set by similar downtown businesses (State Street Eatery and Duvall’s) before amending the proposal to require food service from open to close, and unanimously voting “yes” to a conditional nightclub license.
The board said it would allow Cask and Ale packaged sales of alcohol and ease the requirement for a bar to be more than 500 feet from a liquor store, to approve the nightclub license. The property is less than 200 feet from Mal’s Liquors across the street.
Catherell said he was still surprised to get a unanimous “yes” vote, with board member Chris Gallagher abstaining because of a potential conflict of interest.
Board member David Morriss said residents’ arguments that Cask and Ale would create a “proliferation of alcohol establishments” monopolizing downtown Sarasota, and a deterioration of the quality of life, “didn’t hold water.”
He said Sarasota is a “living downtown” with an entertainment district that has been developing for years.
“I think a lot of it had to do with the type of use,” he said. “Reading the package material it seems like they are going to be an asset instead of a detriment, which is really a core of the reason.”
Catherell said the board’s acceptance allows plans to complete the business, a $700,000 investment, to move forward quickly. The only hurdle that could remain is a vote by the City Commission on June 6. The commission could still vote against the restaurant.
Catherell said Sarasota’s unique downtown atmosphere and a “wave” of growth attracted him to the city.
“You see the cranes. Everyone sees the wave of growth coming in Sarasota,” he said. “We are just trying to catch the wave before it crests.”
