WELCOME TO PARK EAST COMMUNITY

GREATER DOWNTOWN SARASOTA ACTION TEAM

 The Park East Community Association which was formally known as teh East Sarasota Neighborhood Association boundies are from Fruitville Road to the south, Washington Blvd. to the west, 12th Street to the north and Tuttle Ave. to the east. Originally the north boundry was 17th Street, but the association voted to change it to 12th Street. The Association also changed is name for East Sarasota Neighborhood Association to Park East Community Association in 1997 as there was always confusion as to where the association was located compared to the entire east side of Sarasota City. The area from Washington Blvd. was known as North Audobon Place.

The Audobon Place Subdivision was platted in the early 1920's and was extensively developed during the Florida Land Boom. Many of the lots exhibit Craftmen style bungalows though there are the occasional Colonia Revival and Mediterranean Revival style Bungalows as well. These homes are modest buildings which would of housed working class or the lower middle class.

In 1924 The City of Sarasota, hired John Nolan to prepare a plan for the growing Gulf Coast Community beginning to experience teh Florida Boom. In Nolans comprehensive plan, which was adopted by The City in 1925, Audobon Park along with the other Downtown neighborhoods was zoned "General Residence District". While tis zoning allowed for single and two-family residences this restriction was widely ignored and in fact at the peak of the"Boom" Apartment houses were even encouraged. To the west of this neighborhood is Gillespie Park Neighborhood which in 1925 was experiencing tremendous growth including apartment construction, during that year besides dozens of homes, there was also built five apartments houses rangingin size from four to twenty-three units. Not surprisingly, this developmental pressure pushed eastward into the area surrounding Audobon Place, in December of 1925 it was announced that tha Manhattan Bond Company would built a large fifty unit "cooperative apartment" selling the units for $4,000.00 each. This building was to be located at the intersection of Sixth Street and East Avenue just two blocks from teh site of the El Patio. The Manhattan Aparments were promoted as a facy upscale addition to Sarasota and would have undoubtedly had a major impact on the surrounding area. The plans for them was scuttled in late December with another announcement saying that a large laundry and dry-cleaning plant was to be built across the street from the proposed site. The City Planning Board recommended against the laundry plant site due to its industrial character and noxious fumes and the foreseen impact these culd have on a residential neighborhood. Unfortunately this recommendation was non-binding but it did enforece the need for stronger planning in the city. Besides the proposed Manhattan Apartments, this neighborhood was just five blocks north of the new A.C.L. Passenger Depot. These attrubutes probably assisted Brown and Crist Realty in their efforts to sell the two lots to Lillias Piper. Ironically, this site is tarther away from Sarasota Bay than any other apartment building site was during the Boom. And the neighborhood did not serve the cliental that she was building for, the "young upwardly mobile professional".

In 1926, the El Patio apartments were built on two lots along Audobon Place to attract young professionals and northern visitors. This building become the visual landmark in the neighborhood and dwarfed the surrounding homes both in scaleand quality of design. Unfortunately the Land Boom and its prosperity ended in 1926 and real estate development came to a virtual halt throuhout Florida. By the 1930's, Lilias Piper sold the El Patio Apartments at 500 Audbon