New owners of historic Colson Hotel aim to repurpose building, preserving its story

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — City leaders got a look at plans for the old Colson Hotel Monday.

The structure was built in 1925-1926 and was the only hotel where Black visitors to the city could stay during the Jim Crow era.

The structure, built 100 years ago, sits along 8th Street, boarded up and in disrepair. The building is now in the hands of a new owner who aims to preserve its history.

Previously, it was owned by a developer aiming to demolish the structure to make way for new construction.

Anand Pallegar described plans for the structure to the city commission, explaining the intent is to preserve the building for generations to come.

Initially, there were plans to restore the hotel or turn it into a jazz club. However, Pallegar explained that it would involve gutting the building and taking down virtually all of its interior walls.

“If it were to turn into a hotel, if it were to turn into a jazz club, you would either have to stay the night there or be of age in order to visit it and quite frankly, by adaptively repurposing it, you lose the original intent, and it is hard to connect the dots that this was once a place of refuge for the Black community during an era of segregation,” Pallegar said. “That is really the story that we want to preserve, but understand and adapt it for today and looking into the future.”

The plan is to create a rental space for up-and-coming businesses, nonprofits, etc.

“The hotel was there to serve the population that couldn’t find space elsewhere, and that is what we want to bring forward,” said Ron Kashden with Save Sarasota’s Historic Properties. “If people have community projects or if they are business startups or if there is space that people need just to get started, we envisioned the Colson to support that. The details and actual physicality of what the interior space will be, we are still working through and we are still working through the engineering.”

Public outreach and fundraising for the project will begin later this year. If all goes as planned, the hope is to begin construction in 2026.

“We all know the importance of preserving history, not just here in Sarasota, but particularly African-American history and the contributions made by individuals such as Mr. Colson and his wife,” Commissioner Kyle Battie said.