Sculpting a Skyline: Hoyt Architects Helps Make Our Town Live and Breathe

By Lisa Codianne Fowler | Renderings Courtesy of Hoyt Architects | May 2023

Did you ever stop and think about how architecture helps shape our cities and by extension our lives? Why our city skyline looks like it does? Well many of our most well-known commercial and residential buildings were designed by one of Sarasota’s premier architectural firms—Hoyt Architects. They have helped make our town live and breathe and have done it with a novel approach.

Gary Hoyt, AIA (the American Institute of Architects) and NCARB (National Council of Architectural Boards) founded the company nearly 30 years ago. He is the President and Design Director of the firm. Ten years ago, he added a valuable partner, Chris Gallagher. Chris (also an AIA and NCARB member) also has 30 years of experience and is Managing Partner and VP of Hoyt Architects.

Rounding out the firm’s leadership team is Associate Principal, George Scarfe. Hoyt’s multidisciplinary team includes Architects, Designers, Planners, Builders, Programmers, and Artists. 

The group is focused on Architecture, Urban Design, and Master Planning, and technology has been a key element to their award-winning creations. “We’ve never viewed ourselves as a typical Architecture firm,” Gary says. “We do a wide range of work both locally and internationally and we have always integrated technology as a design tool. Out of that idea has grown two additional companies, and they all interact within our same office building on 2^nd Street in Downtown Sarasota.”

These two companies, both part of their downtown design studio, include HAL (a reference from the classic Sci-fi, AI movie) Hoyt’s Architecture Lab, which is a visualization and research company; and the other is IMERZA, their related tech company that Gary co-founded with Dorian Vee about 10 ten years ago.

“Internally, we really cover a wide range of design and technology,” explains Gary. “At our core, we live and breathe Architecture here, and HAL and IMERZA grew out of the Architecture firm. They were a natural outgrowth, the way we developed our designs. We chose Sarasota as our home base. It has been our laboratory and a good home for us.”

Centers of Energy

With a passion for Sarasota, they designed and/or restored historic icons such as Sarasota’s Bayfront Park, the Belle Haven, the Municipal Auditorium, the original “Sarasota Times Building” on 1^st Street, and Ed Smith Stadium. Other Hoyt landmarks include the Selby Library, Patriot Plaza at the National Cemetery, and Hollywood 20. If you have lived here for quite a while, these are familiar and enjoyable haunts among dozens of others created here by Hoyt.

Recent residents appreciate but likely take for granted some of the established newer developments, such as Main Street at Lakewood Ranch, a mixed use commercial and residential center. Today it is a vibrant town center with shopping, restaurants, and condominiums. 

Hoyt continues to shape Sarasota with mixed-use and state-of-the-art developments in and around the area. The Mark, for example, encompasses two city blocks of commercial, retail, and residential space. It has a central retailed-oriented breezeway arcade and is part of the overall Pineapple Square development that was designed in conjunction with nationally recognized retail planner Bob Gibbs. The Mark’s elevated pool affords an oasis overlooking downtown. Numerous chic complexes with similar luxurious amenities have followed. The Jewel, The Pearl, Marina Tower, and Sansara, are just a handful of their elegant creations. The beachfront Sage condominiums are nearing completion on Longboat Key.

Boutique residential condominium projects include 1500 State Street, the Residences at Citrus Square, and Marquee En Ville. Hoyt’s apartment projects include One Palm, BOLD Lofts, The DeSota, and two affordable residential developments for the Sarasota Housing Authority: Amaryllis Park Place and Lofts on Lemon.

If you enjoy dining or shopping, among Hoyt’s many restaurants and shops are Brick’s Smoked Meats, Lila, Oak & Stone, State Street Eating House, Evie’s Tavern, Dimmitt Automotive, Optional Art, Moon Eyeglass, AlexArt International Art Gallery, Eileen Fisher, Bookstore1, Fit2Run, and Studio G Home.  

Some of Hoyt’s hotel projects are the downtown Aloft Hotel, Sarasota Modern, Hyatt Siesta Key Beach, and Hyatt Place. Hoyt also recently completed the new corporate headquarters for Lee Wetherington Homes on Fruitville Road. 

New projects in construction include the Town Center on Longboat Key, the new One Stop office building for the City of Sarasota, the STRAND, Citrus Square East, the DeMarcay, and affordable apartments at Cypress Square and McCown Tower for the Sarasota Housing Authority. 

On the boards and in the design process are apartments, condominiums, restaurants, a retirement community, hotels, a brewery, shops, parking garages, a research institute, a childcare center, a center for disabled children and adults, an ice-skating rink, and an art gallery.  

Building Walkable Cities

What’s next? Gary shares that some of the most overlooked projects are those coming up on North Trail, the future gateway to the city. It’s about time, as he says, and it has great potential. The two-and-a-half-mile corridor of Tamiami Trail stretches from 10^th Street to University Parkway. It is often the first thing visitors see on their way to Sarasota from the airport.

While Gary hasn’t shared specifics, he points out that North Trail can host multifamily complexes, condos, retail, entertainment, and restaurant establishments, adding variety and creating a community and family-based environment. “There are multiple places in the city, and even the county, where you’re starting to see more interesting mixed-use hubs, which define a sense of community in different parts of Sarasota. These emerging areas, often located at larger intersections, will provide unique opportunities for the future of Sarasota.”

Gary explains that for years every city had a Comprehensive Plan that had to be updated every five years. Hoyt was one of the few companies that created new urban redevelopment plans around the state. They did it for Key Largo, Titusville, Margate, Stuart, Dade City, Ft. Walton Beach, Cocoa, Live Oak, Cape Coral, and others around the state. Each community had its own sense of place.

“So, when we look at Architecture, we look at it as part of a master plan, an urban plan, or a mixed-use plan. We look at how a city evolves and how to create a higher quality of life. Our buildings play a role in defining the street…helping it come alive. It’s precisely what happened on Hillview. It’s not downtown, but it has evolved, and I think you’re starting to see that happen in other areas now. I think that’s exciting. It makes each individual neighborhood have its own walkable and unique center.”

Distinctive Set of Services

“We really don’t compare ourselves to firms locally because our work scope is quite different. There are few companies in the country that have fully integrated visualization tech into the design process. We study the details.” 

The team’s immersive design process involves a set of cohesive services that address Architecture, Urban Design, Planning and Feasibility Analysis, Environmental Planning, and Interior Architecture.

Technically speaking, employing these steps allows the team to fully grasp the design parameters ranging from mass, scale, topography, circulation, sun orientation and lighting, to materials, texture, and finishes for every single project.

So the next time you are walking or driving around town, be sure to notice the beauty and magic one firm has created to help sculpt the skyline of our town.