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SARASOTA
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
FREE • THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014
GROWTH SPURT DIVERSIONS
Five new hotels
stand poised to call
downtown home.
PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN
SEA STARS
Sarasota Bay
Watch celebrates
scallops’ role.
PAGE 19A
Lesha, a visual artist,
makes everyday objects
appear extraordinary.
INSIDE
FREEZE FRAME
by Robin Hartill | Observer Staff
A FULL DECK
Daiquiri Deck’s owners plan to expand the restaurant’s St. Armands location
to the first floor, but that’s just the first course of their plans for growth.
Heather Merriman
+ Every dog
has its day
Courtesy photo
Jackie Fanara, Dr. Adam
Bright, Jessica Miller and
Nina Amaral
+ Run to Remember
raises $13,000
Pines of Sarasota’s “Run to
Remember” raised $13,000
for its Memory Care Unit. The
5K run/walk for Alzheimer’s
disease was held April 26.
Pines will host its second
“Run to Remember” next
year, on Saturday, April 25.
Medical Director of Pines
Rehabilitation Unit Dr. Adam
Bright chaired the event.
The funds raised from the
run will benefit Pines Garden
Memory Care Unit, as well
as the education programs
offered at Pines Education
Institute.
Couple
fights
zoning
regulations
Achim and Erika
Ginsberg-Klemmt
have faced a litany
of obstacles — and
haven’t backed down.
Dani with her handler, Debra
Cottrell, and Grace Daniels
Consulate Health Care
of Sarasota’s beloved service dog, Danielle, retires
after providing five years of
therapy to the residents and
patients at Consulate.
To celebrate the dog and
wish Dani farewell, guests
and some of her four-legged
friends joined Monday in the
dining room at Consulate
Health Care for a party.
Songs such as “Who Let
the Dogs Out” were playing
while party hats and cupcakes were offered to guests.
Dani and her doggie friends
enjoyed a dog-friendly cake.
field
of dreams
by David Conway | News Editor
DAIQUIRI DATES
Daiquiri Deck Vice President of Operations Matt Grover, President
Troy Syprett and Vice President of Marketing Russell Matthes
1993 — Daiquiri Deck
opens its first location in
Siesta Key Village.
I
1995 — Daiquiri Deck
opens a second location on
Madeira Beach in Pinellas
County.
Robin Hartill
n late 2010, Daiquiri Deck
owners Troy Syprett, Russell Matthes and Matt Grover
made a vow of solidarity: They
wouldn’t shave their beards until their new restaurant opened
on St. Armands Circle.
They didn’t expect their pact
would require them to go without shaving for five-and-a-half
months as construction issues delayed the opening. But,
in March 2011, they made the
cut when the restaurant finally
opened.
Three-and-a-half years later,
the trio hopes that several additional openings are on the
horizon. Will they ditch their razors once again in anticipation
of the milestones? Not a chance.
“That was a one-time thing,”
said Matthes, Daiquiri Deck’s
vice president of marketing.
Syprett, Matthes and Grover
plan to expand the second-story
St. Armands location to include
the ground-floor space previously occupied by Sarasota Yogurt Co. They hope the project
will be completed by Thanksgiving. They are in discussions
to open at a new, undisclosed
Sarasota County location by
the end of the year. In the long
term, they hope to continue to
add new locations, growing to
as many as 10 restaurants from
Clearwater to Naples.
Having a first-floor presence
on St. Armands was one of
their goals from the time they
opened there.
“We wanted the first floor
from the start, but it hasn’t been
available,” said Grover, vice
president of operations. “When
it became available, we jumped
on the opportunity.”
Renovations will add 1,500
square feet and approximately
75 seats to the restaurant’s existing nearly 3,000 square feet
and 200 seats. The company will
hire 30 to 40 new employees to
add to its current staff of 340.
“The basic plan is to bring the
atmosphere from upstairs to
the first floor,” Grover said.
They will add a folding
NanaWall, a folding glass wall
that will allow them to open up
1996 — Daiquiri Deck owners open the Peanut Gallery,
a small bar in Siesta Key
Village, which is now the raw
bar for the Siesta location.
2004 — The owners sell the
Madeira Beach location.
2011 — St. Armands Circle
location opens.
2013 — Venice location
opens.
2014 — The owners plan
to expand the St. Armands
location to the first floor and
possibly add a fourth location by the end of the year.
SEE EXPANSION / 10A
Erika and Achim GinsbergKlemmt have a history of fighting against perceived injustices.
The Sarasota couple, who
spent more than a decade living
around the world on a boat before settling in the area in 2005,
has taken on adversaries as large
as the French government in the
past, successfully challenging
the country’s entry procedures
when they believed the rules
were unfair. So, when the city of
Sarasota denied their application this year to build a mooring
field on the property they owned,
it didn’t take long for the couple
to decide to push back.
“We have a little bit of a fighting spirit in us,” Erika GinsbergKlemmt said. “It’s kind of kept
that going.”
In 2010, as the GinsbergKlemmts began investing in
real estate, the couple targeted
roughly three acres of underwater property adjacent to the Lawrence Pointe and Ritz-Carlton,
Sarasota condominiums. After
buying the adjoining parcels
for $19,200, they reached out to
their new neighbors to see if they
were interested in working together as the Ginsberg-Klemmts
sought to construct a mooring
field. Although the neighboring
property owners showed no interest, the two forged ahead with
their plans.
From the beginning, the city
made it clear that developing
something on the newly acquired property would be a challenge for the Ginsberg-Klemmts.
A meeting with former city Senior Planner Harvey Hoglund
painted a dire picture for their
prospects of building a mooring
field, Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt remembers.
“He just said, ‘We’ll never let
SEE MOORING / 2A
INDEX
Opinion.................8A
Classifieds ........ 27A
Cops Corner..........9A
Crossword.......... 26A
Permits.............. 25A
Real Estate........ 24A
Sports................ 16A
Weather............. 26A
Vol. 10, No. 38 | Two sections
YourObserver.com