It could be a jazz club, or perhaps restored as a hotel.

Instead, the new nonprofit ownership of the historic Colson Hotel on the edge of the Rosemary District near Newtown plans to honor the century-old building’s roots by providing spaces oriented toward entrepreneurs across all demographics to help plant their own seedlings and eventually branch out into the business world.

Anand Pallegar led a collaborative effort to purchase the Colson Hotel at 1425 Eighth St. for $700,000 from a developer, saving it from likely demolition. Now that the remnants of years of occupation by vagrants have been removed, Pallegar’s DreamLarge marketing firm, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation — partners in Save Sarasota Historic Properties Inc. — the concept of the Colson Collective has materialized.

“As we got into the property and saw it was largely intact to what it probably looked a lot like in the 1920s, it became all the more important to preserve that as opposed to taking down walls and modifying it for a different use,” Pallegar told the Observer. “So the question was, in preserving it what is the highest and best use that would best serve the community?”

The answer, Pallegar said, was, “If we can incubate the next generation of ideas, entrepreneurs and nonprofits, the economic impact from that hotel could be tremendous as it catalyzes over years and decades versus just being a singular business.”

Originally named Colson Hotel for Negroes, it was the first accommodation in Sarasota for African-Americans during segregation. Occupants of the 28 rooms shared common bathrooms, but found there safe and inviting lodging in the Jim Crow era.

At the Sarasota City Commission’s July 21 meeting, Pallegar updated commissioners, just as he pledged to do on a regular basis as it was they who were instrumental in granting to developer JDMax necessary adjustments necessary for its planning of multifamily residences bordering the Colson. The developer had previously planned to incorporate the Colson site in the plan, likely demolishing it.

A sketch plan for the Colson Collective.

Courtesy image

Having been previously denied an application to take down the building by the Sarasota Historic Preservation Board, JDMax had appealed the ruling to the City Commission and, according to Pallegar at the time, had “checked all the boxes” to determine demolition would be permissible.

That’s when Pallegar and company stepped forward with a plan to acquire the Colson building and repurpose it in some fashion to preserve its iconic heritage, should the city allow. He appeared before the commission in September 2024 with JDMax principal Maximilian Vollmer seeking the necessary adjustments, pledging to acquire the building and preserve it if granted.

Last week, Pallegar told commissioners Save Sarasota Historic Properties is the “interim owner,” and the newly formed nonprofit is poised to launch a capital campaign to raise the $2 million to $3 million needed to restore the building and create an entity to operate it as a space for rent-based business incubator.

Preserving the legacy

Intent on paying homage to the Colson Hotel legacy, Pallegar told commissioners any adaptive reuse of the structure would require considerable reconfiguration of the interior. A hotel use would mean combining rooms by tearing out walls and running extensive plumbing for private bathrooms. That would reduce the original 28 rooms to perhaps a dozen or so, likely an unsustainable business model.

A jazz club, by the same token, would mean completely gutting the building and, by operating as a bar, restricting its access to the community at-large. 

“We believe that by going down this path, we can create a vision that is ultimately sustainable through a rent-based model that will not only protect the past but also catalyze the future,” Pallegar told commissioners last week. “The mission for the Colson Collective is to empower, support, foster and ultimately drive economic and social impact while preserving the legacy.”

A presented sketch plan largely maintains the existing form of the original 28 hotel rooms, requiring little change to the layout of the building. The final configuration may include 24 work spaces with some rooms on the first floor being combined. 

Outside, a courtyard partially surrounded by the U-shaped building could be a venue for live music, such as a jazz ensemble, in the evenings. 

For now, the Colson Collective remains an idea. Pallegar said the ownership group is in the process of formalizing the operational structure and recruiting members for a board of directors. Planning for a formal capital campaign is also underway.

Anand Pallegar is leading the effort to preserve the Colson Hotel building.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

“The intent is to stand up a nonprofit organization that will carry the vision and principles of the collective forward,” Pallegar told the Observer. “Part of what we’re doing at the moment is recruiting for that organization — board members as well as donors. Now that we’ve clarified a direction, it’s going to become a lot easier to have those meaningful conversations with potential donors.”

The total capital raise for the project, he said, is approximately $2.5 million. “It’s a relatively small project in the grand scheme of things in Sarasota,” he said.

The Colson Hotel opened in late 1926. The upcoming 100-year anniversary, Pallegar said, provides a target date for the grand opening of the Colson Collective.

“In a perfect world,” he said, “we would be cutting the ribbon exactly 100 years to the day it opened.”