Sarasota will sell a 14-acre toxic dump site in Newtown for $50,000 to a developer who estimates the cleanup alone will cost $4.5 million.

The City Commission voted 5-0 on Sept. 8 to approve a third amendment to its sale agreement with Newtown Gateway LLC for the Marian Anderson Place site at 2046 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Commissioners then passed Ordinance 25-5582 on first reading, rezoning 9.22 acres from a mixed commercial-residential zone to industrial general.

The site is the largest parcel the city owns. It has produced no jobs, services or property tax revenue for more than 80 years, according to LBK News.

The city bought the land east of U.S. 301 in April 1944 for $10 and used it as an unlicensed landfill for roughly two decades. In places, soil contains lead at 180,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg). The state's cleanup target for residential land is 400 mg/kg.

Arsenic runs as high as 134 mg/kg against a target of 2.1 mg/kg. Household debris sits packed as deep as 12 feet beneath a thin layer of topsoil. A March 2026 letter from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection also found groundwater contamination exceeding drinking-water cleanup levels.

Who's buying, and why the deal stalled

Newtown Gateway LLC is a partnership between Barron Channer, CEO of Miami-based Woodwater Investments, and three partners with Newtown roots: Keith DuBose, Ernie DuBose and Pastor Al Davis. Ernie DuBose said at the Sept. 8 hearing, "I remember coming here with my grandfather and dumping things off."

The original sale agreement, approved in April 2023, set the price at $50,000 because the developer assumes the full cleanup burden. Channer has estimated remediation at roughly $4.5 million.

Plans call for a health care clinic and medical offices on the northern parcel. The southern parcel would hold more than 100,000 square feet of light industrial and warehouse space along 21st Street.

Two hard deadlines under the prior contract both fell on Aug. 31 and both passed unmet. Under the old language, the commission had 14 days to extend the deal or kill it.

Deputy City Attorney John Shamsey told commissioners the delays were not the developer's fault. Hurricane Milton in October 2024 led the city to use the vacant property as a disaster debris staging site for more than six months, blocking environmental testing.

The site was not released until April 2025. Then the city's own zoning code froze the rezoning application while traffic concurrency rules were rewritten, a fix adopted Aug. 3. Shamsey said the rezoning delay was entirely on the city's side.

The third amendment pushes the north parcel's environmental filing deadline to Oct. 31. The south parcel gets roughly six months after the rezoning becomes final to secure its own state brownfield agreement. City Manager Karie Friling now has authority to grant future extensions of up to 60 days without a commission vote.

Commissioners toughen pollution rules, sidestep data centers

The ordinance as printed prohibited trash processing, recycling and crushing of materials only in an open-air setting. Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich said she had rewatched the Planning Board's September 2025 hearing and concluded the language did not reflect the board's intent.

Ron Kashden, speaking for the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations' Air Quality Committee, warned that rezoning without a site plan creates significant uncertainty. He pointed to the former U.S. Recycling concrete-crushing site near Booker High School.

After roughly 20 minutes of live drafting, commissioners voted 5-0 on broader language. The final version prohibits any primary use involving the processing or recycling of refuse or trash. It also bans the crushing, grinding or pulverizing of rocks, concrete, asbestos, asphalt or similar materials outdoors, even as a secondary use.

Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch asked whether Newtown Gateway would commit that the site never become a data center. She noted North Port commissioners had advanced an 18-month moratorium on data center applications on Sept. 1.

No data center restriction was added. City attorneys said Sarasota's zoning code does not define or list data centers, and under the code's default rule, a use not expressly permitted is prohibited. Channer said a data center was not part of the plan but declined a formal proffer, warning it could expose the developer to litigation from residents.

What happens next

The rezoning requires a second and final reading before the state-supervised cleanup can proceed. That date has not been announced. The amended contract allows the north parcel to close first, with half the $50,000 purchase price paid at each closing. The Florida Department of Transportation plans to signalize 21st Street at the industrial entrance.