Earle Kimel

Earle Kimel covers how growth, land use and local government decisions reshape property, infrastructure and daily life in Sarasota County, treating real estate as part of a broader story about community change. He primarily reports on local governments in Sarasota County alongside land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. He has reported for the Herald-Tribune since 1997, bringing long-running context to debates over where and how the region grows.

Master-planned communities and large-scale housing projects

Kimel’s core real estate work follows large master-planned communities and major suburban expansions from early proposals through commission votes and zoning decisions. In coverage of the Palmer Ranch East plan for up to 5,700 homes on 2,351 acres east of Interstate 75, he explains the structure of the development, the parcels under unified control, and how additional attainable housing units are balanced against conservation easements and industrial acreage. He walks through the series of required approvals - comprehensive plan text and map amendments, unified development code changes, and a Development of Critical Concern master plan - spelling out what each step does and what it unlocks for the developer and the county.

His reporting on Lakewood Ranch Southeast’s final phases shows the same attention to capacity and scale, detailing acreage, projected home counts and the place of that project within a 35,000-acre master-planned community.

He notes how zoning changes on 893 acres translate into as many as 1,088 new homes, and situates those numbers within Lakewood Ranch’s status as a leading multi-generational community. Across these stories, he distinguishes himself by consistently pairing unit counts and land-use designations with the policy frameworks that govern them, making growth decisions legible rather than treating them as isolated real estate transactions.

Downtown condominiums, infill and neighborhood redevelopment

Kimel’s real estate coverage extends into downtown Sarasota, where he follows controversial condominium projects and infill developments that test local rules on short-term rentals and building height. In reporting on the Saravela project, a proposed 282-unit luxury complex in the Rosemary District, he breaks down tower configurations, attainable-home set-asides, retail frontage, parking provisions and the mechanics of a program that would let owners rent units for short stays. He contrasts that project with another planned complex, The Well, explaining how condo-hotel units, traditional residences and retail space combine in one seven-story building and how those mixes interact with evolving city policies.

Kimel also follows smaller-scale but contentious downtown changes, including a controversial condo tower near Laurel Park that returns repeatedly to city review. In his coverage of the 1899 Fruitville mixed-use project, which would bring 324 apartments to a site currently occupied by bungalow businesses, he documents both the development proposal and the efforts of business owners to relocate together, weaving aerial views, preservation of grand trees and new site plans into a narrative about neighborhood turnover.

Across these downtown pieces, he focuses on how new condominium and apartment projects alter existing commercial clusters and streetscapes, emphasizing design details and local response rather than only price points.

Infrastructure, environment and resilience funding

A significant strand of Kimel’s work explores how infrastructure and environmental projects intersect with property, especially when governments seek new funding mechanisms or repurpose land.

His coverage of the former Gulf Gate golf course shows this clearly: he traces plans to acquire the 48.9-acre property for a stormwater facility, explains goals around reducing flooding and improving water quality, and outlines a proposal that could assess nearby homeowners to help pay for the purchase. He follows the site through potential brownfield designation and redevelopment concepts such as the Lotus Bay plan, connecting environmental remediation, drainage needs and future residential use on the same tract.

Kimel also reports on resilience funding tied to hurricanes and coastal infrastructure, detailing how millions in mitigation grants flow into Sarasota and Manatee counties. In his coverage of historic swing bridge preservation, he breaks down cost projections and shows how repair or replacement decisions affect both heritage structures and transportation networks. In hurricane recovery pieces he explains the types of projects funded - home elevations, buyouts, drainage improvements and safe rooms - and shows how broad state-level awards translate into specific local mitigation efforts.

These stories set him apart by treating infrastructure and resilience as part of the real estate picture, consistently linking funding programs and engineering choices to the homes and neighborhoods they are meant to protect.

Local government, elections, public safety and business openings

Kimel’s government and growth beat brings him into electoral and public safety coverage when those issues are tied to community governance and the built environment. He has reported on school board races that shift partisan control, detailing how voters loosened a Republican grip on the Sarasota County School Board and what that means for local oversight. In election-administration stories, he spells out registration deadlines and procedural requirements, such as the need for voters to register by a specific date ahead of the general election, emphasizing the mechanics that underpin civic participation.

His coverage of a fatal apartment shooting ruling explains prosecutorial decisions and legal standards while keeping the focus on how such incidents affect residents in multifamily housing.

On the business side of his patch, Kimel regularly covers restaurant and retail openings that accompany the region’s growth, especially when national or fast-growing franchises choose local sites tied to new development. He has reported on Chicken Salad Chick’s first Sarasota location, describing the chain’s concept and tracing its expansion through prior acquisitions and relocations, and on other upscale and fast-growing restaurant brands moving into major commercial hubs. In pieces on a new Indian restaurant arriving via food truck before opening a brick-and-mortar space, he highlights how operators test the market and build presence near key corridors. He also documents beloved local businesses forced to move when a new apartment complex is planned, using photos and on-the-ground reporting to show how small retailers navigate displacement and seek new clustered locations. Alongside property profiles that include historic estates with ties to prominent cultural figures, this mix of government, safety and business coverage gives his beat a human scale, grounding real estate stories in the people and decisions that animate the built environment.