SOLSTICE in 2025: A Year in Review
Another trip around the sun and, my, have the days flown by! There was a lot to commemorate, from dolphins jumping on the Palm Avenue Parking Garage sails, to a HUGE national honor for Jonathan, to a few new additions to our team. Part of our annual tradition is to share highlights of the previous year’s events, outings, and a look at our work in interior design, planning, and architecture.
We hope you enjoy our 2025 roundup.
Meet the Team
Left to right: Jonathan Parks, Kathryn Parks, Julia Kantor, Christopher Chudy, Angela Juenger, Roy Witte, Veronica Fox, Aaron Flores, Katrina Lopes, Michael Panchery, Dallas Chavez, Alanis Andrulonis, and Amely Wackerbauer
In 2025, we were excited to welcome newcomers:
Veronica Fox as a Design Professional, Architecture
Michael Panchery as a Design Professional, Planning
Dallas Chavez as a Design Professional, Architecture
Veronica, Michael, and Dallas all interned at SOLSTICE while receiving their Masters degrees before transitioning to become full-time. Veronica and Dallas both attended University of South Florida (Tampa) with Master in Architecture and Michael came to us by way of Rutgers University in New Jersey, where received a Master of City & Regional Planning with a concentration in Urban Design.
Dylan Jon Wade Cox
Watch this video and check out our very professional looking team photographed in 2025 on location (no green screens here!) at the Sarasota Garden Club by Dylan Jon Wade Cox Photographer.
Interior Design All The Time: The Year in Interiors
Our Interior Design team has been creating thoughtfully designed spaces throughout the region, with more than a dozen projects currently underway. These projects range from commercial environments—such as the KW Island Life real estate brokerage in Venice—to the public spaces at L’Elegance Condominium on Lido Key, as well as private residences in Siesta Key, Longboat Key, St. Pete Beach, and Sarasota.
Working in close collaboration with our architectural staff, the Interior Design team ensures that each project is not only visually compelling inside, but also seamlessly integrated with the building’s exterior—resulting in a cohesive, well-considered design from the inside out. (Brava, Julia & Katrina!)
Planning Makes Perfect: The Year in Planning
We’ve been working diligently in the Urban Planning and Design realm. In addition to beginning work on the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport campus plan and parking structure, SOLSTICE has been shortlisted for two major master planning RFPs, and is actively working on smaller-scale residential planning projects around Sarasota with relation to historic preservation and site planning.
All About Architecture: The Year in Architecture
19 projects. That’s NINETEEN PROJECTS NOW under construction! Wowee! Three on Longboat Key, one on Anna Maria Island, one on St. Pete Beach (plus another project in the design phase), four on the mainland, eight on Siesta Key, and one on the island of Venice. [And that doesn’t even include all our projects just in the design phases!] We are so grateful to our team for keeping all those plates spinning at once.
The BIG news!
Drum rolllllllllllllll…………..
We are proud to share that Founder and Principal, Jonathan Parks, has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2025 College of Fellows. This honor recognizes architects who have made significant contributions to the profession. Less than 3% of AIA members hold the prestigious FAIA designation.
Jonathan Parks, FAIA, stands with Evelyn Lee, FAIA (right), the current President of The American Institute of Architects
Leslie (Jonathan’s sister), Jonathan, Kathryn, and the in-laws, Sharon and David, who made the trip to Boston
The ceremony took place at Boston’s historic Trinity Church on June 5, 2025. Can you spot JP? (4th from left)
Held as part of the national AIA Conference on Architecture & Design (AIA25), the event celebrated this year’s class of newly elevated Fellows, with Jonathan among only three Florida-based architects to receive the distinction in 2025 - and the only Florida architect recognized in Object 1: Design.
To those of you who don’t know, being elevated to Fellow is a BIG deal for architects. It reflects on an entire career dedicated to your craft and takes a whole team of people (sponsor, references, chapter, colleagues, staff, the wife). So, if you haven’t already, send Jonathan a congratulatory email/text/or pat on the shoulder!
It was pretty neat for the office to be honored at the national AIA conference two years in a row, following our Honor Award for Urban Design for Rosemary Square in 2024.
Check out the latest in award-winning design
We were proud to bring in a handful of awards in 2025.
SRQ Magazine 4 Walls Gold Award for Commercial Space
We were recognized, along with our friends at Blok Design, for our work on the Palm Avenue Deli by the SRQ Magazine 4 Walls competition (above).
AIA Florida Gulf Coast Merit Award for Sustainability
And our residential project, Skyhook, brought in a Merit Award for Sustainability from AIA Gulf Coast! (Following it’s Honor award from AIA Tampa Bay for Architecture and another Merit Award for Sustainability!)
Best of SRQ, Best of Houzz, & Best of 2025
PLUS, we were once again named to SRQ Magazine’s Best of SRQ Local List as Silver for Best Local Sarasota Architect! Thank you again to our friends, clients, and colleagues who voted for us.
And we received Best of Houzz for Design and Service.
We also were recognized by BusinessRate at the Best Architect in Main Street Merchants for 2025! This recognition is based on verified date from Google Reviews. Keep the love coming and leave us a Google Review! <3
That’s Our Name in Lights!
AIA Florida featured our work on the St. Armands Parking Garage in their Spring 2025 edition of Florida/Caribbean Architect.
And you can read about our work in the book: Inspired Modern Living: Amazing Contemporary Home Designs and Interiors Imagined by Leading Architects and Interior Designers, now available on Amazon. Jonathan was even asked to write the forward on the Sustainability Chapter!
And here we produced our own video about the Urban ideas behind the SOLSTICE-designed Art Ovation Hotel in downtown Sarasota.
The Year in Pictures
January
(Above) In his role as Chair of the City of Sarasota Public Art Committee, Jonathan Parks met with artist David Lee and Ciera Coleman, Public Art Administrator, to celebrate this mural’s completion. A bit off the beaten path, you can find this mural on the back of 1521 Main Street (the alley in between 1st and Main).
February
(Above) In February, the international tour group, Tours d’Art, was treated to a two-day Sarasota Art and Architecture Tour organized by Karen Bergenthal - and the Solstice crew. Stops included a lecture with Marty Hilton, Art Ovation Hotel, Lido Shores, Sarasota High School, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Siesta Key, and more!
March
(Above) Our star intern from Virginia Tech, Alanis, shared her winning competition entry from her school project. She had to do an RFP! For fun!
(Above) Jonathan made the pilgrimage to see the Paul Rudolph exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art! The Met presented the first-ever major museum exhibition to examine the career of the influential 20th-century architect Paul Rudolph. We believe Jonathan has restored more Paul Rudolph buildings than anyone in the world!
April
(Above) Dylan Jon Wade Cox busting out the vintage camera in the vintage house by Jack West - with restoration by SOLSTICE Planning and Architecture.
(Above) Architectural Scholar, Christopher Wilson, presented the 100 Moderns That Matter at Architecture Sarasota with a slide showing our 2010 SOLSTICE-design, The Serrano Residence (The Piano House), on Lido Shores.
May
(Above) The team gets together after lunch for a posed picture with our intern Alanis before she heads back to school!
And that’s our Office Admin/Marketing Guru, Kathryn Parks, hosting a fundraiser for her film latest film “Musings: The Musical”. The evening was sponsored in part by SOLSTICE Planning and Architecture and she raised $11,000 in one night with $26,000 raised to date! She’s still got a little further to so so learn more and support KP’s musical short (now in post-production) at MusingsTheMusical.com.
June
(Above) It was the AIA National Conference in Boston, MA and this group is AIA Florida celebrating the three architects who were elevated to Fellowship: Jonathan Parks, Steven M. Langston, and Keith Lashley.
July/August
Keith Lashley, Steven M. Langston, and Jonathan Parks got together in Boston in June when they were elevated to Fellow and and then again in August they were honored at the state level at the AIA Florida Convention.
Here is Jonathan at the AIA Florida Conference in Tampa with Martin Diaz-Yabor, FAIA, on of the Founders of Diaz, Carreño, Scotti & Partners, Inc (and Jonathan’s FAIA sponsor) and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, FAIA, Professor in the School of Architecture at University of Miami and a leader in New Ubanism movement.
September
Julia’s form is impeccable on her birthday lunch outing while Christopher Chudy guided the students of USF on a day tour of the Sarasota School of Architecture and SOLSTICE projects! Here they are at a SOLSTICE interior + Architecture project restoring the work of Jack West.
October
In October, we got together with the Board of AIA Florida and helped to host a visit and tour of the Umbrella House with Marty Hilton of Architecture Sarasota.
November
It was a pretty incredible cross over event as the Public Art Committee (chaired by Jonathan Parks) teamed with Ringling College and Fresh Friday to project artwork on the Palm Avenue Parking Garage - designed by SOLSTICE Planning and Architecture!
December
On December 23rd, we got together for lunch at the Columbia to celebrate the holiday! We had fun with the team, alumni, plus a few special guest stars.
Real Estate News
Sold for $9.5 million, Longboat Key
The home on Harbor Cay Lane on Longboat Key sold for $9.5 million in 2025! SOLSTICE did a massive renovation of the existing canal-front home (both architecture and interiors) also in 2014. Wishing many happy memories to the new owner.
Sold for $6.35 million, Bird Key
310 Bird Key Drive in Sarasota was designed by the team at SOLSTICE and built by JE Tucker, Inc. The project was completed in 2014 and it sold for $6,350,000 in November 2025. We wish our clients well as they continue life’s journeys - on the mainland! *Fun fact, the new owners of 310 Bird Key are now living in their second SOLSTICE home!
Sold for $1,695,000, East of Trail
This spec home has 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, a pool, and is 3,067 square feet. It was built in 2025 and went pending within 4 days of being listed.
2025 Alumni Corner (SOLSTICE + Centerbrook)
And finally, here’s a look at SOLSTICE alumni in 2025 (!) and also Centerbrook Alumni. For those of you who don’t know, Jonathan spent more than 10 years working at the notable firm, Centerbrook Architects and Planners in Essex, CT. We make it a point to visit with the old crew whenever we can and we were up in Connecticut in June and we also ran into some familiar faces at the Paul Rudolph exhibit at the Met in March. Plus, we got to visit with our own SOLSTICE alum in 2025 including Alan, Emily, Paige, Sean, Leila, and Selma.
