CROWDS ARE FLOCKING TO DOWNTOWN TO WORK, PLAY AND LIVE.(QUEST)

Byline: Pat Ringling Buck

Among the many old, new and choice housing developments flourishing in the Sarasota area, the hottest market of all, according to Realtors, has no registered name or specific address. It's Downtown and, just like '60s songstress Petula Clark, that's where many people long to go.

"There's so much more happening downtown," says Lois Bennett of Michael Saunders & Company, who specializes in the bayfront condominium neighborhood. "There's a real `city' feeling now, and people like to be there."

Enormous changes have taken place in downtown Sarasota in the 1990s. With the completion of the city's redevelopment and bayfront beautification projects has come a re-energized Main Street. Evenings and weekends find folks strolling to Burns Court, peering in gallery windows, and patronizing popular theaters, pubs and restaurants.

From Gulfstream Avenue to 10th Street and from U.S. 41 to 301, more of everything beckons: clubs, restaurants, art galleries, music and, most notably, the movies. The recently …