Benderson Park boathouse advances despite scrutiny over size, funding gap

After more than a decade, Nathan Benderson Park is moving forward with plans for a long-discussed boathouse project, with construction bids already out and a contractor expected to be selected in June.

What park officials now propose, however, is far more ambitious than the simple rowing facility envisioned in a master plan in 2010. The project has morphed into a 100,000-square-foot sports complex with basketball courts, weight rooms, catering facilities and a price tag that is expected to be as much as $70 million.

Even some longtime rowers have come out against the size and scope.

While Sarasota County has already committed $20 million toward the project, the conservancy overseeing the effort has yet to raise any of the tens of millions of dollars in private donations still needed to build it.

Critics say the proposal reflects a familiar pattern at Nathan Benderson Park: ambitious expansion plans backed in part by taxpayer dollars but heavily dependent on private fundraising that has yet to materialize.

The concerns echo debates that surrounded earlier park improvements more than a decade ago, when county leaders approved millions in public funding alongside expectations that private donors would line up to finance future phases of development — including a boathouse that was never built.

“That a county commission would fall for this ‘bait then bail’ scheme not once but twice is fiscally irresponsible and is a disservice to our community,” said Pat Rounds, past secretary of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, who has followed the situation closely. She says the boathouse should have been covered by private money back in 2013.

Some longtime rowing supporters believe the facility is too large for the park’s crowded man-made island — the 30 acres that already draw the biggest crowds — and could interfere with major events. And they question who will pay for it.

The Benderson Family Philanthropic Foundation has said it will chip in 20% of the total cost, or about $14 million. The foundation has already paid about a half-million dollars for design costs. But even with that and the county’s commitment, the project still faces a $36 million shortfall needed from fundraising and private donations.

Park officials confirmed they have not gotten any donations so far.

“We’ve raised zero dollars,” said Bruce Patneaude, chief operating officer for the park’s conservancy. “Nobody is hiding that.”

He said the organization has been in a “quiet period” but it is gearing up for a major fundraising push.

A county spokeswoman said the conservancy’s agreement with Sarasota County requires that it “provide documentation of financial capacity to fund the project, or a binding third-party agreement, prior to the start of construction.”

If the fundraising campaign falls short, Patneaude said he has a “backup plan” but would not elaborate.

Calls to Benderson Development Co. and chairman of the park conservancy’s board of directors Michael Taaffe were not returned.

Park officials are now rushing to get it completed by 2028 — before Nathan Benderson Park hosts the World Rowing Championships.

Assistant County Administrator Nicole Rissler, who has been working on the project since its infancy, said if the boathouse facility could not be completed by then, construction would be delayed until after the championships.

“We cannot have an active construction site when the World Rowing Championships are here,” she said.

A boathouse with pickleball and a basketball court

Once a borrow pit that supplied fill dirt, sand and crushed shells for the construction of nearby Interstate 75, Sarasota County bought what is now Nathan Benderson Park for $2 million in 1995.

Even before a major makeover that made the venue what it is today, the park’s 400-acre lake was appealing to rowers.

Randy Higel, a lifelong Sarasota resident, rower and founder of the Sarasota Scullers rowing club, remembers a scouting trip in 2001 when he videotaped the lake from the passenger seat of a small airplane. He could tell it had potential even then.

Rowers began holding competitions in the park in 2003, well before any improvements were made. Years later, crews took out a berm in the lake so races could go for 2,000 meters, the distance required by international event organizers.

Since then, the site has become a jewel for the region, hosting major international regattas — including the 2017 World Rowing Championships and the 2019 World Rowing U23 Championships — that draw tens of thousands of visitors to the Suncoast who stay at hotels, eat at local restaurants and shop at nearby retailers.

As part of a master plan for improvements, park leaders have envisioned a boathouse on the site since at least 2010 — a major component needed to keep the venue competitive for securing future racing circuits.

A boathouse for rowing regattas is a specialized building designed for storing and repairing the rowing boats and oars — a crucial hub for training and competitions.

The concept to expand those plans to include an indoor recreation facility didn’t come until 2022.

That year, at the county’s request, the conservancy funded a feasibility study that found a “significant void of available indoor sports complex space” in the Sarasota-Manatee market.

Sarasota County Commissioners voted in May 2022 to dedicate $20 million in tourist taxes to help fund the vision.

At the time, commissioners cited the multisport complex as their primary motivation.

The late Nancy Detert, who was a county commissioner and also served as chair of the Tourist Development Council, wanted to know exactly how much the bill was attributable to just the original rowing boathouse.

“We’re probably talking about a $40 million-plus project,” said Rissler, who was director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources at the time. About $10 million could be attributed to the boathouse, she added.

In a July commission meeting, Rissler was back, this time with total cost estimates as high as $70 million.

She told commissioners that her goal was to return at the beginning of 2026 with construction drawings and a more precise cost estimate. That has not happened yet.

But despite delays and public pushback, commissioners over the years have been supportive of the project.

“Can we just stop for a moment and remind everybody, for those of us that have lived here as long as I have, this used to be a dirt pit,” Commissioner Teresa Mast said at the July meeting. “I want everybody to just let that sink in for a minute.

“I’m just saying people need to understand we have taken a lemon and we’ve made lemonade, and I mean world-class lemonade.”

Rowers push back against expansion plans

Higel calls the proposal for the massive multisport complex “overkill.”

During major regatta events, he said the man-made island where the facility would be built is already “jam-packed full.”

“It seems like too big of a footprint,” he said. “There’s other places to put that.”

Terry Galvin, a rower, park volunteer, and friend of Higel’s, says the facility would be an “inappropriate use” of park grounds.

Galvin, who has written guest columns in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune pushing back on the proposal, believes the building would take up a lot of limited space for sports like basketball and weight training that have “nothing to do with the purpose of the park.”

County and park officials say the county-owned park isn’t there just to serve the rowing community. It’s there for paddlers and pickleballers alike. The proposed facility would include space to host events for sports like volleyball, wrestling, dance, cheer and martial arts.

Suncoast Searchlight met recently with Louis Kosiba, who serves on the board of the Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy, and Patneaude on the fourth floor of the finish tower.

Patneaude said the impacts can be managed. For example, to handle fewer parking spaces on the island, the organization might add parking at the south end of the park and run trams for rowing spectators.

He also cites the new facility as becoming a huge asset for other future events.

“It couldn’t be better from an event standpoint,” he said. “Now I have food and beverage, I have more bathrooms, not portalets. I can get people out of the heat into the air conditioning.”

Stakeholders scramble to raise private donations

To those closely following the boathouse plan, the promises to find private funding to help pay for it follow the same script as prior improvements to the park.

One earlier round of park improvements backed by taxpayer money was supposed to also be supplemented with private donations. In that case, they never came. Some now fear the scenario will replay on a boathouse facility with a soaring price tag.

In 2013, the county approved a plan to provide $19.5 million in tourist tax funds to pay for the first two phases of improvements at the park. The work included dredging the lake and piling up enough dirt and sand to create “Regatta Island.”

Both phases were funded with county money.

The third phase, according to a county press release in 2013, would include “construction of a state-of-the-art boathouse, timing towers, grandstands and other amenities” and be funded by “SANCA and corporate support.”

SANCA stands for Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates Inc. It is the predecessor to the park’s current manager, Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy.

Suncoast Searchlight scoured hours of commission meetings, public records and news archives but found no evidence that any private funds were raised for phase III. No boathouse was built, and the more than $6 million finish tower was paid for by the Benderson family — with no outside support.

Galvin, the rower and park volunteer, says he has seen little evidence that the conservancy is now making a better effort to raise money for the boathouse.

“There have been no gala fundraisers or silent auctions — and there has been no publicly promoted campaign,” he said. “There isn’t even a donate button on the homepage of the park’s website.”

For Galvin and others, the biggest question now looming over the project is what happens if the conservancy is unable to raise the needed $36 million.

Rissler said if a sufficient amount isn’t raised, the $20 million from Sarasota County would be reallocated. “There’s actually no funding agreement for that yet,” she said. “Any capital improvement has to be authorized by us.”

Construction proposals are due May 22. A winner will be announced on June 15, and the required completion date is May 5, 2028.

There has not been a date set for a groundbreaking.

John Dunbar is a watchdog/investigative reporter at Suncoast Searchlight. Email John at john@suncoastsearchlight.org.