Sarasota’s Bay Park project was conceived more than a decade ago as an ambitious vision to turn 53 acres surrounding the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall into a sprawling public park that would reshape the city’s waterfront.

The first phase of the project has delivered on that vision, with expansive green spaces, walking paths and public amenities that opened to the community in 2022. A second phase is now underway. 

But the park’s next phases – which include a $407 million performing arts center – face an uncertain future amid fierce debate and shifting political winds that could deprive it of the taxpayer-funded money on which its proponents had counted. 

Funding for the center was supposed to come, as it has for other portions of The Bay Park, through grants, private donations and revenue generated from a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district created five years ago by the city and county of Sarasota.

Designed to capture the increase in surrounding property values and channel those funds back into the park’s development, the TIF initially was expected to raise $200 million over three decades. But thanks to rising property values in the district, a recent Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation projection shows the balance has quadrupled to $775 million.

Supporters of the new performing arts center say that unexpected windfall should cover the costs of the new venue – a glass-covered complex on the eastern edge of the park featuring a 2,700-seat theater, lobby and multi-purpose facility that would rival those in bigger cities and cement Sarasota’s status as a cultural destination. 

Critics argue that Sarasota’s existing venues, including the Van Wezel, are sufficient to meet the community’s needs and that the funds could be better used for other projects.

As the two sides spar in public forums and through letters and opinion pieces in local newspapers, political leaders appear uncertain about how to proceed.

The county, which initially supported the TIF district, has shown signs of reluctance to continue its financial commitment. There’s not a single county commissioner left in office who voted in support of creating the TIF, and, just this past year, the county deposited less than half of its portion of tax dollars generated by the TIF into the improvement district. 

There also are concerns that its support may not last the full term.

“The issue I have is we have a fiduciary responsibility for those tax dollars,” Sarasota County Commissioner Mark Smith told Suncoast Searchlight. “It’s not guaranteed the county will be involved for the full 30 years.”

If the county pulls out, the city and the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation would be left to shoulder the entire cost of the new center, raising doubts about the financial feasibility of the project.

The city is at a critical juncture, with commissioners set to discuss moving forward Monday with an implementation plan from the architecture firm designing the new facility.

If approved, the city would commit to a $36 million contract with that firm – Renzo Piano Building Workshop – which includes a $3.6 million termination fee should the project be halted.

“I think it’s time for the City Commission to hit the pause button and conduct more due diligence,” wrote Peter Blanton, a resident living in Quay Sarasota just south of the Van Wezel, in a letter to the commission ahead of next week’s meeting. 

“At a minimum,” he wrote, “the City Commission should wait for the recommendations of the Van Wezel Purple Ribbon committee, which are only a few months away.” 

Fans of the ‘Purple Cow’ seek to save the venue

Playing a central role in the debate over the new performing arts center is the Van Wezel.

Known as the “Purple Cow” for its distinctive lavender hue, the Van Wezel represents a cherished piece of Sarasota’s cultural heritage. Designed by the son-in-law of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and named after local philanthropists Louis and Eugenia Van Wezel, the iconic building has hosted a wide range of performances – from Broadway shows to ballet, opera, and concerts. 

As one of the city’s primary cultural venues, it has long been the center of Sarasota’s arts scene, drawing visitors from around the region and beyond. 

But the aging structure, built in 1970, faces several challenges that have sparked discussions about its role and potential replacement.​ 

Top of mind is the venue’s 1,741-seat capacity, considered by some to be insufficient for some of the largest events and forcing Suncoast residents to travel elsewhere to see those types of shows. Then there’s the significant damage it sustained during Hurricane Milton, when up to 4 feet of storm surge flooded several parts of the building, leading to the cancellation of performances through the end of 2024.

A recent engineering report estimates it would cost about $17 million in repairs and upgrades to preserve and protect the 55-year-old facility. These improvements would address various deficiencies, including structural enhancements and water intrusion mitigation, such as installing a hardened seawall or portable flood wall system. ​

If the city funds anything, critics have said, it should go toward renovating and preserving the Van Wezel – not building a new venue.

“We used to take such pride” in the Van Wezel, said Sarasota resident Kelly Franklin, who launched KeeptheVanWezel.com to highlight the facility’s historic connections to Sarasota and to dispel what she calls myths about its inability to serve Sarasota’s needs into the future.

Her efforts came on the heels of a 2022 agreement between the city and the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation to prevent the Van Wezel from competing with the future performing arts center. The deal was intended to avoid overlapping programming and foster a complementary relationship between the two venues, but it set off alarm bells for Franklin and others.

Franklin questioned the idea of the Van Wezel being used for something other than a performing arts hall and the shift in how the Van Wezel was described by city officials. 

“It was silly and simple,” Franklin said of the Van Wezel. “It was our pride and joy.”

Now, she says, if you listen to public officials, it’s an antiquated center requiring a massive upgrade to maintain Sarasota’s reputation as a center for arts and culture. 

For Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert, those arguments, while well-intentioned, are a case of history repeating itself. 

The Van Wezel, she told Suncoast Searchlight, faced opposition before it was built, as well. 

“People thought it was foolish. People thought we didn’t need it,” Alpert said. “But imagine if that commission then had listened to those naysayers and not built it.” 

Alpert, who said she was inspired by a 2015 meeting with early advocates of the Bay Park project to run for city commission, has remained one of the strongest supporters of the park and its proposed performing arts center. 

She noted that she’s not alone, citing a recent survey of county residents showing 71% support building the new center – a survey that Franklin notes did not include a price tag for the center and roughly 90% of respondents did not know about the redevelopment plan.

Alpert also said that the new venue was always part of the overall plan.

City’s financial burden could swell

From the beginning, organizers of The Bay pitched the project as a public-private partnership. They convinced city and county leaders to contribute half the funds for park improvements based on the promise that private donors would pony up the other half. 

Their agreement led to the creation of the nonprofit Bay Park Conservancy to solicit tax-deductible donations and oversee planning and development of the park. It also led to the creation of the city-county Tax Increment Financing district to supply the public funds.

The first phase of The Bay, completed in 2022 for $40 million, was financed almost exclusively through private donations. The second phase, launched last year, required $48 million in bonded debt funded by the TIF. 

At an estimated price tag of $407 million, the performing arts center would require substantially more money from both public and private sources – $203.5 million from philanthropic contributions and $203.5 million split between the city and county from the TIF.

Baked into the TIF agreement, however, is a provision allowing either the city or county to decide how their share of the funds is spent, with the option to withhold their portion for specific projects or even withdraw entirely during the 30-year period.

If the county pulls out, the city’s financial burden for the center would increase to the full $203.5 million – and possibly double that if recent cost projections by a private accountant prove correct. 

Ron Kashdan, a Sarasota-based certified public accountant with experience auditing other performing arts centers, released a white paper earlier this year projecting that the city would be on the hook for $427.3 million if the county backs out. 

That figure includes $203.5 million in construction costs – which represents the entire public portion of the public-private split – plus $155 million in interest payments, half of the $36.9 million architectural design fee and an estimated $50 million to address parking needs. 

That cost, Kashdan said, is financially unviable. 

Kashdan, who is married to Franklin, also questioned the foundation’s ability to raise its half of the funds amid several other projects competing for philanthropic dollars. Among them: the Sarasota Orchestra, MOTE Marine, Selby Gardens, Ringling College and the Florida Studio Theaters Arts Plaza – collectively needing more than $400 million in private donations to build their own capital projects. 

“It will be challenging for the PAF (Performing Arts Foundation) to raise $203.5 million in this competitive environment, and doing so may well come at the cost for other projects with a clearer need and a greater ROI (return on investment) for the community,” Kashden wrote in the white paper. 

But Bill Waddill, former chief implementation officer with the Bay Park Conservancy and current Kimley-Horn and Associates consultant for the foundation, expressed faith in the county’s continued partnership. 

He also said that the TIF would have plenty of money to cover the costs – especially with the new projection coming in at $775 million. 

“There will be enough money,” Waddill told Suncoast Searchlight, “to fund the park, performing arts center and connectivity.” 

But Kashdan questioned the accuracy of the new projection, saying he cynically wonders if it was in response to his white paper saying the city could not afford it. 

Not only is the new figure nearly four times higher than the original projection; it’s almost double the $464 million figure that officials cited the last time they updated it in 2022.

TIF revenue projections are inherently uncertain, Waddill said.

TIFs work by designating a geographic area as a TIF district and, as property values inside that district rise from redevelopment or improvements, the extra taxes they generate are diverted from the general fund and placed instead into a special fund that finances further infrastructure improvements within that area.

When the Bay Park TIF was created, officials set the district’s 2019 property values as its baseline. Any increases in those values above that benchmark have been designated for The Bay Park, the performing arts center and connectivity between the park and surrounding neighborhoods. 

While some TIF districts experience modest bumps in values over their lifespans, the Bay’s TIF has quickly outpaced previous estimates as several luxury condo buildings have sprouted and stretched to the sky.

“I can’t figure out what additional buildings would bring the TIF from that October 2022 figure to the current $775 million in the latest foundation presentation,” Kashdan told the Suncoast Searchlight. 

City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, an early skeptic of The Bay who ultimately voted to support it, also said she questions the $775 million figure. 

Insisting that she still believes in the project, Ahearn-Koch nonetheless seeks answers about the new projection. 

“I want to see the details,” she said.

Derek Gilliam is an investigative/watchdog reporter for Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.