Seven years ago, Sarasota unveiled an ambitious plan for its bayfront — a reimagined 53-acre waterfront park crowned by a state-of-the-art performing arts center to replace the aging Van Wezel, funded equally by private donations and public dollars.
The announcement came during a boom in other big-ticket cultural projects. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium was planning a new facility near Interstate 75. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens unveiled a three-phase campus overhaul. And Sarasota Orchestra set its sights on a purpose-built concert hall.
Today, three of those visions are well on their way — Mote’s $130 million Science Education Aquarium is nearly complete; Selby, having raised $115 million so far, recently moved into its second phase; and the orchestra has secured a $14 million site and raised $70 million toward its new concert hall.
The performing arts center, by contrast, remains relatively stalled, its future tangled in politics, environmental concerns and slow fundraising. The plan calls for two elevated buildings — a 2,700-seat main theater and a smaller multipurpose venue — linked by raised walkways.
The estimated price tag: $407 million.
So far, the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation — formerly the Van Wezel Foundation — has secured just over $23 million in announced donations, barely more than 10% of its needed goal.
At the current fundraising pace, it would take more than six decades to get there.
To understand why, Suncoast Searchlight interviewed more than a dozen people — including foundation staff and current and past board members, as well as leaders of the other three projects — reviewed years of financial filings and examined reams of public reports and other records.
Among the findings, the center’s dependence on public funding through the city-county TIF has invited political friction and uncertainty, especially with county leaders questioning whether to contribute.
Meanwhile, the proposed location, just steps from Sarasota Bay, faces the same rising seas and storm surge that have already damaged the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and could threaten any new structure there.
And while peer institutions have benefited from long-tenured leaders and deep community roots, the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation has weathered leadership changes, with its current CEO arriving only last year.
Meanwhile, persistent social media criticism from a vocal group of opponents led by resident Kelly Franklin has amplified doubts about the project’s necessity and financial feasibility.
“They have a megaphone telling everyone it’s not viable, and that hurts,” said David Lough, president of the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association and a member of the Rosemary District Association, who supports plans for a new performing arts center. Lough said he was not speaking on behalf of either board.
“I think there may be a perception from people who want to write checks that it’s just, ‘Is this so contentious?’” Lough said. “‘It’s never going to happen, right? You know, who’s going to make a decision? Who has the vision?’”
Other cultural projects build trust — and donor momentum — early
That uncertainty contrasts with other major projects, whose leaders told Suncoast Searchlight they built trust early, communicated often and kept up a steady drumbeat of fundraising and milestones.
Mote Marine overcame pandemic disruptions and construction challenges. Selby Gardens pushed ahead despite neighborhood opposition to its parking garage. Sarasota Orchestra regrouped after its first proposed site was rejected by the city amid organized resistance, also led by Franklin. It then found another location with better access to the interstate.
Kevin Cooper, vice president of communications for Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, said the project’s fundraising campaign was years in the making before it was announced and stayed on budget. The vision also remained true to what donors were promised.
“When you look at the renderings, some of the early renderings, and you look at the building today, it’s pretty close,” Cooper said. “Giving people what they’ve invested in is important.”
He credited Mote’s long-standing community ties — with some employees serving 15 to 30 years — for fostering the trust that makes fundraising possible.
For Sarasota Orchestra President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph McKenna, who has led the organization since 2001, trust is also the cornerstone. His five-person executive team has a combined 80 years in the community — experience he said donors recognize and value.
The orchestra’s concert hall, estimated to cost between $375 million and $425 million, has also benefited from a longstanding need: Unlike other major orchestras, Sarasota’s does not own its own home. McKenna said that urgency has helped sustain giving.
“Fundraising is successful because people can see that track record, and they’re inspired by the work,” he said. “They make a gift believing that they know that it’s going to make a difference.”
Selby Garden’s President and Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Rominiecki pointed to transparency and clear communication on “a core institutional need” that helped drive donations to the project. So far, 6,000 contributors have made donations ranging from $10 to $15 million.
“It’s happening fast, and people can see the impact of their investment,” she said, adding that the first phase’s success drew national coverage, helping raise $50.4 million for phase two in less than a year.
By contrast, the performing arts center’s early years were quieter, with fewer public milestones and a slower fundraising cadence, making it harder to project inevitability to donors.
Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, the foundation’s chief executive since 2024, said it is misleading to compare the group’s progress with other cultural projects announced in 2018 because it did not sign a formal partnership agreement with the city to build the center until 2022.
She cited a newly hired chief development officer and an expanded fundraising team as signs of renewed focus, and said the city’s approval of an implementation agreement with the foundation could mark a turning point.
“We’re really strengthening our fundraising team,” she said, “because that’s a big part of what we have to do for this project.”
Funding plan's political hurdles slow progress
Unlike Sarasota’s other cultural projects, the performing arts center has been tethered from the start to a public-private financing plan.
When the Bay Park master plan passed in 2018, city and county officials agreed to create a Tax Increment Financing district — a tool that sets aside future growth in property tax revenue within a defined area for public improvements there. The TIF itself was created in 2020.
At the time, it was expected to bring in about $200 million before expiring in 2049, with the city and county splitting control of the funds. Property values around the bayfront since then have far outpaced expectations, with high-rise condo towers pushing projected revenue to an estimated $775 million.
But half that total is controlled by the Sarasota County Commission — and county leaders have shown little interest in spending it on a new performing arts center. Some have even explored ending their participation in the TIF early.
“It’s not guaranteed the county will be involved for the full 30 years,” County Commissioner Mark Smith told Suncoast Searchlight in a previous interview. “We have a fiduciary responsibility for those tax dollars.”
While the county’s stance does not dictate the city’s decision, it creates a scenario in which the city might have to fund more than $200 million of the center’s public share alone — plus another $155 million in financing costs at current interest rates.
That uncertainty is part of why the city has twice delayed a vote on an implementation agreement with the foundation, a step needed to move forward. This is often the proof major donors need before writing large checks.
“The price tag of this is exorbitant,” City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch told Suncoast Searchlight, referring to the city’s share of the costs. “It’s something that I’ve not seen that the city can afford.”
Ahearn-Koch said she still lacks basic information about maintenance and operating costs. And with county officials signaling they do not plan to pitch in, she doubts the city can shoulder the full public portion of the bill.
“If we can’t afford to build it, maintain it and all the other things we will need to do,” she said, “we can’t afford it.”
For Moskalenko, the contrast with other major cultural projects is stark. Mote Marine, Selby Gardens and Sarasota Orchestra could move forward without waiting for dual government approvals, she noted, while the center must navigate a multi-layered process that slows every decision.
Moskalenko insisted the partnership makes the project more inclusive, giving the broader community a stake in the outcome. But she acknowledged the trade-off: more steps, more politics, more time.
“If you want to go fast, go alone,” she said, quoting an African proverb. “If you want to go far, go together.”
Drayton Saunders, co-chair of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation, recalled the hundreds of community meetings that, early on, shaped The Bay Park plan and cemented support for both the park and a new performing arts center.
While he conceded the public-private partnership has challenges, he said he believes a collaboration between the city and private philanthropy can deliver something iconic — beyond what either could achieve alone.
“I am very confident that as we move into the fall, we will be able to present that winning strategy to the community, one that we can all celebrate as that turning point from going slow to going fast,” Saunders said.
The success of the other projects, he added, suggests that once the city commits, major donations will follow.
“If those were not successful,” he said, “I would be worried.”
Waterfront site brings climate and access concerns
On a calm day, the Van Wezel’s proximity to Sarasota Bay is part of its charm — just 25 feet from the water at its closest point, with sunset views illuminating its purple facade. But during Hurricane Milton last October, the same location proved perilous.
A surge from the bay forced its way through doors, racing past the kitchen and production offices, flooding the grand foyer and pooling in the orchestra pit. Dressing rooms, rehearsal space, even the building’s electrical systems were damaged.
Executive Director Mary Bensel estimated the cost at $5 million, including three months of lost revenue while the hall sat dark.
“We were horrified,” she said. “It just really took my breath away.”
The storm was a vivid reminder of what the Purple Ribbon Committee — the citizen group that studied the Van Wezel’s future — had already warned: The site is at high risk from rising seas and storm surge, hazards that will only grow as climate change accelerates.
The committee will present its final report to city commissioners on Monday.
The proposed performing arts center would be elevated 20 feet above ground, with open space below for public use, and engineered to withstand a major hurricane.
But it would still sit on the same exposed shoreline — a location that other communities are abandoning for critical infrastructure. Venice, just to the south, is already planning to relocate a fire station and a water treatment plant for exactly that reason, officials told Suncoast Searchlight.
Opponents of the new performing arts center argue the smarter option is to harden the Van Wezel against future threats to extend its lifespan. Franklin, of the Keep the Van Wezel group, pointed to two recently commissioned engineering reports that found the existing facility could be floodproofed to a Category 3 hurricane for about $3 million, according to the latest projection.
Others question why the bayfront was chosen at all.
Former Van Wezel Foundation board member Jonathan Mitchell, a longtime developer, said he pushed for an independent location study in 2019, believing a site closer to Interstate 75 would be more practical.
And former County Commissioner Jon Thaxton, currently Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s director of public policy, recalled serious talks about putting a performing arts complex at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds. Those plans would have placed both the new arts center and orchestra hall on the site, which sits off Fruitville Road about halfway between downtown and the highway.
The idea died over easement issues.
Sarasota Orchestra and Mote Marine both ultimately chose sites farther inland, near the interstate and the region’s fastest-growing neighborhoods. The new performing arts center, if built near the coast, would be betting on a future in which the water stays at bay.
But Saunders said moving away from the water would be a mistake, pointing to the community value The Bay Park creates. He added that the private sector’s success there is proof the location works.
“If they couldn’t make it work,” he said, “we wouldn’t be seeing the building boom we have in Sarasota.”
Leadership turnover and lack of local ties add to challenges
The organizations behind Sarasota’s other major cultural projects didn’t just have compelling visions — they had steady leadership and deep community roots to carry them through years of fundraising and setbacks.
McKenna has led the Sarasota Orchestra since 2001, Rominiecki has headed Selby Gardens since 2015, and Cooper, at Mote Marine since 2019, brought years of prior experience and deep local ties.
Collectively, these leaders have decades of institutional history and community connections — a currency that translates directly into donor confidence.
“You earn that trust,” McKenna said, “and they get to assess your character, and they get to determine, you know, how credible you are with steering the institution.”
Lough, the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association president, said leaders like Rominiecki and others bring a mix of presence, experience and board strength that inspires donor confidence.
The Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation’s path has been different. Since rebranding from the Van Wezel Foundation in 2019, it has experienced leadership changes, including the departure of its former chair earlier this year and turnover at the CEO position in 2023.
When Moskalenko arrived in Sarasota in 2024, she inherited a high-profile project, still mired by political, logistical and environmental problems.
She’s also a newcomer. Despite her impressive resume — including stints as CEO of Miami City Ballet, executive director of Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre and president and CEO of the Center for the Performing Arts in Indiana — Moskalenko initially lacked local ties.
Given the center’s place within the larger Bay Park master plan, visible support from the nonprofit leading that redevelopment could have helped bolster her efforts and reassure potential donors. But leaders of The Bay Park Conservancy have not publicly championed the performing arts center in some time, leaving Moskalenko without an influential public ally.
Founding Chief Executive Officer A.G. Lafley disputed that characterization, saying there has been significant behind-the-scenes support.
Neither Lafley nor the conservancy, though, have made many public comments about the project since its unveiling as part of the overall master plan in 2018, and a conservancy-run website contains few references to it. In a December 2023 interview published in the Sarasota Observer about the park’s future, Lafley did not mention the performing arts center at all.
Saunders called the relationship with the Bay Park Conservancy “critical,” noting its role in shaping the partnership with the city.
“Go and look at every image that The Bay Park puts out,” he said. “There’s a performing arts center in the middle of that picture. OK, so if they weren’t supportive of it, they wouldn’t be projecting that picture.”
Despite the challenges to get to this point, Moskalenko said she’s “building a strong foundation for long-term fundraising success” behind the scenes.
“I’m very optimistic about our ability to raise the funds that we need,” she told Suncoast Searchlight, “and the conversations we’ve had with donors reflect that.”
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.
