A million-dollar donation from a local developer was meant to speed the construction of New College of Florida’s baseball stadium, but eight months later, the project has stalled because the Federal Aviation Administration said a long-term lease on the property must be revised first.
The FAA order means that other New College plans to build up its east campus — which is adjacent to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport — on land the airport owns, could be held up indefinitely.
New College’s master plan for its campus was released this spring, and projects on airport land include “the introduction of baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and softball,” with “dedicated spaces for each sport.”
Two options are now on the table: negotiating a new lease between the airport and New College that meets FAA requirements, or finding a way to convince the FAA it is in the airport’s best interest to sell 34 acres of airport land to New College.
Sarasota-Manatee Airport CEO Rick Piccolo said in an email to WUSF on Wednesday that he has not discussed with the FAA any revision of the New College lease.
“Right now, I don’t expect to submit anything until I have a chance to examine the written response (from the FAA) and look at what options and possibilities may be,” Piccolo said.
New College has buildings, dorms and sports facilities on airport-owned land, which it leases for around $100,000 a year, far below market rate. It’s been that way for decades, on a century-long lease that expires in 30 years.
Last year, the airport attempted to sell the land to New College but the FAA blocked the deal, saying it was not in the airport’s best interest, and that continuing the lease at below market rates could constitute an unlawful diversion of airport revenue in the form of "extremely low rent."
ALSO READ: Seven reasons why the FAA blocked an attempt to sell airport land to New College
The 4.5-acre baseball stadium near the corner of University Parkway and Tamiami Trail is an unusual proposition. Most of it would be built on a 3.7-acre patch of land that New College owns. But parts of the outfield would spill over onto land that belongs to the airport.
“If the airport eventually reclaims their property, that would render the ballfield useless. Like, you couldn't have a ballfield that didn't have a left field,” said Jono Miller, president of NCF Freedom, a non-profit group of alumni and local citizens who are concerned about the college’s direction since it was taken over by conservative allies of Governor Ron DeSantis in 2023.
If New College is unable to "acquire the property, a lot of the premise for moving forward, and the direction the master plan is trying to point, I don't think it's going to work," Miller said.
The baseball stadium is to be named the Beruff Family Field of Dreams, after developer, Carlos Beruff, who donated a million dollars to the project and who sits on the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority board.
New College proclaimed in December 2024 that the stadium would be “a symbol of both legacy and potential.” But the project went nowhere for months while New College and the airport authority waited for the FAA to give a green light.
“The FAA reviewed whether the New College Baseball Field construction would pose a hazard to aircraft and issued ‘no objection’ letters with a condition that the lease be revised to meet FAA requirements,” an FAA spokesperson said in an email to WUSF this week.
Asked for details, the FAA referred to a document it issued in February 2025, which stated any improvements or expansion of existing facilities would face a series of regulatory hurdles, including first making sure those changes align with the airport master plan, and secondly, requiring an update to the lease terms.
The FAA also requires a proposed redevelopment plan from New College in writing and a professional survey, done by a third party. A new fair market appraisal must be commissioned based on the new land survey, updated lease and redevelopment plan, the document said.
The FAA spokeswoman added in a follow up email Tuesday that the airport has not yet submitted a revised lease.
Problems ahead?
NCF Freedom sought a meeting with Piccolo to discuss plans for the east campus, but Piccolo declined. Piccolo has repeatedly said that New College's presence does not interfere with the airport's master plan.
Miller said NCF Freedom is in favor of New College buying the airport acreage it leases, but “it seems reckless to assume that the college will be able to acquire the property, and so one of the ideas we're floating is maybe the college should have two separate plans, one if it's possible to acquire it, and one if it's impossible, because the clock is ticking.”
ALSO READ: New College's planned baseball field would overlap onto Sarasota airport land
Miller also described the airport’s actions on the whole issue as “problematic.”
“It seems like, under Rick Piccolo, there's been a discrepancy between the FAA position and the local airport’s position, and that's been complicated by the fact that one of the (Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority) board members gave a million dollars to help fund the ballfield, in what appears to be in direct conflict of the interests of the FAA,” Miller said.
Beruff, who made that donation, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The FAA is likely opposed to the ballpark because problems could arise if the airport needs that land back once the lease expires in 2056, according to John Schussler, who retired as director of properties at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in 2018.
“Building something that straddles the property line, that would keep the airport authority from using its own land in the future, that's just a real no-go with the FAA,” Schussler said.
“It would make it very difficult for the airport to take back that land," Schussler added.
According to documents obtained in a public records request, New College's construction timeline for the stadium was set to begin May 29, with the stadium completed by Jan. 29 — putting the project at least three months behind schedule already.
The land that New College owns was home to a car museum, and the buildings were cleared months ago. No sign of construction activity on the razed lot has been seen since.
“The Beruff Field of Dreams is currently under construction and remains on track to become a first-class home for New College baseball,” New College director of communications Jamie Miller said in a statement.
“From the outset, we have coordinated closely with the FAA and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) to ensure every step of the project is fully compliant and aligned with their requirements.”
New lease ideas benefit New College
According to the NCF master plan, updated in June, “the College should continue to pursue acquisition of this property from SRQ Airport.” Asked for comment, Piccolo said “no new negotiations” on a sale have taken place.
The airport CEO did, however, draft a new lease, according to documents obtained by WUSF in a public records request.
The document is called a “Restated 1957 Land Lease and 1966 Land Lease,” and “extensively amends those existing leases,” according to Schussler, the retired airport properties director.
Schussler reviewed the paperwork for WUSF and cited numerous examples of how the revisions would benefit New College over the airport.
For instance, the draft would extend the term of the lease by 20 years, to 2076. Other changes include giving New College the right to terminate the lease at any time by giving 180 days’ notice, and raising the annual rent to $333,368 per year.
“This proposed lease extension is a back-door method to let New College keep that airport land forever, even though the FAA will not allow New College to buy that airport land,” Schussler said.
The draft lease would also change the terms so any buildings on the land are owned by New College at the end of the lease. Under the current lease, those buildings belong to the airport when the lease ends.
Schussler said the current lease allows the airport to charge rent to New College for all improvements and buildings on the land once the lease ends in 2056, which “would add millions of dollars per year rent” to the airport authority.
But in the new draft, the structures on airport land would belong to New College. “This change would be a huge revenue diversion to benefit New College for 20 years, from 2056 to 2076,” Schussler said.
Schussler also believes the proposed new rent of $333,368 per year is still “way below market value.”
Language in the revised lease says New College and the airport authority “have participated in extensive negotiations, drafting, and redrafting to arrive at this agreement and neither party shall be considered the author of this agreement.”
However, Piccolo said that he has not sent any revised lease to the FAA, and did not give it to New College.
“The draft has not been provided to FAA or New College as it was a research effort,” Piccolo told WUSF in July.
“I simply wanted to explore what a revised lease would look like if I wanted to attempt to address the various issues that FAA cited before the lease expires in 2056,” he added.
Efforts to try and influence federal aviation authorities could be underway. Records show Piccolo has sent some of his key correspondence on the lease issue to HillEast Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, DC.
