City manager’s plan would give the Van Wezel another 15 years.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: September 10, 2025
Host: The historic Van Wezel Performing Arts Center is getting a longer lease on life than expected – for 15 years, if Sarasota City Commissioners take up their city manager’s plan. Gretchen Cochran has more.
Gretchen Cochran: Remember when just a couple of weeks ago we told you Sarasota Commissioner Debbie Trice said she did not want the Van Wezel’s Purple Ribbon Committee’s report to sit on a shelf? The commissioners accepted the committee’s report with the proviso its recommendations would be developed into an action plan—and pronto.
Photo: Harriet Thorpe via keepthevanwezel.com
The report was a big deal. It was the culmination of two years of study of the city’s purple-painted performance hall. The panel was to decide if, after 50 years, the vulnerable building should be allowed to disintegrate or instead be refurbished.
And what do you know? Within 2 weeks, Interim City Manager Dave Bullock complied. He has already delivered a comprehensive plan to the commissioners, complete with a timeline and cost estimates.
Notably, he more than doubled the Purple Ribbon Committee’s timeline for preserving the Van Wezel from 5 to 7 years, to now at least 15 years. He and his staff committee brought back the Karins Engineering Company that had already done two hefty studies of the center with repair and upgrade recommendations totaling $17 million. Those reports were shelved. And talk continued.
Then came Hurricane Milton. The conversation changed, and a sense of urgency set in.
Bullock was at a gathering last week of community movers and shakers called the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club. His comments there shed some background on the whole performing arts picture in Sarasota. Here’s what he had to say about the hurricane that struck Sarasota last year and slammed into the Van Wezel.
David Bullock
DB: It took some significant damage. The waves from Milton not only visited but they came inside and took up residence for some time.
GC: Bullock might be called one who can make any bad thing look better.
DB: It found all the weaknesses they could find, and the good thing is we now know where they are, and we can work to correct them, block them and slow down the velocity of the waves. Those are the first things we’re working on. It’s going to be in the millions of dollars. We have funding for almost all of it—maybe all of it.
GC: Much of that work will come from a $3.5 million grant from the state of Florida. But other funding sources are targeted as well, including the $12 million the Van Wezel has set aside from proceeds over the years.
The second goal of Bullock’s plan is to preserve the Van Wezel as a business able to bring in as much money as it spends. That means its sound and lighting systems must be modernized to allow it to bring in high quality performances.
His nearly $10 million plan targets potential funding sources such as a FEMA award of $3.7 million.
Aerial photo of the Van Wezel with a red line indicating the new shoreline breakwater/dissipation barrier, approximately 1,350 feet long.
A $750,000 Karins contract already initiated this month includes design and engineering for a breakwater, flood barriers and gates, building waterproofing, window/door repair and upgrades to mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems including backup generator options.
Specific mitigation efforts next year range from flood gates for five groups of main doors to waterproofing totaling $2 million to come from the state grant.
Some bigger projects are targeted for 2027 and include mechanical and electrical upgrades, a breakwater and additional flood protection but are dependent on the federal grant.
In 2027 and 2028 would come a new Public Address system, LED performance lighting, and other theatrical enhancements totaling $1.2 million.
Quarterly public updates will be given with line-item reporting for all project costs, and open communication with the community is promised.
The completion of a specific plan with dates and funding sources was news for the city. What will happen to the new performing arts center, as yet just imagined, was on many minds at the Tiger Bay function.
Rendering of the proposed performing arts center. Photo: City of Sarasota
For years, residents have dreamed and actually raised money for a new performing arts center that would be more than twice the size of the Van Wezel and bring in big Broadway first run plays and musicals. But still, its specific location is in doubt, although many believe it could be on the same property where the Van Wezel is located, across the parking lot from it, in the park under development called The Bay.
Questioners at the Tiger Bay Club wondered if a new Performing Arts Center was even a sensible goal.
Bullock set them straight:
DB: Just think about this for a moment. We have a site that is owned, We have a financing mechanism that is reasonable, and we have a community expectation.
GC: But near the end of the meeting, Bullock cautioned:
DB: Until we actually nail the amount of money we’re willing to spend, both as a city and a community, we can’t be sure what this thing is going to look like in terms of specific seat size and dimensions. We’ve got to know. The only time you can design is when you know what your budget is.
GC: This is Gretchen Cochran, reporting for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
