Interim city manager discusses Van Wezel preservation efforts.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: August 27, 2025
Host: There’s a rumor around town that the City of Sarasota is practicing “demolition by neglect” of the historic Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The shell-shaped Purple Cow, sitting on the banks of Sarasota Bay, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton nearly a year ago, but faced some dilapidation as itemized in two engineering reports last year and the year before. Gretchen Cochran asked the interim city manager what the city has done and what it is doing to protect the historic building.
Gretchen Cochran: “Demolition by neglect” is the term preservationists use to label buildings not being maintained, thus allowing them to deteriorate and ultimately just fall down. I asked David Bullock, Sarasota’s interim city manager, and he provided evidence refuting this. He brings considerable organizational skills to bear so that within a few days, he will present to the commissioners parts of the plan they sought from him just a little over a week ago.
Known as the “Purple Cow” for its distinctive lavender hue, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall has been a staple of the Sarasota arts scene since it was built in 1970. Photo: Emily Le Coz, Suncoast Searchlight
Let’s back up a minute. The Purple Ribbon Committee submitted its report August 18 after two years of study. The rather controversial preamble drafted by the chair, Charles Cosler—not the committee itself—labeled the Van Wezel “obsolete.”
Kelly Franklin, founder of KeeptheVanWezel.com with its more than 3,000 petition signers, is concerned about two engineering studies by consulting firm Karins over the last two years and the little apparent follow through. Furthermore, Mary Bensel, manager of the Van Wezel, recently described the building as stuck together with Scotch tape and glue. She’s an avowed supporter of construction of a new performing arts hall to replace it. And finally, we are, after all, in hurricane season again now.
So, we asked the city for specifics.
Jan Thornburg, the public information officer, was quick to defend the city against accusations of failing to put in place storm resiliency after millions in hurricane damages last year.
“In the short term, the city has taken many targeted measures to reduce flooding vulnerability and structural exposure at Van Wezel,” she said.
Bullock has taken charge of marshalling resources with a recommendation to go to the commissioners next week. The commissioners had asked for a team of consultants to begin drafting a plan to secure the building.
David Bullock
David Bullock: We’re working with a team of consultants that already did some work on the Van Wezel, and issued some of the reports. The team is pretty much intact. It’s a variety of specialists, from structural to marine to pretty much everything else. We need electrical and so on. That team is intact and available to us. We’ll be sending to the city commission a little update on the action plan that they asked for as a result of the recommendations. That should be ready to go out here in the next couple days. We’re still working on it, but it’s about finished.
GC: Bullock went on:
DB: The easiest stuff to do is either done or is in the process of being done, and you’ll see that summarized in the action plan. We didn’t see it as a paperwork exercise; we saw it as a—prioritize and get started on the things that we can do.
The Van Wezel has a basement 6 feet below sea level at its lowest point. During Milton, it flooded, and the transformer there was submerged in water.
GC: The performance hall’s pump room already has a flood-resistant hollow metal door system installed on the north side, including a reinforced frame, weatherstripping, door bottom seals and rain drip protection, Thornburg explained. Hurricane strapping for roof-mounted equipment was installed to secure two ventilators on the roof. Metal dry floodproofing panels at doors to the kitchen ramp, production entrance, chiller rooms, and lift station drains have been ordered but are not here yet.
DB: The flood panels are attached with pre-drilled holes, and the idea is, theoretically, they seal that door, so that door is not available to be used, and the flood panel to fit that door would only go up when we see the threat of imminent inundation.
GC: More panels are planned for doors to the elevators, orchestra pit and utility access points on the lower elevation east side of the building.
Through Bullock’s three decades of local governmental service, he’s learned the processes. He was Longboat Key’s town manager for six years and Sarasota County’s Deputy County Administrator for 14 years.
The city is finalizing a $3.5 million reimbursement grant agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, hopefully within the week. Among other things, it would be authorized to install two types of rock obstructions: a breakwater that would place large rocks in the sea west of Van Wezel and huge rocks on the shore, known as rip rap.
The Van Wezel Performing Arts Center sustained significant damage during the 2024 storm season.
Buying big rocks is not a simple thing, it turns out. A marine engineer will design the sizes and what positions to put them in and how to secure them. Then permits will be sought through both the Army Corps of Engineers and then through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Once those permits are in place, they will be put out for bid. Then a marine contractor will oversee their placement.
While the installation of flood barriers around the building is on the grant request, Bullock did not mention them in this conversation.
Meanwhile, a plan is in place for pending tropical weather. It includes things like transporting all pianos from the basement piano-room, and the list goes on.
Bullock estimates he’s been through about 50 big storms in our area.
We asked again about the rumor Van Wezel is being allowed to disintegrate.
DB: I can’t operate in the realm of rumors. I pretty much don’t pay attention to very many of them and move on with the work that needs to be done.
GC: This is Gretchen Cochran, reporting for WSLR News.
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