Climate change will require substantial investment to save the historic structure.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: March 28, 2025
Host: The Purple Ribbon Committee was expected to come up with recommendations on what the City of Sarasota should do with the historic Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall by June. On Thursday, the panel warned it could take until July. During that meeting, they also took a good look at the elephant in the room: rising sea levels and intensifying storms. Gretchen Cochran was at city hall to listen and watch.
The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Photo by Maciek Lulko.
Gretchen Cochran: Up until last night, the so-called Purple Ribbon Committee danced around the potential flooding issues of the Van Wezel. But Bob Bunting was there, and the high-profile climatologist seemingly gave the rest of the committee license to pile on.
Chuck Cosler, committee chair and himself a theatre designer, bluntly laid it out:
Chuck Cosler: It seems to me that the climate issues trump everything.
GC: Here’s a little context: The Purple Ribbon Committee was formed a bit over two years ago to study the issues and present to the city its recommendation for the purple building’s future. The seashell-shaped structure sits on the seashore, visible from the Ringling Bridge. “Moulin Rouge” just played there to much acclaim. The 50-plus-year-old building was needing repairs and upgrades before the three major storms hit it in 2024. The last one, Hurricane Milton, threw 90-mile-per-hour winds into it.
Mary Bensel, CEO of the Van Wezel, a while ago told the committee her building is limping along, held together with Scotch tape and glue. A recent engineering report estimated that it would take $17 million to repair and mitigate damage for the next few years.
Bob Bunting took up the baton. He’s CEO of the Climate Adaptation Center which, by the way, will be issuing 2025 global hurricane projections in just 4 days.
Bob Bunting.
Bob Bunting: Plan A is Sarasota is a leading place in Florida—and maybe in the southeast—for performing arts. The area has spent 55 years getting to the point of being recognized nationally for that, and it’s a big reason why people come here. I don’t think anybody is proposing that we give that up and walk away from that because we have issues with a 55-year-old performing arts center, regardless of what they are. So, plan A is—there is no plan B right now. [laughs] So, plan A is we’ve got to survive the present situation to get to the future we want.
GC: But the issue then becomes how to get from here to there. There are many things to consider, including driving wind and water in the next storm.
Bunting got up from his chair and moved around in front of the other commissioners. “Imagine this is the Van Wezel,” he said, holding up his iPad. He waved his hand before it. “All that’s water,” he said. Then he spread his arms marking a horizontal line extending each way denoting the shoreline. “So here comes a big wave,” he said with a flick of his hand, “crashing into the hall. Since it can’t go through the wall, its energy is diverted to either side, increasing through a physical principle,” he explained.
Promotional photo of the Van Wezel’s Roskamp Auditorium.
Water intrusion for years has been developing above the Van Wezel’s ground floor as the water level rises. He projected that, by 2050, the water will have risen nine inches more there.
BB: We have to stay in business, and then we need a bridge to the future that we want, which is a world-class performing arts center that has everything that we need to attract the kind of shows we want. Now, maybe not everybody agrees with that, but I believe that is what I’ve heard from everyone because when we walked in the door, the very first thing I asked—question number one—is, “Are we talking about making the Van Wezel into the new performing arts center, or are we building a new one?” And the answer was, “We’re building a new one, but we have to use this one until whenever that is.” That’s what was said. I think that’s what we should stick to.
GC: In other words, the $17 million plan projected to repair the hall and institute some water and wind mitigation measures must be accepted, at the minimum.
Potential re-use is our charge, they said, alluding to the fact that the possibly pending new Sarasota Performing Arts Center across the parking lot would take over Van Wezel’s current role. How could it be used then?
Cosler dourly uttered, “Our final report may not be ready until June or even July.”
Jim Shirley, hired by the city commissioners to guide the committee, was palpably nervous. “Keep in mind these comments are not the committee’s final report,” he said.
The next meeting April 15 will take up the issue of historic registry designation.
Reporting for WSLR News, Gretchen Cochran.
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