With architect signed, new Sarasota performing arts center taking shape

While getting to know people in the arts community, local elected officials and dozens of others in Sarasota, Tania Castroverde Moskalenko has had one primary goal in sight since starting her job as the new CEO of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation.

She was waiting for the Sarasota City Commission to approve a contract with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the architectural design firm chosen to create the look for a new performing arts center intended to be the centerpiece of the Bay Park project.

The contract brings Moskalenko one step closer to having something to show potential donors what the new facility might look like. To date, the foundation has used renderings created years ago that show a building with wings reaching out into Sarasota Bay that likely bear little resemblance to the facility that will be created.

It also brings the foundation and the city of Sarasota, which have agreed to split the costs, closer to knowing the eventual price tag that was once estimated to be between $250 million and $300 million.

But there are still a lot of unknowns, including how large the main theater will be, will there be a second stage, how will people move inside and what will happen with parking.

Since joining the foundation in February, Moskalenko has been reviewing every aspect of the project before moving forward with specific plans.

Moskalenko moved to Sarasota after leading arts and cultural organizations in Miami and around the country for more than 20 years. She succeeded Cheryl Mendelsohn, who was hired in 2019 and announced her resignation in early 2023.

Moskalenko had worked as executive director of the Miami City Ballet, where she completed a $65 million capital campaign, and was most recently interim director of Oolite Arts, a Miami-based non-profit that supports visual artists.

Hiring an architectural design firm

On May 20, the City Commission approved a $36.9 million contract with the internationally renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop for architectural design services. The firm, which designed the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Whitney Museum in New York, was selected in June 2023 by a special committee whose panelists visited buildings around the world designed by the finalists. The vote followed public interviews with teams from each firm discussing their ideas.

Though the commission had to approve the contract, the foundation board voted to cover the costs of the project design.

“Until they start designing, we don’t know how much it’s going to cost, or what it might look like,” Moskalenko said during a recent interview. “We are sensitive to the concerns of the elected officials and the community.”

Knowing the costs will allow the foundation to launch a capital campaign to raise its share of the construction cost. It has raised more than $30 million in the last few years, including $1.5 million at its most recent Inspiration Gala that starred Kristin Chenoweth.

Jennifer Jorgenson, director of governmental affairs for the city, told commissioners that the contract can span over five years with multiple phases beginning with the design phase. She said there are “stopping points or offramps of this agreement” before the next project phase begins.

If the city or foundation were to terminate the contract, Renzo Piano would be paid for whatever services were rendered to that point, plus a 10% termination fee.

How did we get to this point?

In 2018, the City Commission approved a master plan for the Sarasota Bayfront that included a new performing arts center within Bay Park, which is being developed by the Bay Park Conservancy.

The Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation, formerly the Van Wezel Foundation, changed its focus from raising money to support the Van Wezel and its education programs to raising awareness of the need for a new facility. Like Van Wezel, the new hall would be a home for music, dance, pop concerts and an increasing number of prominent touring Broadway shows, like “Hamilton,” which was presented last winter.

Van Wezel Executive Director Mary Bensel said the existing 1,700-seat hall is not sufficient to satisfy Broadway producers, who say a new facility needs at least 2,000 seats to make touring profitable.

At around the time of the 2018 commission vote, the Sarasota Orchestra, which has long performed its Masterworks concert series at Van Wezel, announced that it would be moving away from the bayfront and planned to build its own music center.

(The orchestra later purchased land on Fruitville Road and is selecting an architectural design firm and assessing how much money it believes it can raise for a new facility. Multiple spaces could be included in the new hall that would be used by other arts-related non-profit organizations.)

Why do we need a new hall?

The central question behind the ambitious project is at the heart of often heated debates over the project. The foundation has presented studies showing the 54-year-old Van Wezel is too small for future productions and susceptible to damage from sea level rise and storms. Officials have said it could cost millions just to shore up the building’s foundation and structure to protect it for the future.

But there is an active and vocal group of people who believe the Van Wezel itself is enough and that the cost of refurbishing and enhancing the building would be far less than creating a new venue. There has been an effort to win a historic designation to protect the Van Wezel from being demolished.

The City Commission appointed what it calls a “purple ribbon’ committee to study alternative uses for the Van Wezel building once a new facility is opened. The original agreement appeared to require that it not be used for performing arts programs that would compete with the new hall, but that does not mean it can’t still feature some kinds of performances.

The committee, given two years to suggest plans, is taking a summer break, but it has received a range of ideas or proposals that include making it a sports venue or using it for art exhibition and studio space. The committee also is gathering information from performing arts groups about their needs for space, as well as from Visit Sarasota about the potential of turning Van Wezel into a convention facility.

But the committee also has expressed some frustration that it doesn’t know exactly what will be included in the new facility so the members can best determine how the old one should be used.

On Monday, the City Commission voted 4-1 to authorize spending $292,000 on an extensive engineering study to determine what improvements may be needed for the Van Wezel to comply with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations and the Florida Building Code and identify any structural and safety improvements needed however the building might be used. The engineers also will look at flood resistance, wind analysis, structural integrity and building code compliance.

What will be in the building and how many seats will it hold?

“There are your needs and your wants. We can aspire to whatever it is,” said Molaskenko. One of her first major decisions was putting together a business plan group to determine what elements should be in the building, how other arts groups will or might use the new facility, and how that works with presenting Broadway tours.

“Is this a concert hall? Do we need a concert hall set up if the orchestra is moving to another space? Is it an opera house?” she asked. “Do we need an acoustic shell for classical music? There might be a time when the orchestra would like to come and perform downtown. Maybe it’s only once a year. If we’re going to present dance, do we need a different floor? Those are the questions we have to be asking as we do this working plan.”

But the bigger issue is the number of seats.

For years, project leaders have talked about a hall with 2,250 seats, but Moskalenko said that would not be enough to make it competitive.

“We need 2,500 seats. Then Broadway producers will send those bigger shows sooner,” she said. “If we have more seats, are we more competitive with Tampa, the largest Broadway presenter closest to us? Those are the questions we ask, not just from an artistic and creative perspective, but from a financial and business perspective. How do we operate in the black and sustainably.”

Once those answers are determined “that will inform what Renzo Piano designs. There are only so many square feet in that park and there are limitations,” she said.

What is the impact of the Sarasota Orchestra building its own hall?

“I’ve been in the field for 25 years, working with orchestras, and they really need their space,” Moskalenko said. “They program many concerts throughout the year and they need to control their own calendar,” Molaskenko said. “I’m supportive of a new concert hall for the symphony orchestra.”

Halls like the current Van Wezel or a new performing arts center, book Broadway tours when they are available to them, which impacts time and space for the orchestras or other companies that share the facility.

“I used to run the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago where the Chicago Symphony and Chicago Lyric Opera started and they eventually both moved to create their own spaces for the reasons we’re talking about.”

Many major orchestras cut back on touring years ago because of increasing costs of traveling with large ensembles. And the Van Wezel has offered few orchestral performances outside of the Sarasota Orchestra in recent seasons. The Sarasota Concert Association does present some orchestras, and its 2024-25 season at the Van Wezel includes the Cleveland Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

Where will people be able to park?

As originally envisioned, there would be a limited number of spaces underneath the new building, which faces height limitations because of past agreements with the city involving residents in condominiums across U.S. 41, who wanted to protect their view of Sarasota Bay.

The new building will be erected on part of the existing Van Wezel parking lot, which will be transformed into another phase of the Bay Park project.

How will people get there to use these amenities and possibly programs at the Van Wezel?

“This is a serious conversation and one that needs to be had with  many partners, mainly with the city of Sarasota,” said Moskalenko, who had not yet begun such conversations before the interview. “We can’t forget that the performing arts center is part of the Bay Park. We are a separate 501(c)3. But we are so intertwined because we are the major faces of the park.”

When Mendelsohn was running the foundation, she said that similar other venues around Florida did not have much onsite parking, but used valet programs, shuttle services and ride shares. Officials have said the new building would need at least 1,000 parking spaces, but that number would grow if the main hall contains more seating.

What are the financial benefits on the community from a new hall?

A recent study by HR&A Advisors prepared for the foundation found that the new center would generate more than $150 million in annual economic impact, about 30% more than the Van Wezel. It would attract 358,000 annual visitors, 1,200 permanent jobs, $52 million in annual wages and $163 million in taxes over 30 years. There would also be $562 million in temporary spending, with 3,200 temporary jobs, $162 million in temporary wages and $16 million in one-time tax revenues during the construction process.

The study also suggests that the performing arts center and Bay Park will increase the value of the city’s taxable real estate by 11%, and generate at least $1.7 bill in new development near the park and center.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota performing arts center moves forward, Renzo Piano architect