The Sarasota Players’ years-long search for a new and permanent home may have a new target location – a vacant parcel of land owned by the city of Sarasota just outside the perimeter of Payne Park.
The 95-year-old community theater, Sarasota’s oldest performing arts organization, has been in negotiations for more than a year with the city to use Payne Park Auditorium as its base.
The theater company determined that the auditorium building is not structurally suitable for a theater, so it planned to use the space for offices, small performances, dressing rooms and other support functions and connect it to a new two-story, 17,000-square-foot theater building that would have up to 300 seats for its performances and those of other small non-profit performing arts groups.
Facing opposition from residents about building in the park, commissioners voted Monday to negotiate with the theater company to build the new theater venue on a vacant, city-owned lot at U.S. 301 and Laurel Street, just about a block away from the auditorium. The theater company would still get use of the auditorium for its programs.
About a dozen residents spoke before the full discussion, many concerned about adding a new building in Payne Park. Commissioners Jennifer Ahearn-Koch and Debbie Trice said they could not support building in the park, but they supported the theater company’s use of the auditorium.
Mayor Liz Alpert said the new building would take up a minimal amount of space in the park and would add to the public’s use and enjoyment of the park.
“It enhances the community experience in the park,” she said. “I think this makes the park a more attractive destination.”
City Manager Marlon Brown said there was no point for the city staff and the theater to continue working on terms for a lease without a supermajority of the commissioners supporting the idea, as the project might just be rejected months from now.
The proposed lease initially called for the Players to pay $100 per year and $1 per ticket sold for a minimum of 10 years, renewable in two 10-year segments. If the city canceled the agreement within a certain period, the city would owe the Players money for the up to $12 million it plans to spend on creating the new venue.
Instead, the commissioners asked the staff to work on plans for a 30-year lease that would not have the same payback clause and to explore adjusting the lease rates for inflation.
Wayne Applebee, the city’s economic development manager, said the U.S. 301 property is one of many the city was looking at for its highest and best use. Brown added, “that’s why we didn’t offer up that property. We think we can get $3 million or $4 million dollars for that piece.”
William Skaggs, CEO of the Sarasota Players, said "we took a big step forward today" in determining the future home for the theater. If the Players gets final approval for use of that site, the initial designs for the new building may have to be modified, but "we've ended up in a really positive spot and we are appreciative of some creativity by the Commission in coming to a 5-0 vote to support moving forward on finalizing a project with the Sarasota Players.”
Trying to keep the arts in Sarasota
The debate triggered memories of the commission’s 2019 rejection of a proposal by the Sarasota Orchestra to build a new music center on seven acres in a different part of Payne Park land. Leaders of nearby neighborhood associations and other residents spoke out against the plan to build in the park, saying it would violate terms of the deed agreement with Calvin and Martha Payne, who donated the land to the city in 1925 for “a park, playground and kindred uses and for no other use or purpose.”
City Attorney Bob Fournier said he was asked to write an opinion on the deed language at the time of the Orchestra discussion and he found that the city could defend the idea of an arts building as meeting deed restrictions.
“The word ‘park’ under Florida law has been broadly construed as a place where the public would go for recreation and amusement,” he said. “I found the use of the word ‘amusement’ to be significant and it could be extended to entertainment.”
The Sarasota Orchestra eventually bought land outside the city limits on Fruitville Road for its new music center. Commissioner Kyle Battie lamented the loss of the orchestra from the city, and the initial opposition for expansion plans by Selby Botanical Gardens.
Long search for a new home for the Sarasota Players
The Players proposal was the latest twist in an eight-year saga for Sarasota’s oldest performing arts organization, which announced in 2016 that it would sell its longtime home on U.S. 41 across from the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium and build a new multi-theater venue in Lakewood Ranch.
But that project never really got off the ground. The company sold its building in 2018 for about $9.5 million and moved in 2020 to a former retail store in Crossings at Siesta Key shopping center. At the encouragement of a now-former city commissioner, the theater made a pitch to take over operations at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, but commissioners eventually rejected that plan and suggested the much smaller Payne Park Auditorium as an alternative, which triggered the last year of negotiations.
While developing plans for the auditorium, the theater company created a subsidiary called The Stage at Payne Park, which is tasked with raising the money to build the facility, oversee construction and operate it. The Stage plans to share its new space with any number of smaller performing arts organizations that need a theater space with 150-300 seats.
The Sarasota Players has pledged to donate $4 million toward the construction of the new venue and work with The Stage to raise the rest.
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In April, the non-profit UnidosNow, which provides services and support for the Latino/Hispanic community, reached out to city officials about using Payne Park Auditorium for its own operations. Its founder, former City Commissioner Kelly Kirschner, spoke at Monday’s meeting.
Commissioner Erik Arroyo also encouraged the Players to discuss the possibility of UnidosNow being one of the non-profit groups that might share space in the auditorium.
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