World Market in Sarasota had been scheduled to host its grand opening last year to highlight its holiday offerings, which, like its selections year-round, are imported from around the world. Although the hardship the community experienced after the hurricanes led to the store deciding to cancel those plans, it finally cut the ribbon on Feb. 28. Cathy David, World Market’s president of merchandising, said the store prides itself on its difficult-to-find gourmet food and drink items, while its largest department is its international candy.
sity Town Center, near Ford’s Garage. His work is regularly on display at the location, along with Zota Beach Resort in Longboat Key. A world of offerings
Swaby
Ian Swaby Store Manager Susanne Vandegrift and President of Merchandising Cathy David
Dana Kampa
WEEK OF MARCH 6, 2025
BY THE NUMBERS
8
“The area is so obscure it’s not like ‘Let’s go hang out at the park at City Hall at the fountain.’ Nobody says that.”
Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battie Read more on page 6A
Aprominent Naples developer has bought five downtown Sarasota parcels along Ringling Boulevard between Palm and Pineapple avenues where it plans to build a luxury development.
The buyer is an LLC tied to The Lutgert Cos. and includes The U.S. Garage building at 330 S. Pineapple Ave. and a parking lot belonging to the Church of the Redeemer.
According to the project application, Adagio will be an 18-story tower with 100 condominiums and a nine-story tower with
67 rental apartments. Developed under Florida’s Live Local Act, the development will have attainable-priced units. Approximately 18,584 square feet of retail/commercial space is also proposed. A website for the project repeats the tagline and adds: “Downtown Sarasota luxury is building up to a new crescendo. Like a captivating concerto, the culmination of artistic design and dynamic downtown living will converge to create a living masterpiece. Be among the first
to experience a symphonic life at Adagio.”
The development team also includes the Barron Collier Cos. and R&P Holdings, according to a separate blog post on the project.
Mike Hoyt, senior vice president at Lutgert, says in the blog post that “It’s not often that a property as unique as this comes along in Florida.” That property includes five separate addresses Lutgert paid $26 million for in separate transactions, one in July and one in January.
Barancik board awards $8 million
The board of directors of the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently approved $8 million in grant awards to help improve access to educational opportunities, connect vulnerable residents to vital services for their health and well-being, expand water quality monitoring along the coast and more.
Education grants include:
■ $420,000 to Sarasota Housing Authority
■ $650,000 to UnidosNow
■ $1.2 million to Sarasota County Schools
■ $300,000 for the foundation’s TIME Fellowship program Grants to connect vulnerable residents with services for their health and well-being include:
■ $367,190 to Senior Friendship Centers
■ $218,000 to MCR Health
Additional grants include
■ $475,000 to Project 180 Sarasota
■ $265,000 to Parenting Matters
■ $400,000 to The Salvation Army of Sarasota County
■ $995,000 for Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
■ $400,000 for Suncoast Waterkeepers
The board approved $2,185,000 in grants to nearly 30 organizations whose programs Chuck and Margery Barancik supported on a regular basis, plus $75,000 to seed a Leadership Development Fund.
Siesta
Bridge work moved to overnight
To ease congestion around the southern access to Siesta Key, the Florida Department of Transportation shifted construction work on the Stickney Point Bridge to overnight hours beginning March 3. The new schedule will be in effect through the completion of the project, currently scheduled for the end of March.
No bridge work is scheduled over the weekends. Work continues from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
For more information visitswflroads.com/project/445942-1.
Elizabeth King
The Lutgert Cos. has dubbed its downtown project Adagio Sarasota Luxury Residences.
LANDLORD with a PURPOSE
William Russell arrived 20 years ago to lead Sarasota Housing Authority from insolvency to a robust provider of diverse affordable housing opportunities.
ANDREW WARFIELD | STAFF WRITER
William Russell arrived in Sarasota two decades ago with a mission: Restore to good standing the embattled Sarasota Housing Authority with the federal Housing and Urban Development and return it to local control.
In 2005 Russell left his three-year position as HUD deputy assistant secretary to guide the SHA out of receivership, after the federal agency took control of it because of multiple contract violations including boarded-up vacant units and residences regularly failing HUD inspections.
“We were basically insolvent,” Russell said.
With the agency heeding the pleas of city and county elected officials and residents, Russell was offered the opportunity to move from Washington, D.C. to become CEO of the SHA, reporting to a semi-retired HUD employee, Carmen Valenti, who happened to live here at the time, and still does.
“He was essentially my board for the first three years,” Russell said.
Girded for a task he said typically takes “years, and years, and years,” it took only three to wrest control of the agency from the federal government.
“I like to say it was fastest and most effective HUD receivership in HUD history,” Russell said. “I hired a very qualified staff. I just surrounded myself with really good people and we were off and running. HUD turned us back over to local control in 2008, and I’ve been here ever since.”
With a Bachelor of Arts in political science and government at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a master’s in public administration from Syracuse University, Russell was prepared for a career in government. He served as a federal legislative representative for the city of New York Housing Authority, parlaying that experience to the high-level position with HUD before landing in Sarasota with no intention of staying.
“I really didn’t think I would be here very long,” Russell said. “First of all, I love it here. And second, we’ve been doing so much develop-
ment that there’s just always been so much going on at any given time. It’s exciting, and it’s challenging.
“We’re making a real impact.”
1,200 UNITS AND COUNTING
On Monday, Russell appeared before the Sarasota City Commission to provide an update on SHA’s activities.
Established in 1938, the SHA, in partnership with HUD, had built 635 public housing units from 1941 to 1978, but prior to Russell’s arrival, had built none since. In the last 20 years, Russell has led the effort to build 665 units, beginning with the opening of Janie’s Garden I in 2009 with 86 apartments. The second phase followed in 2012 with 68 more.
Meanwhile, at the national level HUD was leading a transition from traditional public housing — heavily subsidized projects that resulted in overly concentrated pockets of poverty — to a hybrid model that blends subsidized units with Section 8 vouchers and others not subsidized, all affordable to those at 80% area median income or lower.
“It’s got a much greater mix of incomes,” Russell said of the model that blends a variety of socio-economic demographics.
The result is low-income housing that can appear as anything but. Lofts on Lemon, which opened with 128 residences in 2022 on Cohen Way, is one such example. The second phase, Lofts on Lemon II, is slated for completion in 2026.
Also opening with 84 units in 2021 and 2022 was Amaryllis Park Place, the first of multiple phases now branded Cypress Square that will occupy the former The Courts, the 1950-built rows of duplexes currently under demolition. Those developments, plus others in the planning pipeline, lend the appearance of market rate apartments.
In that pipeline are 308 more
SARASOTA HOUSING AUTHORITY INVENTORY AND PROJECTS
SHA-HUD DEVELOPMENT
TIMELINE
1938 SHA established
1941 Orange Avenue (60 units)
1950 The Courts (100 units)*
1960 Bertha Mitchell (100 units)
1970 McCown Tower (100 units)
1971 Janie Poe and Cohen Way (72 units)
1978 McCown Annex (75 units)
Total HUD-sponsored units 635
*Now under demolition for Amaryllis Park Place (Cypress Square)
apartments, including the 100-unit Lofts on Lemon II and future phases of Cypress Square. By the time those projects are complete in 2027, SHA will have 1,508 units in its portfolio, excluding the not-yet funded McCown Tower 3 and the long-range redevelopment of the 100-unit Bertha Mitchell duplexes into an apartment community of up to 770 units. That project alone will expand the SHA’s total units by nearly 50%.
Depending on how long the Bertha Mitchell redevelopment takes to plan
and build, whether the 55-year-old Russell can see that through completion remains to be seen. Affordable housing projects take considerably longer to develop than their forprofit counterparts, particularly when it comes to organizing the funding.
“It’s tough to get an affordable housing deal funded, closed and developed,” Russell said. “Our capital stacks give people a headache, but that’s the challenge that also makes it rewarding when it comes to fruition. And of course, seeing all these new families move in and call it home. That’s super rewarding.”
That’s why Russell, whose expertise is well applicable to the private sector, stays in his nonprofit lane.
“I’ve always been drawn to public service,” he said. “I did work in the private sector, but I feel like this is my calling. And as opposed to the three years I spent at HUD — and I had an important job and we did important things — it’s much easier to see the fruits of your labor at the local level.”
AN EVOLVING HOUSING MIX
Besides increasing its inventory by 112% over 20 years, the SHA has shifted its portfolio mix in the types of housing it provides. Russell told commissioners two decades ago the SHA provided “no real affordable housing” — workforce housing for which the residents pay 100% of the rent.
Occupying 41% of SHA’s inventory in 2005, traditional subsidized public housing where HUD directly pays the housing authority has shrunk to 3%. Those holding Section 8 housing choice vouchers occupy 53% of SHA’s inventory in 2025 compared to 74% in 2005. Affordable housing, which is not subsidized and was nonexistent in SHA’s 2005 portfolio, currently stands at 11%. Projectbased rental assistance units remain unchanged since 2005 at 6% of the inventory.
The point being the days of providing government-assisted housing in the form of what had become known as “the projects” are history.
With all this activity comes a future challenge. The SHA is running out of locations in the city for meaningfully sized developments, hence turning to redeveloping sites such as The Courts and Bertha Mitchell with higher density projects. The SHA is also employing HUD initiatives such as its Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides emergency assistance to stabilize communities with high rates of abandoned and foreclosed homes and to assist households whose annual incomes are up to 120% of the area median income.
“Through neighborhood stabilization we are able to acquire privately owned sites and rehab or redevelop them,” Russell said. “I’ve had developers approach us about partnering, where we provide some of our project-based vouchers to help subsidize the development. That’s a win-win for them and the community because they get to house low-income people in those units, but they also get market-rate rents.”
Regardless of the project type, Russell said the creation of affordable and government-assisted housing is “immensely satisfying,” albeit ideally transitory.
“I remember in the early days,” Russell said, “meeting with residents and saying, ‘You’ll probably never hear a landlord tell you this, but I don’t want you to live with us longterm. I actually want you to move out and move on your life.’”
Photos by Andrew Warfield
The first phase of Cypress Square apartments, legally named Amaryllis Park Place Phase II, was completed in 2022. Future phases of Cypress Square will replace The Courts (below), which is under demolition.
The Courts is being demolished to be replaced by future phases of Sarasota Housing Authority’s Cypress Square.
Sarasota Housing Authority CEO William Russell addresses the Sarasota City Commission.
Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation calls the projected revenue gap typical of performance halls and is confident philanthropy will cover the difference.
For the Sarasota City Commission to enter an implementation agreement to build the new Sarasota Performing Arts Hall, it not only must believe it can cover the cost of constructing the hall — it also must believe the greater Sarasota region can support its future operations.
The commission will take up the matter at its March 17 meeting when its vote will determine whether to proceed beyond the preliminary design phase for the proposed new center or halt the process at this stage.
Commissioners are already considering whether the city and the foundation can go it alone on what is now estimated as a $407 million project without the participation of Sarasota County. The SPAC is eligible for tax increment financing district funding from both the city and county since construction would be within The Bay park.
County commissioners have thus far balked at the idea of pitching in 25% of the cost to match a city contribution, the remainder up to the foundation to raise via philanthropy. That would leave the city on the hook for 50% via the TIF revenues — projected at $146.5 million through 2049 as property value stands today in the area surrounding The Bay park. That prospect has already given commissioners some pause, even
COMPARATIVE FACILITIES
As a benchmark, 12 performance arts centers were identified in comparable markets, based on factors including population size, growth rate, demographics, programming profile, and venue types and capacities. They include:
n Broward Center for the Arts, Fort Lauderdale
n Dayton Live, Dayton, Ohio
n Dr. Phillips Center for the Arts, Orlando
n Koger Center, Columbia, South Carolina
n Peace Center, Greenville, South Carolina
n Robinson Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
n Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater
n Steven Tanger Center for the Arts, Greensboro, North Carolina
n Straz Center for the Arts, Tampa
n Tobin Center, San Antonio, Texas
n Tucson Music Hall, Tucson, Arizona
n Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
though project financial consultant Alex Stokes of HR&A Advisors told them during a Feb. 11 workshop the TIF fund will cover the remainder of The Bay park development and the performing arts center as hundreds of millions of dollars in new developments are either under construction or in planning.
In addition to discussing capital cost funding, parking needs and infrastructure obligations of the city per the partnership agreement with the foundation, the wide-ranging workshop included a presentation of the business plan to demonstrate the operational viability of the facility.
Emily Harney of New York Citybased AEA Consulting told commissioners the business model is based on currently available information and will be refined as the project moves forward. The business plan is benchmarked against facilities in a dozen metropolitan areas ranging
from Fort Lauderdale with a population of 6.14 million to Little Rock, Arkansas, at 748,000.
Harney advised commissioners to not consider Sarasota County’s current population of just more than 910,000 to support the facility, but its projected growth to 993,000 by 2033. A factor to consider, she said, is average income growth from $64,300 in 2012 to $77,534 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We believe that speaks positively to the potential of the population to patronize the Performing Arts Center,” Harney said. “It’s also worth noting that the population expands significantly in season. An estimate by Sarasota County predicts that the population swells by about 15% during season.”
EXPENSES WILL EXCEED REVENUE
Ticket revenue makes up the SPAC’s largest income category with the 2,700-seat main theater hosting a projected 179 events over the course of a year, not including load-in, loadout and rehearsal days. The multipurpose room, Harney said, projects at 93 events and 60 additional days of use estimating annual attendance of more than 500,000.
That volume of use stands in contrast to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, which had 153 events in
the 2023-24 season, 196 if including Sarasota Orchestra performances. The estimate for first-year events for the new facility is at 353 across all spaces, not including the orchestra, which is planning to build its own facility on Fruitville Road near I-75.
All that activity estimates to generate $37.25 million in earned revenue in the first year against $41.24 million in expenses, leaving a $3.99 million gap the foundation must fill via philanthropy. Fifth-year earned revenues are projected at $38.73 million against $42.13 million in expenses, a deficit of $3.4 million.
Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation CEO Tania CastroverdeMoskalenko said expenses exceeding revenues are typical for a theater complex, and she is confident the foundation can cover the deficit, which she also said is not an extraordinary amount.
“The foundation currently raises $2.5 million (per year), but that doesn’t include contributed revenue from our special events,” Castroverde-Moskalenko said. As an example, she added, “We have an annual fundraising gala that brings in about $1.3 to $1.4 million.”
Also, a point of contention since the partnership agreement between the city and the foundation was executed in April 2022 is the non-com-
pete language between the SPAC and the Van Wezel.
It states: “City shall continue to operate the Hall until such time as the new PAC becomes ready for occupancy and operations; whereupon the Hall shall cease operation as a performing arts facility with respect to booking any program or activity that would compete directly with the PAC. The city shall work cooperatively with the foundation prior to the anticipated opening of the new PAC, to collaborate and complement park programming.”
Castroverde-Moskalenko said the foundation is open to re-examining the non-compete language and offered volunteering the organization to take over management of the Van Wezel from the city.
“Should the Van Wezel be recommended to remain as a performing arts venue by the Purple Ribbon Committee, and should this commission agree to keep the Van Wezel as a performing arts venue, the foundation would like to work with you,” she said. “Of course, it would have to remain a city building with the obligations that come with that, but we would be open to this conversation.”
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SARASOTA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER PROJECTED ATTENDANCE
By year five of operation, the Sarasota Performing Arts Center projects a total annual attendance of 522,881 for 390 events, including productions, concerts, rental, education and other non-performance events.
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Courtesy image
A Renzo Piano Building Workshop conceptual rendering of the Sarasota Performing Arts Center as viewed from the 10th Street Canal.
City plans to fence fountain and courtyard
Sarasota city commissioners determined an outdoor patio space does not constitute a public park in deciding to secure the area as part of a $625,000 repair and renovation contract.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Whether a courtyard area on the southwest corner of Sarasota City Hall constitutes a public park, and as such should be surrounded by a fence, was the subject of a 30-minute discussion during the Feb. 18 City Commission meeting.
Pulled from the consent agenda by Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch was an authorization to execute a contract to upgrade the area, which includes a damaged fountain, at a cost of $625,518. Hurricane Milton damaged the fountain when a massive live oak fell across it and the courtyard area.
For good measure, the bid included a fence around the area, which Ahearn-Koch took as contradictory to maintaining public space open to public use.
“My concern is that it’s a public area,” she said. “It looks like a park, it acts like a park. People treat it sometimes like a park. In fact, I’d like to see more people use that area.”
The area has been well used, said Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson, those uses often requiring a response by the Sarasota Police Department. It has served as an overnight shelter by the homeless and the fountain, as viewed through his adjacent office window, as a bathtub. That and years of vandalism, commissioners were told, led to the proposal to fence in the area as
part of the renovation, secured by a gate to be unlocked during City Hall business hours.
“I can tell you that, from the police department standpoint, we’ve responded to a number of calls for service in reference to defecation, sleeping, crimes that are committed in that area,” Robinson said. “There was a point in time where we were having someone who was shoving feces through the mail slot in that back door that goes into the hallway. The design of the building is not in keeping with our current security needs.”
It’s that very design built in 1966, Ahearn-Koch countered, that necessitates the courtyard to be open and accessible to all.
“The design of the building — the Sarasota School of Architecture — and this whole campus was to blend in with nature and to be accessible to the entire public,” she said. “I think the fence sends the wrong message.”
Ahearn-Koch was largely alone in her assessment of the value of the courtyard as a public park, as evidenced by the 4-1 vote to approve the contract including the fence. Residents have used the space sparingly and they are not looking for a place to bathe or bed down for the night.
And even if it were considered a park, Mayor Liz Alpert reasoned, the city should treat it like any other park, locking facilities when they close for the night.
Commissioner Kyle Battie said if any part of the City Hall campus
looks and functions as a park, it is the open space on the southeast corner of the property at Orange Avenue and First Street, where large shade trees form a canopy over a green lawn.
“I never looked at that area as a public space. I just see it as sitting outside of the city manager’s and deputy city manager’s office, and nobody really uses it aside from the homeless,” Battie said. “The area is so obscure it’s not like, ‘Let’s go hang out at the park at City Hall at the fountain.’ Nobody says that.”
The location of the fence will be several feet below the top level of the elevated space, reducing its visible impact from both the street and at the patio. The only furniture cur-
rently there are a couple of concrete tables and seating, installed to eliminate after-hours damage and vandalism. Securing the location would allow for more comfortable outdoor furniture and functional use by staff as outdoor meeting or work space.
In opposing the motion to approve the contract to include the fence, Ahearn-Koch reinforced her position.
“I think the approach of doing all of the renovations except the fence and then seeing if we could solve the issues with lighting and with other of our best practices, and saving the $30,000 on the fence, was perhaps wiser approach to this issue,” she said.
Andrew Warfield
The courtyard area at Sarasota City Hall will be renovated, the fountain repaired and the entire area fenced in.
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It’s an unconvincing case
Each side of The RinglingNew College question can make a case. But it’s difficult to be convinced that New College is ready.
Of course it was no surprise.
The minute word spread that Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing to shift responsibility for the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art — Florida’s state museum — from Florida State University to New College of Florida, there was horrified gasping, choking and resistance.
That’s the way it always goes around here when someone proposes dramatic change. Especially at New College. What?! There he goes again. Power hungry Richard Corcoran just going after more empire building, and using his buddy to get there.
This is a complicated work of art and politics; a complicated work of vision and business execution (or lack of); and, as most everything does, it involves a lot of money — taxpayer money, to be precise. Depending on the insiders with whom you speak, everyone can make a good case — for keeping the museum under the FSU umbrella or transferring it to New College. But the explicit question President Corcoran has thrust into the public square for consideration is: Which institution is most likely to take the Ringling Museum “from good to great” and, at the same time, provide the best benefits to Florida taxpayers?
FSU WON THE BID
Were it not for Bradenton lawyer Bob Blalock, the late Sarasota state Sen. Bob Johnson and former Senate President John McKay back in 2000, the Ringling Museum, Ca’ d’Zan and Circus Museum, minus everything else there now, likely would be as it was — a local, Sarasota museum on the decline, growing financially desperate for a way to stay afloat.
The civic-minded Blalock and Johnson took to McKay the idea to have either Florida State University or the University of South Florida become the stewards of the museum — financially and operationally. With access to state funding, a much wider net of possible donors and possibilities of undergraduate and graduate art programs, one of the universities could sustain the museum and help it grow. Together, Blalock, Johnson and McKay pitched the idea to each university to bid. Obviously, FSU won. McKay shepherded the idea through the Legislature.
One of the key features of this stewardship was tucking Ringling’s finances within FSU’s billion-dollar operations. That prevented future governors from messing with the Ringling’s finances and turning the museum into a political pawn.
For the past quarter century, you can accurately say the merger has worked.
In that time, the fast-decaying Ca’ d’Zan was restored; the Historic Asolo Theater and Circus Museum were restored; the museum continued to grow in collections and prestige; and new additions gradually filled out John and Mable Ringling’s property, including the Tibbals Circus Model, Glass Pavilion and Center for Asian Art, among them. Along the way, as part of an FSUwide capital campaign, FSU and the board of the Ringling Museum of Art Foundation Inc., the fundraising arm and overseer of the museum, raised $101 million in 2019 in an FSU-wide capital campaign. The amount exceeded the $100 million goal. Long-time, local
museum supporters were agog that goal could be reached.
They will tell you the relationship with FSU and its donor network certainly contributed to the success. Worth noting is that in The Ringling’s annual list of top donors, FSU and the FSU Foundation are always the museum’s top two donors.
But the benefits go both ways.
The Ringling helps FSU, too.
While New College’s Corcoran makes the case that geographic proximity would create a more dynamic and intertwined relationship for the two institutions, breaking the tie between FSU and The Ringling might be like trying to saw the Sunshine Skyway in two.
Every FSU president who succeeded Sandy D’Alemberte, the president who made sure FSU won the bid, has felt and seen the importance of The Ringling for FSU.
To be sure, one of the most important jobs of a college or university president is to raise money.
In that vein, since The Ringling has become part of FSU, we were told,
The Ringling typically is always among FSU’s top five colleges for generating the most donor money.
The story goes that when the late T.K. Wetherell became FSU’s president (from 2003-2010), he wanted to give The Ringling to USF. D’Alemberte said once Wetherell sees how much money The Ringling generates, “he will love it.”
Suffice it to say, behind the scenes over the next three months in Tallahassee, there will be intense conversations among powerful FSU-Ringling supporters; the DeSantis-Corcoran-New College contingent; and Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez. Perez is an FSU graduate and has already clashed with DeSantis.
It may get ugly. Don’t put it past DeSantis to use The Ringling as a chess piece. “You give me RinglingNew College, or, Mr. Speaker, I’ll veto your pet projects.”
POSITIVE RESULTS
One of the pro-FSU-Ringling arguments will be that their relationship is working well. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
To that end, if you read The Ringling’s 2023-2024 annual review, you easily can get the impression the museum and its affiliates are thriving. The 28-page book is chockful of reports on the year’s new exhibitions, public outreach programming, arts performances, art acquisitions and restorations of the historic grounds. Mind you, annual reports are crafted to paint the best picture possible. Even so, numbers do tell a story. In the past two fiscal years, The Ringling has reported record financial and attendance results.
■ 2023-24 admissions income: $6,072,647, a 19% increase over the previous year and a record.
■ 2023-24 attendance: 406,510, the fourth-highest year, best since post-COVID and a 7.5% increase over the previous year. It was the first time since COVID that attendance exceeded 400,000.
FSU’S INFRASTRUCTURE
Then there is the infrastructure. Again, read the annual review. You cannot help but sense The Ringling is a complex operation with many spinning plates — all of which take honed expertise.
A key ingredient to The Ringling’s operations has been the hiring of Executive Director Steven High in 2011. Not only had he been executive director of four art museums, his MBA gave him fiscal expertise. High oversees nearly 500,000 square feet of buildings, 66 acres of grounds, 260 staff members and 400-plus volunteers.
Entwined in that are the services that FSU provides: its development office supports The Ringling’s development team; building maintenance expertise; risk and insurance management; and, as one director noted, “PSI compliance (credit card processing and security) for more than 400,000 visitors.”
Also crucial: the museum’s curators. A proponent of maintaining the FSU relationship, the former director cautioned that a change to New College could bring what often happens when leadership changes in any business: Key people leave. “Curators are the essence of the museum,” he said. “They have the relationships with the art donors.”
Altogether, the pro-FSU contingent argues that FSU’s Ringling infrastructure would not just change the logos on their shirts to New College. New College would need millions of dollars in state funding to build the people infrastructure to operate The Ringling.
How long and how much would that take? What opportunity cost?
THE CORCORAN CASE
President Corcoran presented part of his case for the merging of New College and The Ringling in the Feb. 20 editions of the Observer. He called it “an alignment that strengthens Sarasota’s role as Florida’s premier hub for arts, education and scholarship, while ensuring that this historic and cherished museum remains deeply connected to and preserved by the community that has shaped it for nearly a century.”
He argues it’s common-sense geography, which would translate into better use of resources.
FSU and its administration and leadership are 330 miles away. And as every business owner who has multiple locations knows, distance between the home office and the satellites always means there is an “out of sight, out of mind” loss of culture and attention.
You can make a good case theoretically that having the two institutions as physical, next-door neighbors would ensure a more dynamic, more efficient, day-to-
day culture and relationship for growth for both institutions.
Likewise, Corcoran is not making a case that the FSU-Ringling relationship is unsuccessful or broken.
But what we don’t know — nor has he presented — is how much better The Ringling could be or should be doing. Are there data? Show us the money, say, a cost-benefit analysis.
Part of Corcoran’s argument is that The Ringling’s potential is hampered and held back being a sliver (0.8%) of a $3 billion-a-year FSU enterprise, an institution that pays far more attention to reviving a flagging football team than to maximizing the under-invested value of The Ringling.
Give him the floor, and Corcoran can passionately make the argument that a combined New College and The Ringling would propel his vision of creating the premier liberal arts college in Florida, to be sure, and among the tops in the U.S.
For Corcoran, this is not a conservative or progressive issue. It’s a vision. But he also knows he faces institutional resistance to change and doubts among taxpayers that he can execute his vision.
BUGABOO: COST PER STUDENT
You can make a case for that doubt.
For one, Corcoran’s reputation is Trumpish — disruptor.
His style is not to dither and yap. It’s action. It’s break and throw out what doesn’t fit or what he doesn’t want and do things the way he wants — within the boundaries of state law. Never mind the pieces on the floor or feelings. Corcoran is all about: Measure the ultimate outcomes.
In that vein, when you read the New College board’s evaluation of Corcoran, all of the above is there. He has eight objectives that can earn him $200,000 on top of his annual $795,000 compensation.
In the most recent evaluation, he listed 66 major milestones and deliverables. Including:
■ An additional $32 million in state funding, on top of its annual appropriation.
■ Increased the New College of Florida Foundation funds 60% with a 54% increase in first-time donors.
■ Increasing enrollment — 360 new freshmen and undergraduate transfers, record numbers two consecutive years. Enrollment totaled 872, 10 students ahead of goal.
(For all 66 milestones, see: YourObserver.com/Opinion)
But there is still this bugaboo: New College has a long way to go for Corcoran to tout success. This one measurement hangs over him and New College: The cost to educate a student.
At New College, it’s $107,000 a year. By comparison, at Florida Gulf Coast University, it’s about $22,000. New College tuition and fees account for 3.9% of the college’s annual revenues; at FGCU, they account for 53% of revenues.
Under Corcoran’s vision, New College costs will always be higher than the other state universities because of its academics.
But for taxpayers to make the judgment that it makes economic and management sense for New College to take over the stewardship of The Ringling, if you were an investor with a moderate risk tolerance, a logical conclusion would be to say: Not now. Not yet.
Convince us with more results that the core business is stable, consistent and growing. And make the case with analysis that the idea is more than a grand vision.
The Mira Mar: A case of tradeoffs
Get ready for another episode of “The Resistors.” Seaward Development, one of Sarasota’s premier developers, is scheduled to appear Wednesday, March 12, before the Sarasota Planning Board to request a rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment so it can save and rehabilitate the historic Mira Mar complex on South Palm Avenue. At the crux of the requests: Seaward
founder, owner and CEO Patrick DiPinto has spent three years trying to figure out how to restore the beloved and crumbling, classic Mediterranean-revival retail shops. Price tag: $25 million to $29 million.
To help fund that, Seaward wants to develop two 18-story condos behind the Mira Mar.
To read more on the proposal, go YourObserver.com/ Opinion.
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MATT WALSH
Courtesy images
From the cover of The Ringling’s 2023-24 Annual Review.
Hyatt opposition gains strength
Developers of Quay Blocks 1 and 9 are being joined by nearby condo residents in appealing a Planning Board adjustment to the City Commission.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Opposition to Kolter Urban’s plans to redevelop the Hyatt Regency site into a twotower, mixed-use project is gaining in numbers as a March 17 hearing before the Sarasota City Commission approaches.
Quay 1 and 9 led a virtual meeting last week of the investment team from Property Markets Group of Miami and MoneyShow of Sarasota; more than 40 people attended to discuss objections to the 1000 Boulevard of the Arts project. Quay 1 and 9 has appealed a Dec. 11 Planning Board approval of an adjustment to relocate an existing driveway into the site, one that also exceeds the maximum width permitted by code by 9 feet.
That access will serve both the condominium and hotel towers.
The relocation of the driveway, they claim will require all westbound vehicle traffic to make a U-turn on Boulevard of the Arts to access the 117 luxury condos, 174 hotel rooms, more than 8,130 square feet of commercial and retail space and activities in a 6,610-square-foot ballroom.
Additionally, Quay 1 and 9 object to the administratively approved massing of the building at 622 linear feet along Boulevard of the Arts, the project being built over an existing public easement — a vacated alley jointly owned by the two developers — resulting in a tunnel between Boulevard of the Arts and Quay Block 9.
Not included in the appeal is the hotel plan surrounds Block 9 along two lot lines, where PMG and MoneyShow have been granted approval to build One Park West.
“This won’t appeal the entire project,” Tyler Stall, attorney for Quay 1 and 9, told the meeting attendees. “This will be as it relates to the adjustment they received. We’re also objecting to the partial sign-off for their site plan.”
That partial sign-off was grantedby the city’s Development Review Committee on Feb. 19.
In a letter dated Feb. 25, Stall requested the city recognize Quay 1 and 9’s adversely affected — or aggrieved — party status regarding Kolter Urban’s application. City Commission must grant status prior to an appeal being heard.
Florida statute defines an aggrieved party as any person or local government that will suffer an adverse effect to a project that exceeds the general interest in community good. Whether negative impact on one party exceeds that of the general public, or benefit, is subject to interpretation. Quay 1 and 9 is an aggrieved party,
according to Stall’s letter, because it shares a common boundary, impacting it at a level far over that which will be endured by the public at-large.
Although the subject of the appeal is restricted to the Planning Boardapproved adjustment, Stall said the City Commission has the latitude to widen its scope to the overall plan.
“There’s certainly the possibility that, especially given that the city has the opportunity to send it back to the Planning Board, to require further modifications,” Stall said. “There is the possibility the City Commission can be more concerned about the other issues and require extensive adjustments. They may be able to go into other facets of the entire project.”
Although still awaiting final Development Review Committee sign-off and in the face of the looming appeal, Kolter Urban launched sales at 1000 Boulevard of the Arts on Feb. 25. The developer declined to provide comment on the appeal.
THE GROUNDS FOR OPPOSITION
n Traffic congestion and safety concerns over a podium building of 622.5 linear feet along Boulevard of the Arts, the largest span in the city. Traffic on the street already includes 350,000 annual visitors to The Bay park and three condominium communities — Beau Ceil, 888 and 988, whose only access is off Boulevard of the Arts.
n The primary entrance curb cut of 33 feet in width, which exceeds the 24-foot maximum prescribed by code. It also claims Kolter Urban’s traffic study was insufficient. Inconsistencies with the city’s Comprehensive Plan regarding scale and massing, placing undue strain on adjacent properties and public infrastructure. That includes compromising pedestrian accessibility to The Bay park and the multiuse recreational trail through the area. Boulevard of the Arts, Stall argues, is a primary street requiring enhanced pedestrian standards while prohibiting “unnecessarily wide curb cuts that disrupt pedestrian movement and reduce public safety.”
n Encroachment on public and private easements a 20-foot-wide easement for a vacated alley and a 12-foot-wide pedestrian access easement. The letter states Quay 1 and 9 owns two-thirds of the alley easement, the encroachment restricting its ability to access and develop its own property.
Courtesy image
This drawing by Quay 1 and 9 depicts the 1000 Boulevard of the Arts project (in red) enveloping its city-approved One Park West project.
Sarasota master plan group kicks off
Some of the 13-member Sarasota Downtown Master Plan Update Committee challenge the process of selecting a consultant.
ntroductions were the primary order of the day as the city of Sarasota’s 13-member Downtown Master Plan Update Committee held its opening session on Tuesday.
Following the requisite briefing on the complexities of Florida’s Sunshine Law, city-selected facilitator Tammy Vrana took over, leading the group through introductions, allowing one minute each to describe their credentials and their interest in the process.
The members are:
Howard Davis, chairman:
Trained as an architect and planner, he is an attorney and real estate developer in Sarasota with experience in similar master plans. “I’ve been very much involved in public affairs, and in fact directly involved in moving this process along, I hope a little bit faster than it might have otherwise.”
Bill Waddill, vice chairman: A certified planner and landscape architect with Kimley-Horn specializing in multidisciplinary public and private projects. He paused his career to spend six years as the CEO of the Bay Park Conservancy, which is responsible for building and operating The Bay.
Chris Voelker: Owner of two downtown restaurants, she is also a member and past chair of the Downtown Improvement District Board of Directors, which is responsible for allocating overlay tax district revenues paid by property owners to enhance the downtown area.
Elena Paul: A newer resident of the city, she moved to Sarasota approximately 18 months ago as the first general counsel at Ringling College of Art and Design. She is an attorney who has spent her career working with arts and cultural organizations.
Erin DeFazio: The program director of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, she was a central figure in the city’s recent adoption of a transfer of development rights ordinance that allows owners of historic buildings to monetize their property by selling height and density rights to other property owners.
Jamie Still: A Sarasota resident since 2013 who has lived downtown since 2015, she is the current vice president of the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association, president of Sarasota Contemporary Dance and secretary of Urbanite
File photos
Former Bay Park Conservancy CEO and current planner for Kimley-Horn, Bill Waddill, is the vice chairman of the Downtown Master Plan Update Committee.
Theatre. She also owns a small business on the edge of downtown.
Jenn Stutler: A city resident since 2000, she holds a degree in building construction, has worked for construction companies and started her own business 14 years ago. Her projects include working with nonprofits — including The Bay — and private developers.
Ken Shelin: A former city commissioner, former member of the Planning Board and of other advisory boards, he moved to Sarasota 35 years ago and has lived in downtown since 2000.
Melissa Laughlin: A “consultant to the consultants,” specializing in growth strategy and execution, she once spent two years in Johannesburg, South Africa, helping to develop a city master plan.
Richard Russell: The general director of Sarasota Opera and resident since 2005, he led the development of a 30-unit apartment complex in the Rosemary district where the opera houses artists, and for the use by other nonprofits when available.
He is also the chairman of Visit Sarasota County. He first came to Sarasota 36 years ago as a singer with the Sarasota Opera.
Sarah Lyons: An architect who owns her own practice special -
izing in commercial, institutional and public projects, she was previously director of a large practice that worked institutional, educational and public projects across Florida.
Tiffany Nisbet: A Sarasota native, she is a real estate agent who grew up as her father managed Bird Key Yacht Club. “I think I’ve been here longer than anybody else I’ve heard so far … so I got to witness the city change over the years, both good and bad,” she said.
Will Luera: A 10-year Sarasota resident, he has been a professional improviser, actor and director for 27 years. A native of Chicago, he describes himself as a strong advocate and ally of the Latino community who formerly served on the board of the Latino Cultural Center and sits on the board of Miss Sarasota Softball.
The meeting wasn’t all collegial. Following the introductions and the elections of Davis and Waddill came a debate over committee participation in the procurement process of a project consultant.
Theresa Webb, a senior procurement consultant with Civic Initiatives serving as the city’s interim purchasing manager, after explaining how the Sunshine Law affects the procurement process, said only one committee member is allowed to directly participate in the “invitation to negotiate” process as it is a staff-level, and not a committeelevel, process.
That didn’t set well with Davis, who, along with Waddill, challenged the interpretation of the statute. Other members asked if a representative of the City Attorney’s office may attend the next meeting on to provide further clarification.
“If it’s truly only possible under the applicable laws for one person to be on the committee, then so be it, but I want to make sure that we’ve kept open minds in this process and explored the possibility of greater participation than just one member,” Davis said.
“If that can’t work, then have that be explained to us and we’ll move on from there, but I think we need to get past that threshold.”
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Chris Voelker is the owner of two downtown restaurants and now a member of the Downtown Master Plan Committee.
Historic status suggested for Van Wezel
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
n ongoing bid to seek historic building status for the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and perhaps preserve it as the city’s primary performance venue, came before the Sarasota City Commission at its March 3 meeting.
At the request of Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, local historic preservationist Lorrie Muldowney pitched commissioners to consider applying the Van Wezel to the National Register of Historic Places, designation of which, chief among other benefits, would exempt the building from the 50% FEMA rule that limits renovations to floodprone properties to half of their appraised value.
That would help the city’s Purple Ribbon Committee, which is facing an early summer deadline to make its recommendations to repurpose — or not — the Van Wezel should the city move forward with a new Sarasota Performing Arts Center.
In introducing Muldowney, Olrich said the city is obligated to at least keep the Van Wezel operational if and until the SPAC is built, adding the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation has been exploring potential viable solutions.
“They have identified ways to preserve the Van Wezel’s historic significance while also offering fiscally responsible options for the city, whether in the short term or for its continued use in the long term,” Ohlrich said.
In other words, should the City Commission decline to enter into an implementation agreement with the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation to build a new facility, the Van Wezel could be rehabbed at any cost — and be eligible for state and federal grants — should it be registered as historic.
Timing, however, is an issue.
The commission is due to vote on the implementation agreement on March 17. Meanwhile the Purple Ribbon Committee is scheduled to
sunset in July and the process just to determine if the Van Wezel is eligible for the National Register, according to Muldowney, can take about nine months.
Mayor Liz Alpert agreed with commissioners Kyle Battie and Debbie Trice there is no rush to start the application process, and the missions of the Alliance and the Purple Ribbon Committee can proceed on parallel tracks. Consideration of historic status can come after the Purple Ribbon Committee’s work is complete.
That, and with member Marty Hylton, president of Architecture Sarasota, the committee already possesses expertise in historic preservation.
“Certainly with Marty Hylton’s expertise, they understand what designation of historic building entails that they understand that there are tax credits, that you don’t have to comply by the 50% rule,” Alpert said. “That adds to their knowledge in terms of making their determination.”
Muldowney has spoken before the committee on multiple occasions and told commissioners she is scheduled to present to the group as it continues its deliberations.
The next meeting of the Purple Ribbon Committee is 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at Sarasota City Hall.
Andrew Warfield Lorrie Muldowney listens during her March 3 appearance before the Sarastota City Commission.
Housing Authority gets help from Lee County
The Sarasota County Commission has OK’d loans from Housing Finance Authority.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
On the agenda for the Sarasota County Commission’s Feb. 25 meeting was a public hearing of resolutions relating to approving the use of tax-exempt loans to the Sarasota Housing Authority of $25 million to finance Amaryllis Park Place III and $27 million for Lofts on Lemon II.
The lender is the Housing Finance Authority of Lee County.
What does a government agency in Lee County have to do with financing public housing projects in Sarasota, one might ask?
Florida statute authorizes the creation of housing finance authorities within the state for issuing revenue bonds to assist in relieving the shortage of affordable housing. According to its website, the Housing Finance Authority of Lee County is a not-forprofit governmental agency charged with improving access to affordable housing in Southwest Florida.
ing things and that we will have a very intricate review of this to see if perhaps this might be a bit antiquated and if it’s something that still requires our attention.”
The nearly quarter-century agreement may be terminated at any time, providing advance written notice.
3
3
3 Stores n Location Tuesday - Saturday n 10:00am - 5:00pm 2095 17th Street n Sarasota
TAKE YEARS
In 2021, Sarasota County and the agency entered into an interlocal agreement to authorize it to issue bonds in the county, when requested by the county, to finance qualifying local affordable housing developments.
The commission unanimously approved the resolutions with no discussion, other than a comment from Teresa Mast.
“This is one that when people read this, they go, ‘What do we have to do with Lee County?’” Mast said, adding she has asked if the County Attorney’s Office has looked into the agreement, requesting it be reviewed. “I just wanted to make sure that our citizens understand that we’re not just blindly approv-
The SHA is planning Lofts on Lemon II, which will include 100 rental apartment units to serve lowincome families. The first phase, which fronts Cohen Way, offers 128 units plus amenities. The second phase will front Lemon Avenue.
Amaryllis Park Place III is a 4.5acre project that will redevelop aging public housing along 21st Street into 108 rental apartments. Phases I and II of the project already include 164 affordable apartments.
In addition to providing financing assistance for low-income singlefamily housing in Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Lee, Monroe, Palm Beach and Sarasota counties, Housing Finance Authority of Lee County serves affordable and public housing developments in Lee and Sarasota counties.
“Plexr® Plasma-based technology is terrific for removal of extra skin and targeted wrinkle reduction without the need for surgery, and much less expensive than typical surgery costs. For indications like eyelid lifts, neck lifts, crow’s feet and smoker’s lines it’s a great option.”
- Dr. Sam
Courtesy image
Amaryllis Park Place III buildings, as shown in this Hoyt Architects rendering, will be three stories tall with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, all priced at 80% or below area median income.
Medical Director
Dr. Sam Uzabel
A Century of Care, A Future of Hope
In 1925, the people of Sarasota County came together to open a new hospital — their only hospital. With just 32 beds, it was named simply Sarasota Hospital.
One hundred years later, we have grown into something extraordinary: a healthcare system with two full-service hospitals, a Level II Trauma Center, a renowned cancer institute, comprehensive rehabilitation services, a dedicated behavioral health pavilion, and a vast network of outpatient and physician services. Today, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System stands as an award-winning symbol of excellence, recognized nationwide and respected worldwide.
While our name and reach have expanded, our mission remains steadfast. The promise endures: to safeguard our community’s health, to be there for our neighbors in times of need, and to carry forward the trust that has defined us for a century.
Because at our core, we are still a community hospital. And some things will never change.
COPS CORNER
The Paisley Craze, a talented band playing all your favorite music from the 1960s, covering the incredibly wide range of styles of that historic decade.
Performers include Marty Bednar, Bob Dielman, Bob Lunergan, and Dave Mankes.
THURSDAY, FEB. 20
YOU CAN’T STAY HERE
1:24 a.m., 1400 block of Main Street
Trespassing: While on foot patrol an officer encountered a familiar subject engaged in a verbal altercation with a bouncer at a late night drinking establishment. The subject had previously picked up one of the outdoor chairs and began swinging it near another employee, who advised he was clearing the tables when he told the subject it was time to leave the premises. After swinging the chair, the subject then carried it across the street to sit outside another establishment. That’s where he was issued a trespassing warning and advised to avoid instigating further altercations. The fate of the purloined chair was not included in the report.
FRIDAY. FEB. 21
YOU CAN’T DRINK HERE
12:49 a.m., 1500 block of Main Street
Disturbance: Yet another dispute between customers and a bouncer resulted in the security worker flagging down an officer stating, “I need them trespassed!”
SUNDAY, FEB. 23
FENCE LINE FRACAS
4 p.m., 700 block of Norsota Way
Civil dispute: An officer was dispatched regarding a dispute among neighbors regarding a fence location dispute. The complainant said the fence was knocked down during Hurricane Milton, both parties agreeing to have a new fence installed.
Shortly after the work was completed approximately three weeks earlier, the neighbor complained that the fence was installed on his property and that the complainant was trying to steal his land. To settle the matter, the complainant hired had a licensed surveyor to ensure the fence did not infringe on the neighbor’s property. That is when he was notified the offending section of the fence had been cut down.
The surveyor had supposedly advised the neighbor to repair the fence, which he did. The complainant did not want to take further action, only to document the damage and report it as a civil matter.
Exiting the cruiser, the officer approached the subjects, observing one with bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and “dried spit forming in the corners of his mouth,” according to the incident report. He claimed they were kicked out of the establishment for no reason and that the two were harassed by staff and, therefore, should not be trespassed.
After issuing trespassing warnings, both left without further incident. Afterward, an employee told the officer one of the two men arrived at the bar and was asked to present identification to prove his age, replying he did not have it with him. That’s when the verbal dispute began. No further action was taken.
TUESDAY, FEB. 25
YOU CAN’T SPEED HERE
11:25 a.m., 3100 block of Saralake Drive
Dispute: A resident tried to take the law into his own hands and admonish a door repair man whom he believed was speeding through the neighborhood. Driving up in his golf cart, the man first took photos of the man’s truck and then attempted to
scold him for speeding.
Frustrated after being ignored, he put his golf cart in reverse and, in demolition derby fashion, rammed the front bumper of his truck, causing what was described in the incident report as a minor scrape. As he attempted to drive away, the workman attempted to stop him, causing the cart to strike him resulting in a scratch on his arm and breaking a portion of the golf cart windshield. Cooler heads prevailed and the neighborhood watchman apologized and agreed to pay the man in cash for the damage to his truck. Both requested the incident to be documented and no further action taken.
LOOKING BACK IS THE BEST WAY TO LOOK AHEAD.
The attractions of Amara, diverse and extraordinary, know no equal. This begins with its Golden Gate address— for the Point is one of those rarest of natural wonders — an enclave that looks across the bay and back to the city — once-in-a-lifetime views that are yours every day. Add your name to our early interest list.
“In order to get me to that elite level, I had to hone in my technique and fundamentals, and he’s definitely helped me get there.”
FAST
innings.
Three Sarasota-area boys wrestlers are headed to Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee for the state championships from March 6 to 8. Riverview senior CJ McCutcheon won the 215-pound weight class at the Class 3A-Region 2 meet at George Jenkins High School on March 1 over Jamal Grover of Haines City via forfeit. Other area wrestlers who will compete in the state championships include: Marco Virgala of Sarasota, who placed second in the 157-pound weight class at the 3A-2 meet, and Roderick Schwartz of Booker, who placed third in the 175-pound weight class at the 1A-3 meet. ... Cardinal Mooney and Sarasota are emerging as the area’s top prep baseball teams. An offense that’s averaged 7.7 runs per game has powered the Cougars (8-1) through their first eight games. The Sailors (5-3-1) have leaned on a pitching staff that’s allowed 1.8 runs per game. Sarasota’s best game of the season may have been a loss. The Sailors lost to Venice, a nationally ranked team, 4-3 on March 3. ... Riverview softball ace Allison Cole has led the Rams (4-0) to an undefeated start. Cole is 4-0 with a 0.50 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 28 innings pitched. At the plate she is hitting .417 with a team-high four RBIs. ... Booker softball has put up video-game numbers through its 2-0 start. The Tornadoes have scored 79 runs in its first two games, including a 50-33 win over Southeast on Feb. 25. Booker is using its speed to its advantage. Six players already have double-digit stolen bases. ... Sarasota girls lacrosse (4-1) is out to a strong start led by senior Ava Kozicky, who has 31 goals. The Sailors will host Riverview (3-3) on March 5 at 5 p.m.
STATE CHAMPS!
Cardinal Mooney girls basketball wins first title.
VINNIE PORTELL STAFF WRITER
The Cardinal Mooney girls basketball team knew better than most what it was like to lose in the state championship.
Now it knows what it’s like to win.
The Cougars used the motivation of losing four straight times in the Class 3A state championship game to hold off Jacksonville Bolles 64-54 on the evening of March 1 at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“It was senior leadership,” Cardinal Mooney coach Marlon Williams said of the difference in this year’s state championship game. “I have Kali (Barrett), I have Sy’monique (Simon), I have Josie (Maloni), I have Riley (Martin). That makes a big difference, experience. They’ve been there, and they understand.
“That’s what I was leaning on the whole time. Those young ladies to come out and play hard tonight.”
The win marks the first state championship in program history for Cardinal Mooney.
Although the runner-up finishes were disappointing for Cardinal Mooney, they ensured the experiences weren’t wasted.
‘FINISH WHAT WE STARTED’
Four Cougars players — Barrett, Simon, Maloni and Avery Davis — have felt the frustration of losing three straight state championships.
Sophomore Madi Mignery has only experienced one runner-up finish, but that was enough for her to make sure she never forgot what it felt like.
Mignery said she hung her silver medal over her bed and made her phone’s screensaver a picture of her crying after losing to Miami Country Day in 2024.
“We put so much work in and we just wanted to get it done and finish what we started,” said Mignery, who scored 19 points and nabbed 11 rebounds. “All the hard work and all the late nights, early mornings, we wanted to show that out here and show everyone we came for business. We wanted to show everybody we’re here, and we’re state champs.”
Simon said losing for all four years of her high school career was simply not an option.
“I knew we were going to win,” said Simon, who had 11 points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal at the time of her injury. “We practice too hard. Practicing at 6 a.m., going for
three hours. We practice too hard to not win.”
Unfortunately for Simon, she couldn’t influence the outcome over the final 14 minutes. She was fouled while going up for a layup, with 6:41 remaining in the third quarter and landed hard on her left elbow.
She left the game until the final seconds and said it’s likely dislocated.
Was it worth it?
“Oh yeah, I’d do it all over again,” Simon said of coming away injured, but with a gold medal around her neck.
FIGHTING OFF COLLAPSE
Cardinal Mooney was in firm control of the championship by halftime.
After leading 17-15 going into the second quarter, the Cougars played lock-down defense.
Bolles scored just four points that quarter as Cardinal Mooney built a 34-19 lead at the midway point.
Adversity struck in the third quarter.
an elbow injury, but Mignery was whistled for a third foul less than two minutes in and had to be subbed out of the game.
stepped up.
points and six rebounds to help the Cougars maintain a 53-40 lead head ing into the final eight minutes.
ter charge led by Evie Freeman (21 points) and Presley Norman (15 points) to cut the margin to 57-52 with 3:06 remaining.
and two free throws by Mignery over the next two minutes gave Cardinal Mooney security to hold off the Bull dogs.
liams said of the game growing close at the end. “We’ve been in situations over and over again. We just took this game and left it all out there, but we didn’t think about that. We just thought about playing together. Even though we made mistakes, the next time is us.”
Cardinal Mooney has established itself as one of the premier girls basketball programs in the state over the past five seasons.
However, several of the players who helped build that reputation won’t be around next season.
Barrett, who averaged 16 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game this season, is committed to play for
McCutcheon, senior, Riverview High, wrestling
WHAT LIES AHEAD
Cardinal Mooney girls basketball coach Marlon Williams cheers on his team.
The Cardinal Mooney girls basketball team cheers as it’s announced as the 3A state champion at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Photos by Vinnie Portell
Cardinal Mooney senior guard
Sy’monique Williams drives against Bolles guard Abby Knauff in the 3A state championship game at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Cardinal Mooney senior Kali Barrett rises up for a shot against Bolles guard Abby Knauff.
Booker baseball has already bested a dreadful 2024 season
The Tornadoes have already won more games this year than they did in all of last season.
Ipride myself on being an unbiased sports reporter.
I typically find myself rooting for interesting stories and games that finish on time.
However, I’m finding it hard not to pull for the Booker High baseball team.
Booker High School has an impressive history of athletic success, but that’s mostly eluded its baseball team.
On the diamond, the Tornadoes have made the regional playoffs just seven times in the past 44 years and have never won a regional championship.
Some of that playoff success was relatively recent. Booker made it as far as the regional final in 2016 and the regional semifinals in 2019. Its past few seasons have been as bad as it gets.
Booker owns a 12-60-3 record over the last four seasons, but there’s good reason to believe that woeful stretch is nearing its end.
The Tornadoes (3-2) have already won more times through its first five games this year than all of last season.
BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP
It didn’t take any advanced analytics for Booker baseball coach Pat Sweeney to realize he had to do something different this past summer.
The former Riverview High and Holy Cross College baseball player’s first year as a head coach at Booker in 2024 couldn’t have gone much worse.
The Tornadoes went 2-15 last season as a lack of pitching, defense, and baseball fundamentals plagued the team all season.
To top it off, players were also undisciplined.
Sweeney said he had weekly issues with his players running into trouble in school, not taking practice seriously or just skipping it altogether.
Those bad habits are no longer tolerated, and that’s been a gamechanger for Booker early this season.
“I know Booker has its reputation,” Sweeney said while watching his players run 30 minutes of laps around the field because a player had acted out in class that day. “It’s not always deserved, in my opinion. It’s just stereotypes, and you get looked at a certain way. It’s just not always the case. We have a group of kids here that are just unbelievable character-wise.”
Sweeney spent the past offseason conceptualizing a way to hold his players accountable. Simply kicking kids off the team didn’t send the right message.
So he created a contract that spelled out the standards he wanted to set, and had each player sign one.
That wasn’t an immediate fix, but players said the way practice is conducted this season is already unrecognizable from last year. Last year Sweeney had just one assistant coach, Lew Johnson, to help him run practice and stay on top of players’ discipline.
This season, Sweeney has added four assistants — his father, Joe Sweeney, Derick Payne, Efren Vaquera and Brian Hubbard Sr.
“This year you can’t stand around,” senior Earl ‘Scooby’ Bethel said. “Last year, we were doing a lot of that standing around. There were guys on their phones during practice. That’s unacceptable. The standard definitely went up.”
Discipline and details make a bigger difference in the margins between wins and losses in high school baseball than many may think, but a turnaround can’t happen without talent.
LESSONS LEARNED
Booker didn’t have problems putting up runs against several teams last year.
Friday, March 14th @ 6 pm
TORNADOES’ RECORD
Booker baseball over the past five seasons
2025: 3-2*
2024: 2-15
2023: 4-17
2022: 1-20-3
2021: 5-18
*Record through March 3, 2025
The Tornadoes posted a 25-6 win over Gibbs in their first game of the season last year and scored fiveplus runs against six other teams.
In hindsight, that first blowout win might’ve been the worst way for them to start the season.
“Everybody was excited. Way too excited,” Bethel said of last year’s season-opening win. “Especially because all of that excitement died down within the next week and it brought us so far down because of how excited we were.”
Senior players Bethel and Zakori Edmond agreed Booker’s first win created complacency and set the bar too high.
When errors, bad innings, and losses came, the immediate reaction was to fold rather than to play through it.
Booker lost to Bayshore 6-5 in its second game last season and then lost the next 10 games in blowout fashion during which it was outscored 145-37.
Coaches and players insist resiliency has replaced false confidence, and that’s largely been due to a freshman class seven players deep that are playing to prove their worth.
‘THEY HONESTLY FELL OUT OF THE SKY’ A team that hardly won any games last year can’t make a one-year
turnaround simply because of better discipline. An infusion of talent was sorely needed at Booker, and Sweeney said this year’s freshman class is better than he could’ve anticipated.
“Historically Booker hasn’t had a lot of guys with a lot of baseball experience, but now we have a young core with a lot of playing experience,” he said. “They honestly fell out of the sky. It was the greatest blessing that fell into my lap.”
Sweeney said he wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this season, but he realized right away that he had some new impact players on his hands.
The Tornadoes are rostering seven freshmen this season, and a few of them have been top players early.
Freshman Dameer Watford is batting .500 with four runs and five RBIs. Freshman Gabe Bragg is
SARASOTA CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Friday, April 18th @ 6 pm
Hermitage Artist Retreat
Monday, May 12th @ 6 pm
hitting .357 with three runs and two RBIs.
The biggest difference-maker so far has been freshman Addiel Martinez. He’s been Booker’s ace so far, with a 2-1 record, a 2.94 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings pitched.
The strong start is encouraging, but the biggest reason that Booker could make some noise this year is that they’re not satisfied with what they’ve done yet.
“We’re excited,” Bethel said. “But (three wins) is nothing. We want to be district champs.”
is the sports reporter for the Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer. Contact him at VPortell@ YourObserver.com.
The stage is set
Sights + Sounds is an outdoor showcase of the best instrumental, visual and performing arts the Sarasota region has to offer. Come out for dinner at the town center and stay to enjoy the show!
Check out all of the events happening around The Ranch!
Vinnie Portell
The Booker baseball team is building its baseball IQ from the ground up. The Tornadoes went through base-running fundamentals during a practice on Feb. 26.
Vinnie Portell
CJ McCutcheon
Riverview High senior CJ McCutch-
eon couldn’t have wrestled any better at the Class 3A-Region 2 meet at Lakeland George Jenkins this past weekend.
McCutcheon didn’t have a single point scored against him in the 215-pound weight class and his opponent in the regional final match forfeited rather than face him.
He is the only regional champion in the Sarasota area and will have a chance to compete for a state championship as the lone representative from Riverview at the 3A state championships from March 6-8. When and why did you start wrestling?
I started wrestling when I was pretty young. My dad put me in it because he wrestled (at Riverview). I’ve always liked tough sports where it’s physical, or as he likes to call it, “blood sports.” He put me in jiu-jitsu and wrestling when I was younger and I did pretty good.
What’s been the most memorable moment this season?
One of my favorite memories is when we went up to Alabama for a tournament. We made it into a little road trip and we had some of the other wrestlers with us. It was a lot of fun. We wrestled in this big convention center and all the best teams from four states were there.
What’s your favorite all-time wrestling memory?
I would say probably last year. I went to states and I went with coach (Brian Sebaaly), of course, but I was by myself. That was the first time I’d ever been to states, so I had some pretty big nerves. I wound up wrestling my way to the semifinals and I was doing great. I went for a cradle and he slipped it and came on top, and I ended up losing, but it was a pretty close match.
What’s gone right for you this year?
My coach bringing in good training partners for me. Some of the best guys you could possibly get, like
If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Vinnie Portell at VPortell@ YourObserver.com.
(Timothy Peoples), a wrestler at George Jenkins who placed third in the state last year at 190 pounds.
In order to get me to that elite level, I had to hone in my technique and fundamentals, and he’s definitely helped me get there.
What’s your favorite meal?
My favorite meal of all-time is definitely all-you-can-eat sushi from Ichiban. My favorite roll is the Mexican roll. It’s basically fried tempura shrimp in a sushi roll with fish eggs on top.
What’s your favorite TV show or movie?
The Walking Dead. I love it. I’ve watched it like eight times.
Do you have any go-to warm-up songs?
I used to, but I tend to not do that as much now. I try to just lock in and get into my zone. I’m a Christian, so I pray before all of my matches, basically talking to God so I can get through all of my matches.
If you’re not wrestling, what are you doing?
Probably hanging out with my girlfriend, Raegan Hackney.
Who’s your favorite wrestler and why?
Brian Sebaaly. He was a jacked specimen with 5% body fat in college. Just an absolute specimen.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
VINTAGE
VIBES
Record collector turns passion into retail with Vinyl Vault.
IAN
When he found a space in an old plaza near Downtown Sarasota, Brad Schalk decided it was the perfect retro spot to house vintage records. He had started collecting records in high school before he moved into selling them. On March 2, his store, Vinyl Vault, held its grand opening celebration.
While the new store has around 20,000 vintage records in stock, he hopes it will also serve as a hub for the community, offering open mics and events to bring people together.
“I want to be a touchstone for the community to bring collections in that maybe they don’t know much about, and then feature that stuff,” he said.
Members of the public gathered around the store shelves and enjoyed a performance by The Garbage-Men band, a raffle and food trucks.
CREATING A COLLECTION
Schalk’s passion for collecting began about 10 years ago.
He visited Goodwill and thrift stores, while meeting older people who would sell him their collections.
“The love of music always propelling me forward, and just learning about different music,” he said. “You really realize how people just throw so much stuff out and get rid of things that are totally reusable and interesting and fun.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized the online demand for records, moving into selling items.
“To me, the vinyl is really like a perfect thing to collect and just kind of specialize in because they’re all very unique, and you can easily build a collection really personalized to you, and I just enjoyed doing that,” he said, “So when I would find stuff, I would always put aside some and then build a collection for myself.”
Although there are few record stores in Sarasota, a particularly unique aspect of Vinyl Vault is the floor, which Schalk decorated with real records that he covered in epoxy. Damage and scratches prevented these records from playing smoothly. He said perfecting the formula for sealing them was challenging.
“It was a challenge to make all these things come into place in a month, and working with the materials, painting, getting everything working,” he said of the store.
The store’s selection spans genres, featuring only vintage items and no re-issues, while also offering vintage clothing sourced from locations in Florida.
He noted the record collection branches into less common genres, like Latin or world music.
Schalk says some of his personal favorite types of music are Brazilian music and Latin New Wave bands, while he also likes classic bands like The Cure and The Clash.
He says he loves all genres, and wants to learn more about country, which he called “a genre that I know is really old and it’s American.”
Schalk thinks the store is a place that can bring a community together around record collecting.
“The community of vinyl collectors, especially on a local level, they are tight-knit, and enjoy talking about music because they see it as a reflection of who they are, and also, what they want to be,” Schalk said.
Jennifer Ocello, a United States Postal Service employee whom he befriended because of her mail delivery, supported him.
“He’s so knowledgeable about everything, about albums,” she said, stating he helped her determine the value of some of her own records and sold records for her.
She said she would assure him not to be concerned about the weight of the packages he was mailing and that, as he was around the age of her oldest daughter, she wanted to “lift him up.”
“He’s such a great, great person to be opening a record store,” she said.
Grand opening attendee Sean Bruenner was pleased with the store, calling the floor its unique feature and saying he knew of few record stores in the area.
“I think it’s a great addition to the neighborhood,” he said. “I do have a record player, and I feel like it’s just kind of retro and making a comeback because it sounds different than the auxiliary audio we’re used to, or just the appeal of the actually seeing the record spin.”
As he moves forward, Schalk hopes to bring new finds to light.
“The community of vinyl collectors, especially on a local level, they are tight-knit, and enjoy talking about music because they see it as a reflection of who they are, and also, what they want to be.”
Brad Schalk
He’s interested in local bands that are like under-appreciated artists, perhaps from areas like Newtown.
He’s currently in search of an Omni disco record, “The Bottom Of My Heart” by the Disco Socks, released in Sarasota in 1976.
He calls the release “a danceable disco song” and a “bucket list for vinyl vault” that is “100% Sarasota history.” The band formerly played regularly at the Columbia Restaurant in St. Armands Circle.
Despite his hard work, he’s also conscious of the features he says defines the store experience.
“I’m kind of a perfectionist, but I realize in this industry, just like how you put a needle on a record, it’s not going to be perfect, but that little charm that we add by maybe making a mistake here and there, can actually be the difference between someone really loving it, and being like, ‘Wow, you guys really are grassroots,’” he said.
Ocello just expressed one caveat.
“I’m going to miss doing pickup and delivery every day,” she said.
SWABY STAFF WRITER
Photos by Ian Swaby
Daniel Gonzalez and Catalina Castillo browse the records.
Johnny Six sets a record on the turntable.
Brad Schalk is the owner of Vinyl Vault
Estuary education
Salt and freshwater mix in partially enclosed coastal bodies, forming estuaries. Counted among the world’s most productive ecosystems, they include Sarasota Bay.
The community, including kids and families, had a chance to learn about caring for estuaries while enjoying the sights of a real estuary, during Bay Fest, held at The Bay park on March 1. The experience included live music, kayak tours, food trucks and other offerings.
The event, a partnership between Sarasota County and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, began in 2023 but was canceled in 2024 because of Hurricane Helene.
“We’re really trying to connect people to direct stewardship initiatives they can engage in, so we have anything from cleanups to vertical oyster gardens,” said Megan Barry, public outreach manager for the program. “We’re teaching kids about keeping the waterways clean, so we’re really trying to tie the health of an estuary directly to what people do and how they engage with the estuary.”
Attendee Kyle Kelleman came to check out the event because his friend Alec Wilhelm works as a landscape technician at The Bay. He quickly found himself enjoying the experience.
“Once I came out here, it was actually fantastic,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of stuff going on with the whole marine life, and the weather’s beautiful, and you can walk all the way down to the water and enjoy that, so it’s just a good time for a family-fun event.”
— IAN SWABY
Save Our Seabirds volunteer John Larsen poses with a penguin.
Photos by Ian Swaby
Noah Panica, 4, participates in the potato sack race.
Conceptual rendering
Sean Patton of Stocking Savvy holds a Florida gar specimen.
Ephraim Adams plays the steel drum.
Luna Geraci, 4, discovers a model turtle.
Paxton Kaiser, 4, and Lincoln Kaiser, 4, learn from Tim Thurman at Longboat Key Turtle Watch.
Kingston Wilhelm, 13, and Kyle Kelleman
Fired up for the arts
The popularity of Cooking for the Arts, hosted in support of the arts at Southside Elementary School, has increasingly spread to the local community, said cochair Sepi Ackerman.
On Feb. 28, Ackerman announced to the ballroom at Michael’s On East that the event’s popularity had shifted from the initial 10% community members in attendance who were not Southside families, to 30% the next year, and finally 40% this year.
“Tonight is more than just incredible food and great company,” said event co-chair Molly Biter. “It’s about ensuring that the creativity, education and inspiration continue to thrive.”
Hosted by Southside School Foundation for the Arts, the event welcomed two chefs who are local celebrities, Phil Mancini and Jamil Pineda. They led attendees in cooking dishes, as well as Les McCurdy, owner of McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, who led the event’s auction.
This year’s theme, “The Art of the Game,” featured a black-and-white color palette centered on a chess concept.
The event raised over $100,000 for the foundation, which supple -
ments the school district’s arts funding, providing for a performing arts instructor, Tessa Scanlan; school productions specific to different grade levels; supplies related to art, theater and music, and other needs.
Southside Elementary Principal Allison Foster said she appreciated the community’s support.
“Sarasota County Schools is an outstanding, top-notch school district and at Southside, we’re very fortunate to have parents that are so involved and then the businesses that support us, that allow us to do things that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise,” she said.
Lauren Blomster and Montana Taplinger
Photos by Ian Swaby
Ethan Biter and his wife, co-chair Molly Biter, organization President Lindsay Howell, and co-chair Sepi Ackerman and her husband, Ryan Ackerman.
PET PICS
Abraham Lincoln revisited as teacher of valuable leadership lessons
A New Jersey college professor and Abe Lincoln aficionado, at a Southwest Florida event, details why one of the most famous Americans ever is also an underappreciated leadership expert.
By Mark Gordon Reprinted from the Business Observer
It’s hard to overlook Abraham Lincoln.
For starters, the 16th U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, ending slavery in the country. It’s also well known that Lincoln was physically hard to miss, standing six-foot-four, the tallest of the 46 U.S. presidents. And, of course, he was so celebrated for telling the truth that his famous nickname, Honest Abe, lives on 159 years after he was assassinated.
What is sometimes overlooked with Lincoln—despite the 16,000 books written about him—is the set of soft skills he learned, and then exhibited, about leadership throughout his life. This is the message Louis Masur, a Lincoln expert and Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University in New Jersey, shared in Southwest Florida in 2024.
Masur was a keynote speaker for a Sanibel Captiva Trust Co. Speaker Series event. His talk, “Lessons of Abe Lincoln: How Effective Leadership Can Change the World,” was given at the Tribby Arts Center at Shell Point in Fort Myers. In a virtual interview, Masur remarked, Lincoln “saved the union and freed the slaves, but what made him such an incredible leader during such a divisive and partisan time?”
Masur, who has researched, taught, and spoken about other historical figures, says Lincoln remains his No. 1 educational and leadership muse. Masur has distilled Lincoln’s leadership into a few powerful lessons:
Education: Lincoln’s dedication to selfeducation was critical to his success. Despite his father’s disapproval of reading, Lincoln’s “love of learning” played a pivotal role in his ability to lead. When Lincoln became president in 1861, he had no formal military experience, except for volunteering in the Black Hawk War. To prepare, he read military strategy books from the Library of Congress, immersing himself in the details of military tactics.
Diplomacy: Masur points to Lincoln’s letter to General George Meade after the Battle of Gettysburg as an example of his restraint. Lincoln wrote a letter to express disappointment that Meade didn’t pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee after the Union victory. However, Lincoln ultimately chose not to send the letter, recognizing that chastising his general would be counterproductive.
Empathy: Lincoln’s empathy and ability to step outside himself were hallmarks of his leadership. Masur tells a story of Lincoln writing a condolence letter to the daughter of a friend who had died in combat. In the letter, Lincoln wrote, “You are sure to be happy again,” sharing his own experience with grief. This ability to connect with others helped him lead with compassion.
Principle over power: Lincoln’s commitment to principles is another lesson Masur highlights. During the 1864 presidential election, Lincoln refused to postpone the vote, even though he risked losing. He believed that “We cannot have free government without elections.” This resolve to uphold democratic principles, even in times of war, defined his legacy.
Masur’s insights emphasize that Lincoln’s leadership was as much about character as it was about strategy. “I just never tire of reading about him and thinking about him,” Masur says.
Join us for an engaging speaker series featuring two of the nation’s leading historians. Dive deep into American history as our expert speakers bring the past to life with captivating stories and fresh perspectives.
MASCOTS, ASSEMBLE!
The sunny weather the morning of Feb. 27 didn’t call for heavy attire. Nonetheless, Cat Depot volunteer John Kloeckner didn’t mind wearing a full mascot costume on the sands of Siesta Key Beach.
“Oh, it’s a little warm, but that’s OK,” he said.
He was among the mascots from various organizations that came together for a quick race promoting the 39th Annual Run for the Turtles, set to be held by Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium on April 5.
A race participant of 10 years, Kloeckner said he gets “a kick” out of representing Cat Depot’s mascot, Petunia, at various events, motivated by his love of cats — but also turtles.
All proceeds from the run support Mote’s Sea Turtle Conservation & Research Program, which monitors 35 miles of beach in Sarasota County.
Program Manager Jake Lasala said the county’s sea turtle population has been steadily growing thanks to efforts in conservation and protection.
“We think that a lot of that growth is because of the citizen science that has occurred in this area, and we’re really excited about that,” he said.
— IAN SWABY
The Mustang, the Ram, Shelley, Mote’s Jake Lasala, Gilly, Morris the Explorasaurus, Petunia, Super Tooth and Floody the Frog prepare to race.
Gilly, from Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, gets some stretches in prior to the run.
The Ram from Riverview High School, and Shelley from Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, head to the finish line.
Mote’s Kaitlyn Fusco holds out a trophy in front of Super Tooth from Varone Orthodontics, Petunia from Cat Depot, and the race’s winner, Mustang from Lakewood Ranch High School.
Photos by Ian Swaby Lakewood Ranch High School Dean Brandon Ludwig accompanied senior Jayson Corpus, who played the Mustang, the winner of the race.
Early start for entrepreneurs
SWABY STAFF WRITER
Mikhail Tolstov, 13, is intentional when creating items with his 3D printer.
As he produces objects like dinosaur skulls and model cars, he calculates the amount of plastic each model uses, as well as the electricity and printer maintenance costs, pricing each item at 200-300% of those costs.
He was able to showcase his work to the public for the first time when he participated in the Children’s Business Fair on March 1, an event that was a collaboration between Nailed It DIY Studio and Girls Inc.
Although he became interested in starting a business after selling branded items for his parents’ businesses, his mother Svetlana Tolstova said the fair was also an important step.
“If you do something, it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy, right?” she said. “It is more important to be visible, and I think this is maybe one of the most important parts.”
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION IN BUSINESS
Kids were responsible for creating their own signage, displays and table coverings, and for collecting payments, with prizes given out for the most decorated, most profitable, judges’ choice and the most spirited booth.
Madison King, 13, said she can sit and craft for hours. Her hobby translated into items she could sell, including crochet items, which she started making with her grandmother about two weeks ago.
“It’s nice to know that somebody appreciates my art and knows that it’s good enough to be sold,” she said. “It helps me with my confidence too. I also have special needs, so I like to stay in my shell most of the time, but doing this and selling Girl Scout cookies it gets me more comfortable.”
It also gave her the chance to gain funds to support her cow, Pickles, whose next stop is the Sarasota
County Fair.
“Doing something like this is more than just entrepreneurship,” said Michelle Kenner, owner of Nailed It. “It’s life skills, it’s the opportunity to speak to the public, it’s customer service, it’s seeing what you’re good at, it’s marketing yourself, marketing your product. There’s just so many other skills that go into an event like this that they’re going to get out of it... that they’re going to be able to use in real life.”
Tyasia Brown, 10, one of about 11 vendors present that day, sold blind bags, a project she began through Girls Inc.
“I like to show that what I can do when I have some free time,” she said.
In the bags, she included toys donated by Kenner.
Claudia Lagnese of Girls Inc. said the fair fit the mission of Girls Inc., which includes an emphasis on entrepreneurship.
“We are living in a changing world right now, and a lot of stuff is unpredictable, and something that you can always control is how you show up and how you decide to live your life, and entrepreneurship is such a way to take back control over your own personal autonomy, your money, your life, your time,” she said. “So teaching girls, and children broadly, how to do this could be potentially life-changing for them.”
Ian Swaby
Ollie Kimbrell, 13, and Bryce Kenner, 15, sold sticks of meat in support of camping trips for Boy Scouts. “It’s such fun, just meeting new people, because a lot of older people are originally scouts, so they have a lot of fun stories to tell,” said Kenner.
SARASOTA PARADISE HAS ARRIVED!
Watch your soccer club grow from a USL League Two team in 2025 to a professional League One team in 2026. Join us at our new home, the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch. Get your tickets now for the 2025 season (May-July) and follow our journey to the pros! Sarasota Paradise will be the heart of our community, shining on the field and developing players for the global stage. We’re committed to a great game-day experience, hospitality, and making a positive impact. Our values will unite Sarasota, create pathways for youth to go pro, and represent our city worldwide.
- Owner, Marcus Walfridson
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extraordinary waterfront estate, set on
three
of
Siesta
Hudson Crossing condominium sells
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
Michael Seery, trustee, and Susan Seery sold the Unit PH-C condominium at 888 S. Orange Ave. to Duncan Ironmonger, of Milton, Georgia, for $2.5 million. Built in 2007, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 2,511 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.84 million in 2018.
SARASOTA
BAYSO SARASOTA
Michael Merrill and Maryi Ramos, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 1807 condominium at 301 Quay Commons to Steven Judy, of Cynthiana, Kentucky, for $1,596,000. Built in 2023, it has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 1,578 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,247,100 in 2023.
GRANADA PARK
James and Christina Mangie, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1756 Stapleton St. to Polly Hastie for $1,525,000. Built in 2015, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,258 square feet of living area. It sold for $945,000 in 2016.
HOLIDAY HARBOR
William Mark Sparks Jr. and Stephanie Lynette Sparks, of Lakeland, sold their home at 7820 Holiday Drive to Barbara Ullman, of Sarasota, for $1,455,000. Built in 2015, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 3,185 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,385,000 in 2022.
CONDOMINIUM ON THE BAY
Michelle Cregut, trustee, of Longmont, Colorado, sold the Unit 203 condominium at 888 Blvd. of the Arts to Margaret Blair Marshall, of Sarasota, for $880,000. Built in 1982, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,555 square feet of living area. It sold for $277,500 in 2015.
SOUTH GATE
Alan Cresto, of Sarasota, sold his home at 2674 Jefferson Circle to Neal Kirkpatrick and Jan Scot, of Sarasota, for $865,000. Built in 1958, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,700 square feet of living area. It sold for $335,000 in 2020.
CONDOMINIUMS OF ORANGE
CLUB
Robert Dorland Evans and Sheryl Ann Evans sold their Unit 201 condominium at 635 S. Orange Ave. to Cheryl Cucinotta Hargaden, of Sarasota, for $800,000. Built in 2017, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,013 square feet of living area. It sold for $645,000 in 2021.
RINGLING BOULEVARD
Stephanie Leah Rimer, of Sarasota, sold her home at 2452 Main St. to Mark Vestrich and Leslie Vestrich, trustees, of San Francisco, for $707,000. Built in 1966, it has four
bedrooms, two baths and 2,300 square feet of living area. It sold for $699,000 in 2021.
GULF GATE
Dennis Lindler and Marcus Schultz sold their home at 6953 Antigua Place to John Morris Griffith Jr., trustee, of Sarasota, for $595,000. Built in 1968, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,929 square feet of living area. It sold for $419,900 in 2021.
VILLAGE GREEN CLUB ESTATES
Roberto Cerini and Kerry Lane Cerini, of Sarasota, sold their home at 3325 Spring Mill Circle to Stephen and Miriam Pearson, of Sarasota, for $510,000. Built in 1973, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 2,015 square feet of living area. It sold for $470,000 in 2023.
SIESTA KEY
GULF AND BAY CLUB
George Childs and Retha Juanita Childs, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, sold their Unit 402 condominium at 5780 Midnight Pass Road to John Michael Massimiani and Cynthia Michelle Massimiani, of Columbus, Ohio, for $865,000. Built in 1979, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,361 square feet of living area. It sold for $229,000 in 1991.
SIESTA HARBOR
Patricia Balletto and John Anthony Balletto, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 302 condominium at 1350 N. Portofino Drive to Adam and Lourinda St. John, of Siesta Key, for $730,000. Built in 1969, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 929 square feet of living area. It sold for $789,900 in 2023.
PALMER RANCH
STONEYBROOK GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
John and Gloria Baker, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 9463 Cedar Ridge Lane to Christopher and Heather West, of Sarasota, for $840,000. Built in 1998, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and
2,566 square feet of living area. It sold for $469,000 in 2004.
STONEBRIDGE
Samuel and Annette Pagano, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, sold their home at 4931 Flagstone Drive to Stefanija Faber and Bruce Faber, trustees, of Sarasota, for $645,000. Built in 1999, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,169 square feet of living area. It sold for $280,000 in 2013.
Other top sales by area
SIESTA KEY: $1.1 MILLION
Sarasota Beach
Mark and Cheryl Pelczarski, of Windermere, sold their home at 421 Island Circle to Max Rudolf Lafer and Michelle Ann Lafer, of Sarasota, for $1.1 million. Built in 1999, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,444 square feet of living area. It sold for $572,000 in 2018.
PALMER RANCH: $1.01 MILLION
The Country Club of Sarasota
Jeanne Kelly, of Osprey, sold the home at 3911 Torrey Pines Blvd. to John Compton, trustee, of Sarasota, for $1.01 million. Built in 1986, it has four bedrooms, three-anda-half baths, a pool and 3,885 square feet of living area. It sold for $575,000 in 2014.
OSPREY: $1,799,000
Sarabay Acres
Mary Baker, trustee, and Barbara Horton, attorney in fact, sold the home at 716 Sarabay Road to Brad and Dana Hartung, of Montville, New Jersey, for $1,799,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,709 square feet of living area. It sold for $149,500 in 1981.
NOKOMIS: $555,000
Calusa Lakes
William and Claire Harrison, of Sarasota, sold their home at 2126 Calusa Lakes Blvd. to Lisa Anne Wahl and Brian Matthew Wahl, of Nokomis, for $555,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,929 square feet of living area. It sold for $351,100 in 2009.
Courtesy image
The Unit PH-C condominium at 888 S. Orange Ave. was built in 2007 and has three bedrooms, three baths and 2,511 square feet of living area.
SPRING INTO SAVINGS
YOUR CALENDAR
FRIDAY, MARCH 7 MODERNS THAT MATTER: THE BAY ARCHITECTURE TOUR
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Blue Pagoda, The Bay, 655 N. Tamiami Trail. Free. Tour the Cultural District in The Bay park and its historically and architecturally significant buildings, four of which are included on the National Register of Historic Places: the Municipal Auditorium (1937), the Chidsey Library Building (1941), the Blue Pagoda Welcome Center (1956), and the Sarasota Garden Club (1960). A guide from Architecture Sarasota leads this walking tour, which also covers recent structures and future buildings. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
ONE BOOK ESCAPE ROOM
3:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.,Fruitville Library, 100 Apex Road. Free. Help a clever octopus escape an underwater prison, working as a team to solve challenging puzzles. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.
SATURDAY, MARCH 8
MR. STEVEY & FRIENDS: BLOOM & BLOSSOM
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Common Ground, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Engage in art activities, music making, read-aloud and mindfulness at The Bay. This free program geared toward pre-school and elementary school-aged children and their families includes a free, healthy lunch for the whole family, free books for each child and a special prize to take home. Featuring children’s entertainer Mr. Stevey, the event is a collaboration between Newtown Nation, the Newtown Farmer’s Market, and Florida Arts and Culture. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
LE MARCHÉ PARISIAN-INSPIRED MARKETPLACE
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Selby Five Points Park, 100 Central Blvd. Free. This vibrant marketplace helps support the local arts scene in Sarasota. Visit DestinationDowntownSarasota.com.
SUNDAY, MARCH 9
SUNDAYS AT THE BAY FEATURING THE WHITE CROWE BAND
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Oval, The Bay, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Described by The Bay as “the essence of really great live music,” the White
BEST BET
FRIDAY, MARCH 7
DOWNTOWN SOCIAL ON STATE STREET
7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at State Street, Free. Fresh Fridays returns to offer light bites, live music and more. Visit DowntownSarasotaDID.com.
Fridays.
Crowe Band plays songs from current hits to those of the past. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND RED TIDE
10:30 a.m. at Glenridge Performing Arts Center 7333 Scotland Way. Free. The Glenridge’s Green Team presents this talk by Jason Robertshaw, program manager at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, who will discuss how Mote researchers study red tides in the Gulf including how they form and dissipate, how they affect human health, and how to mitigate their impact. Non members must call 941-552-5325 for reservations.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
READ WITH THE DOGS
4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Gulf Gate Library, 7112 Curtiss Ave. Free. Children are invited to share a story with a furry friend in a judgment-free environment featuring certified therapy dogs. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.
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DIVISION OF LABOR by Priyanka Sethy & Rajiv Sethy, edited by Jared Goudsmit
Gordon Silver took this photo of a trumpet
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BUYING GOLD SILVER W/ CASH. RETIRED INVESTOR Diamonds, Coins, Jewelry, Watches & Pocket Watches. F Free H House C Calls. Con dential & Honest. Call David 813-439-2694
DAD AND DAUGHTER PURCHASE TEAM BUYING COINS & CURRENCY 941-795-3203
SELL YOUR STUFF HERE! SENIOR LOOKING to purchase precious metals, diamonds, time pieces, coins, jewelry, antique and estate jewelry, and some collectors plates. Personal and confidential. Please call Marc: 941-321-0707
