Issues to Watch 2015: Foundation finish line for funding draws near

EAST COUNTY — The clock is ticking, but Teri Hansen isn’t worried.

Raising $11 million within the next year may be challenging, but she’s confident.

“We will do it; we have to,” said Hansen, a volunteer board member for the Nathan Benderson Park Foundation, the future nonprofit tasked with funding infrastructure improvements for Nathan Benderson Park. “It’s too big an opportunity in the whole Sarasota/Bradenton region to not be successful.

“Everybody will use this park,” she said. “It will have something for everyone and every day of the year, not just when there’s a regatta.”

Although Nathan Benderson Park already is set to host more than 40 events in 2015, its advocates are focused on building out the park, particularly on constructing a finish tower with offices and public bathrooms and a boathouse, in time for the World Rowing Championships to be held at the park in September 2017.

In total, the projects will cost up to $22 million. Foundation members hope to raise half this year, and take a plea to Tallahassee to secure a dollar-for-dollar matching grant.

Former Sen. Mike Bennett, a foundation board member, will make the request of the state at the appropriate time — hopefully sometime this year.

“We know we’ve got to have everything in place by sometime in 2016 to get everything in place by 2017 (for the World Rowing Championships),” Bennett said. “We are on nothing but a fundraising mission.”
Hansen adds: “A deadline is always a good thing.”

“The big challenge is just timing and focus,” Hansen said. “We’re all volunteers. When we get up in the morning, it’s not the first thing on our mind. It’s keeping our eyes on the ball.”

The foundation already has secured about $6 million, with donations ranging from $100 to thousands to millions. Hansen, executive director of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, said she has several gifts that are close to materializing and has her fingers crossed.

Paul Blackketter, head of Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates — the nonprofit that manages Nathan Benderson Park — waits eagerly to see the foundation’s mission and vision fulfilled. He’s tasked with bringing as much economic impact to the area as possible, while still serving the local community.

And having the finish tower and boathouse in place will mean that SANCA’s operations can become self-sustaining.

Blackketter says construction on the finish tower should start in late 2015, but the boathouse — what he calls the “icing on the cake” — will come later.

Blackketter and his team are fine-tuning their list of items to complete before the park hosts the World Rowing Championship.

The park can host the regatta and other events without the finish tower or boathouse, but renting tents, portable restrooms and other facilities increases costs.

“We can still host everything without those structures, but it gives you the Olympic look and feel,” Blackketter said. “When we have a permanent site, the cost goes down and revenues go up. We want to be self-sustaining.”

SANCA braces to expand community programming
In 2015, Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates will have a dual focus more than ever.

First, SANCA will focus on community-specific initiatives, such as an adaptive rowing program and rowing for veterans.

“That’s a big thing for us,” SANCA President Paul Blackketter said.

Blackketter also sees SANCA developing its volunteer base, so that volunteers are CPR-certified. Blackketter hopes volunteers then could be utilized throughout the county, should a natural or other disaster strike.

The organization also will work to promote multimodal trans-portation. Nathan Benderson, founder of Benderson Development and for whom the park is named, biked to work until he died at 94 years old.

“It’s a legacy,” Blackketter said. “We feel like that’s one of our mission statements. We want this to be ground zero for this effort.”

A walking/jogging trail runs around the lake at the park, and connects over to the Mall at University Town Center to the north. SANCA is evaluating safety options, such as blinking pedestrian lights and a changing speed limit sign, among others, now.

Plus, Blackketter said, the use of walking and bicycling will improve the efficiency of events at the park.

Economic Support
In fiscal year 2014/2015, Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center and Associates will host 40 events. Each will prove an opportunity for SANCA to streamline and improve its processes before the park hosts the 2017 World Rowing Championships.

“We’re not going out seeking events any more. They’re coming to us,” SANCA President Paul Blackketter said. “It’s pretty crazy, actually.”

In fiscal year 2014, SANCA projected to have $8.4 million in economic impact. Numbers calculated through the Sarasota Visitors Bureau showed it generated more than $12.9 million. In fiscal year 2015, SANCA already has secured 15 more events than it projected.