Beachside artist retreat offers to buy property from Sarasota County

Less than three months before wind, sea and sand were pushed into some of the historic structures it occupies on Manasota Key, the Hermitage Artist Retreat and Sarasota County signed a lease that could keep the nonprofit there through 2055. 

In the 10 months since, buildings damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton remain boarded up and in disrepair after the county ordered the Hermitage to cease and desist all recovery work. 

Because it sits on approximately 8.5 acres of Gulf-front county property, there are strict procurement protocols that must be followed as the county’s stretched-thin staff — and financial — resources are addressing higher priorities. Meanwhile, Hermitage needs to scale back operations; suspend many on-site performances and presentations by artists in residence; and watch, wait and wish as another hurricane season enters what is historically its most tumultuous weeks.

That’s why Hermitage now wants to acquire the property from the county. Already responsible for all routine repairs and maintenance in exchange for its $1 per year lease, the organization has proposed to take the property off the county’s hands so it may continue, unabated, to complete restoration of the buildings and resume normal operations.

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County Commissioner Mark Smith brought up the Hermitage proposal as a discussion item during the commission’s Aug. 26 meeting, bringing several impassioned speakers on behalf of the plan countered by words of caution by some commissioners. Still, they voted unanimously to place the matter on a future meeting agenda as a public hearing.

“I want to emphasize that we see this proposal as a big win-win for all parties involved, most notably the taxpayers,” Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg told commissioners. “It will come as no surprise that the impetus for bringing this forward now has been the stalled hurricane recovery, but more broadly this proposal is an opportunity to unburden county staff from the management of this property and to alleviate taxpayers from unnecessary expenses.”

Hermitage Artist Retreat wants to pay for the unfinished restoration of the county property. It had already invested some $1.7 million in repairs over the last 30 months, dating back to Hurricane Ian, before it was ordered to halt late last year. Sandberg said what remains can be completed in a couple of months, but meanwhile some structures remain boarded up and others dangerously exposed to more potential severe weather.

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“I am not going to pretend to be the world's leading remediation expert. I do know that in the event of a major water disaster, you need to remediate, and it is time sensitive,” Sandberg told the Observer. “We engaged water remediation at our expense, in the six figures, and we engaged people to help remove the sand. We laid out hundreds of thousands of dollars before the county told our crews to stop work, but they did not have an alternative plan.”

In the days between Helene and Milton, Hermitage engaged in an emergency operation to prevent further damage to the campus’ signature structure, the Hermitage House, by literally digging a moat.

“Had we not done that, the Hermitage House might have sunk under a pile of sand and water,” Sandberg told the Observer.

Key points of the Hermitage proposal include:

• Payment of $600,000 to the county.
• Maintain the hundreds of feet of beachfront open to the public.
• As owner assume responsibility for all storm mitigation and repairs now and in the future.
• A reverter clause that guarantees should Hermitage cease to exist, the property would be returned to county ownership.

The latter, Sandberg said, guarantees the prime waterfront property can never be sold by Hermitage for development or used for any commercial purpose.

Minus use of most of the buildings, Hermitage has made the most of its adverse conditions despite having to scale back its programming, so far this year.

“Normally, we have about six artists in residence on the property at any given time, but we’re we've been reduced to two," Sandberg said.. "We really wanted to keep the programming alive, so we found ways to bring other artists down. Our normal attendance of residents throughout the season is anywhere from 90 to 100 and doing more than 50 programs. This year that was essentially cut by more than half because we weren't able to do any programming here on our property until late June, when we did one big beach program.”

Commissioners proceed cautiously

Although commissioners welcomed the opportunity to open discussions about negotiations with Hermitage, some urged caution in that the land is prime county property and, as its steward, the county must ascertain permanent conveyance to the organization is among its highest and best uses. Prior to founding Hermitage 23 years ago with the dual purpose of creating an artist retreat and to save the deteriorating historic property, Sandberg said, the county was considering a beach parking lot there.

Some of the structures there date back to 1907, he said, others to 1941.

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“I want to be very clear in my support of the Hermitage and the work they're doing,” said Commissioner Ron Cutsinger. “They're doing amazing work across the county, putting us on the national map in terms of some of the quality programming they bring to Sarasota County, but I also have a responsibility as a fiduciary of the county, and that is a multi, multi-million-dollar piece of property.”

Commissioner Teresa Mast characterized the Hermitage proposal as “a good starting point” while echoing Cutsinger’s assessment.

“We have citizens who entrust us to make really good decisions fiscally, and this has a lot of fiscal impact,” she said. “I think the stewardship that you have provided to date has been phenomenal, and I think it could be an opportunity, if all of the planets are in alignment and all of the funding is in alignment, that does make the county whole.”

Exactly what it would mean to make the county “whole” is currently unknown. According to Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, there is no estimate available at this time and appraisals will need to be completed to determine current value. That will then be weighed between the value of the property, costs to continue to maintain it through the lease period, and the value Hermitage brings to the county’s arts and cultural fabric in the form of free programming of finished and in-process works of visiting musicians, songwriters, playwrights and more. 

While the buildings stand vulnerable to severe weather, all of that will be aired at a future hearing.

“My thinking is we have that public hearing, and if we decide at that point to move forward, then it goes to negotiation,” Smith said.