Manasota Key artist retreat receives $12 million gift of land, homes

Amid struggles to maintain its mission and programming in the face of lingering hurricane damage to its campus on Manasota Key, relief for the Hermitage Artist Retreat came in the form of temporary access to nearby homes for its residencies, provided by a family of long-time supporters.

That has now become a permanent expansion of Hermitage. In late 2025, the Morrison and Steans families and their lone surviving matriarch, Adeline Morrison, donated their 6.5-acre gulf-to-bay property including five homes — a combined value of approximately $12 million — to the nonprofit artist incubator.

Hermitage announced the gift on Jan. 15.

“This new property is intended as an expansion, not a replacement,” Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg said in a news release announcing the gift. “To have a property of our own where we can host additional artists in residence is deeply meaningful. This will allow us to broaden the reach and impact of our Hermitage programming, and to dream even bigger about the possibilities for project residencies, artistic collaborations and more.”

Since the 2024 hurricane season damaged the buildings Hermitage leases from Sarasota County at Blind Pass Beach Park, little has been done to make repairs amid the bureaucratic process required for county government to qualify for FEMA reimbursement, which is not assured.

In October 2025, the Sarasota County Commission declined Hermitage’s proposal to acquire the park with a guarantee to operate there in perpetuity, and instead proposed a take-it-or-leave-it offer of cash for the nonprofit to make the repairs itself, which Hermitage rejected.

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Enter the Steans and Morrisons with their donation of property that not only provides immediate relief, but will ultimately double Hermitage’s artist-in-residence program. 

According to the news release, the properties were built by the William Vanderbilt family in the early 1950s. Harold and Adeline Morrison and Harrison and Lois Steans acquired the properties from Samuel and Lydia Auchincloss in 1987, and for the past four decades they have used the homes as a retreat for their seven daughters — all ardent supporters of Hermitage — and their respective families and guests.

“Our parents believed in the mission and values of the Hermitage, and they understood first-hand the inspiration and importance of its Manasota Key home,” the families are credited in saying in a joint statement. “We donate this property to the Hermitage Artist Retreat filled with hope that it will always remain a place of kindness and tolerance where invited artists feel welcome; a place for fostering community, collaboration, connectivity and conversations; a place of inspiration and creation; and a place that stewards the rich ecology and diversity of nature.”

It is the largest single gift Hermitage has received in its 23-year history.

Although not adjacent to Blind Pass Beach Park, the property is less than a half-mile away.

Meanwhile, the organization continues to await repairs to some of the county-owned beachfront structures at the park. Hermitage intends to remain in the park as well, its lease with Sarasota County providing for extensions up through 2055. 

“This has been an incredible period of growth for our organization,” said Hermitage Board President Carole Crosby in the release. “The organization is ripe for continued expansion, and we are hopeful that this extremely generous gift from the Morrison and Steans families will inspire others to recognize the value of supporting this vital arts organization.”