Couple buys Center for Building Hope building

NewGate campus in works

The former Center for Building Hope in Lakewood Ranch will take on a new life this fall.

Entrepreneurs Tim Seldin and his wife, Joyce St. Giermaine, have purchased the facility for nearly $2.3 million with plans to lease it to NewGate Montessori School for use by its high school students. Seldin is the school’s headmaster. 

They now await Manatee County approval to change the use of the property to a school, rather than a commercial building.

NewGate has raised $580,000 to cover operational expenses for the facility and already has started fundraising to purchase it from Seldin and Giermaine, likely in about two years.

County budget focuses on safety

Manatee County commissioners on Sept. 15 approved a $578.8 million budget for the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Property tax rates have been set at $6.43 per $1,000 of taxable values in unincorporated Manatee County. That rate has been in effect since 2008.

Even with a flat rate, Manatee County Government expects an increase in revenues of $15 million because of a roughly 9% growth in the tax base, largely from new construction.

Funding in this year’s budget includes funding for 21 of 37 positions requested by the Manatee County Sheriff’s office, including eight road deputies, four corrections deputies, two computer forensic analysts, six dispatchers and a records clerk.

County employees are expected to see, on average, a 4% salary increase, as well, although each department is responsible for allocating dollars as needed. 

CDDs end talk of building purchase

Lakewood Ranch Community Development District supervisors have ended conversations about purchasing the old Summerfield Information Center, located at 6310 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Bradenton.

The 2,740-square-foot building on 2.3 acres adjacent to Summerfield Park, is owned by Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and has served, most recently, as an information center and offices for Lakewood Ranch Community Activities. The building now is vacant.

During a workshop this month, an ad hoc committee formed to study potential uses for the building concluded in a 3-2 vote there simply wasn’t enough information related to costs for purchasing or leasing the building, or definitive uses for the facility, if acquired by the districts. Many of the suggested programming uses were offerings that would be provided by Manatee County, not the CDDs themselves.

“Frankly, I think it’s a money pit. There’s just too many negatives,” said CDD 4 Supervisor Nancy Johnson, who represented her district on the ad hoc committee studying the issue. “After much pain, we killed it. It has to make sense if you’re going to make taxpayers  pay for it.”