Longboat staff commemorates start of construction on Town Center stage

Longboat Key staff, commissioners and residents gathered at the construction site for the Town Center Green on Monday morning to commemorate the formal start of construction on the Karon Family Pavilion. 

All 16 donors, whether individuals or couples, were recognized at the event, including primary donors for the stage, Paul and Sarah Karon. 

"Paul and I love the word pavilion because it just connotes just a little bit more than (a stage)," she said. "It's a place for recreation; it's a place for entertainment. It's a place for shelter, and it's a place for togetherness."

She reminisced on the couple's previous home in Minneapolis where a similar area to the one the town is constructing was within their neighborhood. 

"It's a place that belongs to everyone," she said. 

Following the ceremony, stakeholders in the project were given the opportunity to complete the initial shoveling of dirt using golden shovels with red and blue bows. 

For the stage, originally, the town had anticipated the project would cost about $500,000. The Karons opted to donate the entirety of that amount. 

"I knew the Karons pretty well, and I knew they cared a lot about the town," Mayor Schneier said of his reason for approaching the couple about donating. 

Town Manager Tom Harmer announced at the Nov. 15, 2021 commission meeting the couple’s plans to donate in exchange for naming rights. 

However, after going out to bids, the final total came back to the town at about $860,000. The remaining money was raised with the help of more than a dozen other individuals, largely through the efforts of the Longboat Key Foundation. 

Other donors are: Paul Seed, Ken and Cynthia Schneier, Mike and Lyn Haycock, Michael Saunders, Richard and Beth Lashley, Larry Greenspon, Frank and Carrie Trulaske, Lauri and Bob Wolfe, Jon and Kris Berg, Sherry Dominick and Craig Wright, Maureen Merrigan and Wendi Bundy, Matt Walsh, Penny Gold, David Goldstein, BJ and David Bishop. 

The additional money was raised swiftly. After receiving the bid from Jon F. Swift Construction, the town had 10 days to gather up the remaining funding. It took nine. 

The  Foundation helped coordinate private fundraising for the 50-foot wide permanent stage between the Public Tennis Center and the Shoppes of Bay Isles. During the summer, Longboat Key leaders decided to allocate $50,000 of town funding to complete design and construction plans for a stage at the Town Center site.

Once the town acquired the donations, Harmer signed the contract with Jon F. Swift Construction of Sarasota in late July for the contractor to begin purchasing materials and completing the final design. Site work on the land is underway now. 

Without the donations, the town still had plans to move forward with the remainder of the project and simply took the stage out of its plans. 

The soon-to-be Karon Family Pavilion is part of the latest phase of improvements to the Town Center Green, a formerly undeveloped plot of land, a corner of which was once home to Amore restaurant.

Site work for the town center is town-funded with about $530,000, which included $445,000 from the town’s land-acquisition fund. Work includes raising and re-grading the site with fill. Additional stormwater infrastructure will be installed to accommodate site work and with accommodations for future buildings, which might someday include a library that is part of the Sarasota County system and a community center. The town’s portion is funding walkways, streetlights, landscaping and space for food trucks. 

County officials have funded in the current budget about $1 million toward initial studies of what sort of facility might be best suited for Longboat Key. Town officials have also had talks with officials of Sarasota County Schools.

The entire site covers about 4.81 acres. The town purchased the three parcels that complete the total site for about $3.7 million in 2017.

This story has been updated has been update with the correct spelling of Sarah Karon.