Building events center piqued interest of Benderson Park's new COO

Michael Taaffe, the chair of the Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy's Board of Trustees, said a new chief operating officer was needed to take the park in a new direction.

After talking to a reporter Feb. 10 about landing that job, Bruce Patneaude demonstrated why he likes that direction.

Instead of heading back to his office, he walked to another area of the park to meet with his maintenance crew.

"I'm a hands-on kind of guy," Patneaude said.

In his previous 12 years as vice president of operations at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Patneaude had overseen more than $100 million in new construction. At times, though, he lost the ability to get his hands dirty.

And, as he said, "I was doing the same thing ... again and again."

When he accepted a job as Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy's vice president of operations last August, he did so with the expectations that he would be involved on all levels of park operations.

Of special interest to him would be the ability to put his own stamp on the park's planned $40 million, 100,000-square-foot boathouse and indoor events center.

Sarasota County commissioners voted 5-0 in May 2022 to commit $20 million in tourist tax money toward the boathouse and events center. At the time, Taaffe said the conservancy had about $7 million to put toward the $40 million. Last week he said about "three-quarters" of the funds have been raised.

Taaffe and his board saw Patneaude as the perfect guy to take the park forward. Thus, the promotion to COO Feb. 8.

"With our planning to build a multi-sports facility project, his background fits perfectly with this new phase for the park," Taaffe said. "He managed a staff of 150 (at IMG). He is perfectly aligned to go where we are going."

While Taaffe said the board has the concept for the new facility in mind, they are visiting boathouses and indoor events facilities around the country to get more ideas.

"We are working with an architect on a conceptual plan, but we have not selected a final architect," Taaffe said.

Taaffe said he hopes planning for the new facility is done this spring and then those plans will be presented to Sarasota County commissioners. 

"I have a big project," Patneaude said with a smile. "It's one I can make my own. This is a new challenge."

While the board would like construction on the new boathouse/events center to begin as soon as possible, Patneaude said there is no pressure to hurry.

"We just visited Rock Hill and Spartanburg, South Carolina just to get ideas," Patneaude said of looking at other events facilities. "It's all coming together, but we will know (it's time for construction) when we know. We don't want to do it twice."

Besides supervising construction of a new $40 million facility, Patneaude has to run a county park that has become known as North America's top rowing facility.

"Our first challenge was the hurricane (Ian)," he said. "In January, we put the course back together, but the docks were destroyed."

The park also suffered damage to its wave attenuator and suffered erosion on its south shore. The damage was estimated at $3 million to fix.

It all needs to be fixed by March when major rowing events begin.

"It should all come together by the end of this month," Patneaude said.

Although Patneaude is a "weekend warrior" in terms of running and biking, he said he knows little about rowing except what he has learned by being on his new job since last August.

"I get plenty of great support here," he said.

He has Bob Whitford, the former operations and facilities manager at Nathan Benderson Park, on speed dial. Whitford resigned in 2020 to become Sacramento State's facilities director in Sacramento, California. 

Whitford was hired in 2010 to help guide the construction of the 600-acre park and to help design the rowing facility. When Whitford left, the park had struggled for years to raise the money for what was planned as a $10 million boathouse.

Patneaude said Whitford has been wonderful in answering any question he might have.

Patneaude replaced Stephen Rodriguez, who had served the nonprofit both as a chief executive officer and a chief operating officer. Rodriguez was hired in 2017 by the nonprofit, then known as Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates. Shortly after his hiring, Rodriguez guided the park through the 2017 World Rowing Championships and many major events afterward.

"He has resigned as an employee," Taaffe said of Rodriguez. "We are trying to come up with a position as a consultant for him. He is good at attracting events to the park. He was very good at that."

Rodriguez had been acting as the park's CEO since Tomás Herrera-Mishler left in 2021 after just a year at the post.

"We are not immediately going to replace that position," Taaffe said. "And we are not going to attach that (to Patneaude). We have consultants looking at what we need to do."

Taaffe, a partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, said the goals at Nathan Benderson Park remain the same. He said, first and foremost, it is a community park and must serve the public in that regard. The programs and community outreach remains the priority.

The next goal is to continue to host quality events, whether that means fireworks, or a circus or rowing events.

The third major goal is to maintain the park's grounds and structure.