New Bay Park Conservancy CEO gets her feet wet in The Bay

Sitting at her desk, Stephanie Crockatt's view through a floor-to-ceiling window is a constant reminder of why she accepted the responsibility of leading the Bay Park Conservancy. 

The vista from the iconic blue pagoda building that doubles as the welcome center for The Bay park and offices for the BPC — the developer and steward of the city-owned 53-acre waterfront park — is of Fountain Garden. The historic pond with a restored fountain at the corner of Tamiami Trail and Boulevard of the Arts provides a prelude of first 14 acres of the park completed and open to the public.

The office for the new president and CEO is roughly half of what it was intended to be. Crockatt insisted it was too large.

“This wall is brand new,” Crockatt said, pointing behind her desk. “They told me that this is my office, and I said that was a gross amount of space and that I didn't need it, and I'm sure somebody else could use an office, like our CFO who will be going right next door.”

The downsized office is a metaphor of sorts for her task of leading the development of the last two of three phases of The Bay, and establishing a financial foundation for perpetual sustainability. At 53 acres, The Bay is dwarfed by her prior assignment at Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, where she was responsible for overseeing the operation, maintenance and programming for 850 acres of park land.

“It's a bit different, but it's still with the ultimate goal of having something for generational use,” Crockatt said of her new charge. “The whole underlying core is still the same. It's a smaller space, bigger job, more intensive use of a site, and that's exciting. It’s taking everything I did and condensing it, but I'm excited to help build this from an organizational standpoint.”

Until now, the founding of the BPC and the creation of the first 14-acre phase of The Bay has been largely philanthropic. That includes developing the partnership with the city, planning and envisioning the second and third phases with an anticipated time horizon of another decade to completion and the hiring of a professional staff. 

Retired Proctor & Gamble Chairman AG Lafley and former Kimley-Horn Senior Vice President Bill Waddill, with 31 years of experience in developing public spaces, have been the driving forces for The Bay, with the guidance of the BPC board of directors. With Crockatt’s arrival, founding CEO Lafley, who was one of the nine citizen volunteers who agreed to serve on the original master planning committee, is stepping back into an advisory capacity. 

Waddill continues in his role of chief implementation officer.

Now as the BPC’s first full-time professional top executive, Crockatt is responsible for building out the team, overseeing operations and, perhaps most importantly, raising money.

‘Free is expensive’

Early planning for a portion of the second phase of The Bay, known as the Canal District, has met with some objection to a plan to activate the south side of the 10th Street boat launch with privately operated restaurant space. It’s that space in the park, Waddill told city commissioners during a March 23 meeting, that is needed to generate revenue to allow the BPC to sustain the park financially.

That’s the contemporary funding model for public spaces, according to Crockatt.

“In Buffalo, we had private entities that came into a public park and operated, they shared revenue with us and it sustained that park facility,” she said. “I see that as a natural thing that happens now in public-private partnerships. This park is free, it belongs to everyone and we want to keep the programming free. We want to keep every offering here as open and inclusive as possible. Without having some type of revenue stream, we're not going to be able to keep that standard of excellence and keep the public's expectations met. There has to be some give and take in that way.

“We are trying to keep everything free and available, but free is expensive.”

The total cost for the capital improvements in The Bay — estimated at $175 million-$200 million, is to be evenly divided between private dollars raised by the BPC and public monies derived from a tax increment financing district overlay on several blocks surrounding the park. Both the city and Sarasota County must annually approve ad valorem revenues from the TIF district to the BPC for annual bond payments on capital projects.

"The city partnership is incredible," Crockatt said. "With governmental support for this public-private partnership the park wouldn't have happened. It has all the makings of a best practices example for others in the parks and public space realm. Sarasota is very fortunate."

That partnership with the city and county was forged to build the park. To achieve sustainability, though, requires an endowment, another of Crockatt’s responsibilities. 

How much does that endowment need to be?

“There's a minimum that I can say would be needed, and that's a million dollars per acre, so there would need to be a minimum of about $53 million to $55 million,” Crockatt said. “Raising endowment money can be tricky because it really does require more philanthropic support from individuals. Not a lot of foundations or companies will give to an endowment because it is general operating support, so it's going to take a little bit of finesse, but I think we can do it here.”

That’s a minimum of $53 million atop the upwards of $60 million in capital funds the BPC must raise to meet its capital financial obligations with the city over the remainder of the build-out. Having paid for the bulk of Phase 1 of the park with $40 million in donations and grants, the BPC began fiscal year 2023 with nearly $15.1 million in net assets, according to its 2022 annual report.

That comes at a time when there will be intense competition for philanthropic dollars. The Sarasota Orchestra will be raising funds for its $275 million music hall on Fruitville Road, the Sarasota Performing Arts Center Foundation for its half of a new $275 million to $300 million facility — which would be the centerpiece in The Bay but not under the auspices of the BPC — and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens the remaining $35 million of a $92 million campaign for capital projects and an endowment. 

A dozen days in

Crockatt arrives at the busiest time in the BPC’s existence, with Phase 2 planning that includes redevelopment of the 10th Street boat launch, adding day docks, shoreline resiliency, the sunset pier, a dockside dining terrace, Municipal Auditorium, an event lawn and a recreation lawn all while operating active and passive park aspects of  Phase 1.

Such diverse uses of a waterfront park aren’t unique, she said, but condensing them into 53 acres might be.

“There is a lot going on at the site,” she said. “There's a lot to manage. There’s a lot to plan for, but I think we’re going to wind up eating the elephant one bite at a time in a very strategic way. I think Sarasota is going to be very proud of what we do.”

Meanwhile Crockatt is spending her early days in Sarasota exploring the city and downtown restaurants — “You've got an amazing foodie culture, which I love,” she said — and she has found a mid-century-style bungalow where she plans to put down roots and apply her touches. “I love mid-mod architecture,” she said. 

She also spent some of her first 12 days on the job becoming acquainted with city government leadership.

“I've met with the city manager, I've met with the mayor. I'm starting to meet the commissioners. I'm meeting some of the city staff,” she said. “People are so kind as to make time. Even if it's a half-hour it's half an hour well spent in formulating a relationship and having that face-to-face recognition. It's deeply appreciated because I know how busy everybody is.”