The Players' new theater heads to South Washington Boulevard

It was enough to irritate even the normally mild-mannered Sarasota City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs as city commissioners wrestled with the language in a motion to approve the term sheet for a lease to be drafted with The Sarasota Players for use of Payne Park Auditorium.

As Erik Arroyo made several attempts to amend his motion in order to appease a bombardment of changes from his colleagues in order to achieve the requisite supermajority vote, the staff member responsible for recording it accurately had finally heard enough.

"Let me just remind you when you guys do this, you muddy up the motion and we have no idea what you guys want,” Griggs said.

Arroyo’s original motion was to approve the term sheet with options to consider a lease for 2.1 acres in Payne Park to expand Payne Park Auditorium with an option — in a major departure from The Players’ proposal — to explore a 1.25-acre city-owned parcel at the nearby northeast corner of Laurel Street and South Washington Boulevard. 

There, The Players could consider building its new theater rather than expanding Payne Park Auditorium onto green space, which had enough commission opposition to torpedo the plan. In addition, the organization could renovate the existing building to accommodate is plans for black box-type theater space, educational programs and other uses.

The motion also included a 30-year lease rather than a 10-year lease with two subsequent 10-year renewals, which requires a supermajority vote of commissioners.

Courtesy image

Arroyo was attempting to craft a motion that would garner a supermajority vote, which is needed to amend the lease length and other factors, when it became clear Debbie Trice and Vice Major Jen Ahearn-Koch were opposed to the proposed expansion. As commissioners made suggestions to achieve that goal, City Manager Marlon Brown chimed in on procedural technicalities that further complicated the issue.

Meanwhile, Griggs was trying to keep up.

“You guys make me look like I'm not doing my job when it's you all, and it’s kind of pissing me off because I'm trying to do my job," she said. "I’m trying to understand what to do. There was a motion and a second, you had all this talk. Was there an amendment or not to the original motion? 

“You did a whole bunch of talking. I don't know what the heck y'all are saying. I know what the motion was when he made it, but was there an amendment because everybody was making suggestions?”

In the end, Arroyo’s massaged motion, which was unanimously approved, was to request staff and the city attorney to prepare a lease with The Players Inc. based on the revised term sheet. They include:

• Payne Park Auditorium will not be expanded, but it may be renovated.
• The Players Inc. will develop a plan for the city-owned parcel at Laurel and South Washington for its primary theater building.
• Eliminate the clawback provision in which the city would repay The Players a prorated amount based on depreciation of anticipated $12 million in construction and renovation investment in favor of a 30-year lease to encompass the two parcels including a clause to adjust for inflation. That lease term required the super majority,

Representatives of The Players were quick to agree to those terms.

It wasn’t the first time The Players considered use of the park-adjacent lot. During a September 2023 community workshop, attendees suggested the organization might be able use the lot for parking rather than expand parking at the auditorium site. Consultant Marty Black, the former mayor of Venice and developer who oversaw construction of the Atlanta Braves spring training facility in North Port, led that discussion and said he would explore that possibility. 

With a tax assessment value of $1.87 million, though, the city would have to determine if that is the highest and best permanent use of the site. City Manager Marlon Brown told commissioners on Monday that the city paid “three or four million dollars” to acquire that site.

Once the lot was suggested as a consideration by the commission, Black was quick to say The Players will shift the focus of the new theater building to that location, providing the city is willing to enter into a 30-year ground lease. That would allow The Players to amortize over time and get a return on its investment.

“You've opened some interesting doors,” Black said. “If the City Commission is willing to lease that corner piece of (Highway) 301 for the new structures and have us use the existing facility without adding the parking and all, certainly. If you prefer to have no clawback and just do a straight 30-year, we will take that as well.”

With Arroyo’s compromise motion approved, The Players will go back to the drawing board and staff will work with the organization to craft a lease agreement to include the changes. Once that is complete, the City Commission still must approve the lease, which because of the 30-year term, will require a supermajority approval.