- April 3, 2025
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For now, the plans for a community center in Whitney Plaza are halted.
Manatee County entered a four-year lease for the largest space in Whitney Plaza in January 2024 and is now shifting away from the leased space vision.
Hal Porter owns Whitney Plaza on the north end of Longboat Key through his family-owned business, Porter Investment Holdings.
Porter recently received notice from Manatee County’s property acquisition team that the county plans to exit the lease early in August after about a year and a half in the lease.
Manatee County District 3 Commissioner Tal Siddique confirmed the county would prefer not to move forward with the current model of leasing a space and putting money into a space they don’t own.
“I’m not necessarily saying it’s off the table, but I don’t think the board would really prioritize putting money toward it,” Siddique said.
Talks about a community center on the north end have been ongoing for about five years before the lease was signed, according to Maureen Merrigan.
Merrigan co-chairs the Longboat Key North group, a coalition of homeowners and condominium associations on the north end of the island.
Longboat Key North appointed a committee, the North End Space Team, to collaborate with Manatee County staff to bring the vision to life in Whitney Plaza.
Upon hearing the news, Merrigan expressed her disappointment.
“It’s a huge disappointment. The community has been working with the county on this for five years before the lease was signed,” Merrigan said. “It’ll be a huge disappointment to the neighborhoods up here, too.”
Merrigan has previously said that this space was a community ask of Manatee County, and the north end of the island discussed the need for community meeting space for a long time before the county's lease execution.
Then, in January 2024, the lease for the 6,100 square-foot space in Whitney Plaza was executed between Manatee County and Porter Investment Holdings.
The lease had an initial four-year term with the option for two five-year extensions.
The monthly price for the lease was $11,256.67, or about $135,080 for the first year.
After community input sessions to brainstorm ideas about how the space could be used, Manatee County delegated the programming of the space to Manatee Technical College, which would have included adult education classes.
The vision for the space also included meeting rooms and art studio space for local artists. The meeting space was a major draw for north-end communities to host association meetings or other community events.
Renovations for the space were estimated to be around $1.2 million, which would have been paid for by the county.
Then, in June 2024, the project team at Manatee County learned that the space may be subject to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 50% rule since the renovations were near 50% of the building’s value.
Porter said this construction cost seemed too high, especially since the building already had bathrooms and many other fixtures in place. He shared those thoughts with the county.
“I said, ‘That seems like an awful lot of money because the restrooms were already there. The hard costs were already there for anything they wanted to do,’” Porter said.
Still, Porter said the county was silent within the space. No construction occurred.
Then the island was hit by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Porter gave all of his tenants free rent for October 2024 as many businesses were recovering from the storms.
Even though he sent the notice to Manatee County, Porter said Manatee County sent him the rent for the month. This was one of the first signs Porter saw of a lull in communication from the county, he said.
Porter said he also replaced part of the roof for the plaza space the county was leasing, which cost him $12,000.
When Porter received a call from the county asking him what he was going to do for them after the storms, Porter said he was confused and brought up those two instances.
According to Porter, the space is mostly concrete blocks, which would have mitigated most of the water damage.
“I think it pretty much mitigated everything because the water wasn’t there very long to soak into anything,” Porter said.
He estimates only about a foot of water entered the space, which may have impacted a few of the walls.
On Feb. 11, Porter received an email from Manatee County to notify him the county would pay through August but leave the lease after that.
Overall, Porter feels the situation was handled incorrectly. He said he knew the community wanted this space, so he tried to make it easy on the tenants — this includes holding the space for the county for eight months, he claimed.
“It was just handled totally wrong,” Porter said. “It wasn’t handled right at all.”
Siddique confirmed the county would prefer to move on from this space.
He pointed to promises of the previous District 3 Commissioner, Kevin Van Ostenbridge, as stretching the county’s capabilities.
“When I spoke with the school district, (they said) it really stretched their capabilities. I think the promise made for the school district to program (the space) really stretches beyond what their mission is,” Siddique said.
Another problem Siddique saw was investing what could have been $1.2 million into a space the county did not own.
“Problem two was the fact that we leased the land, we don’t own it,” Siddique said. “I think that creates some challenges for us because we’re investing a lot of money into properties we don’t own…I just don’t see why Manatee County should pay for a building that we don’t own.”
Siddique said the north-end community in Longboat Key is an important one for him, and he will try to serve the community.
For now, Siddique said the possibility is not completely gone, but he would like to see more community collaboration, particularly with funding the space.
“I think the model has to shift to be more of a partnership with the community,” Siddique said. “The door isn’t closed on it, but I don’t think I’ll have the votes to put as much money into it at this point.”
