PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Expanded CRA may be boon for Manatee Players (with video)

BRADENTON — If the Bradenton City Council includes the Manatee Players’ Third Avenue property in the Bradenton Community Redevelopment Area, could it be the break the troupe has been hoping for in regards to its new theater?

The short answer: Kind of, according to Mike Kennedy, executive director of the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority.

“Obviously, the site is not where everybody wants it to be at this point,” Kennedy said of the theater, which is still under construction after four years. “It’s a cause of concern for everyone.

“What this would do is allow the DDA to partner in helping to finish the building. But we’ve made it clear that a partnership involving us would have to be one that gets the building completed and open — but we don’t have enough funds to open the building for them,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the Players will have to find other partners, such as businesses, foundations and individual donors, to help in that mission. That means the troupe’s capital fundraising campaign must continue.

Manatee Players already has spent $10 million on the facility, but the theater troupe still needs $3.5 million just to open the state-of-the-art venue. A total of $5 million more will complete the space for educational programming. The building is being constructed on a pay-as-you-go basis — as money is raised, a section is completed. The benefit of this is that theater will have no outstanding debt.

If the new theater becomes part of the Bradenton CRA, the troupe could ask the DDA to contribute Tax Increment Financing, known as TIF.

TIFs are used to leverage public funds to promote private sector activity within a CRA. TIF funding is generated from future tax gains, which is often used to finance public improvement projects. Those projects in turn increase property value, which can generate increased tax revenue.

“It’s going to be able to help in some way,” Janene Witham, capital development director for Manatee Players, said of grant funding offered through the CRA. “But it will take the community’s help (via additional fundraising contributions). This is not going to be on the DDA’s shoulders.”

The DDA is also proposing to expand the Bradenton CRA with Rossi Waterfront Park, which is good news to Dale Weidemiller, manager of the Riverwalk revitalization project.

“It’s right in the middle of the project,” Weidemiller said of the park. “We really need it to be added.”

According to Florida statures, the DDA can’t spend the money to improve the park unless it’s within the CRA. Kennedy said that if the park is brought into the CRA, money will be used for safety, lighting and pavement upgrades.

To be considered as part of a CRA, property has to have conditions of blight or deterioration leading to physical or economic distress of an area. Kennedy said both the Players property and the park, which sit on what was formerly known as the “sand pile,” exhibit such attributes.

The improvements are necessary for revitalization, not just economically, but culturally, he said.

“The completion of the Players is very important for furthering not only Realize Bradenton’s goals, but also adding a great cultural centerpiece to our downtown,” Kennedy said.

City Council will discuss the matter during its next public meeting 8:30 a.m. Aug. 18 in council chambers.

January Holmes, features writer, can be reached at 745-7057. Follow her on Twitter at @accentbradenton.