North Port leaders to discuss future of historic buildings at Warm Mineral Springs Park

NORTH PORT – North Port leaders will discuss the future of Warm Mineral Springs Park Tuesday, as recent reports suggest there are options to preserve all or some of the popular facility's three historic buildings damaged by Hurricane Ian 17 months ago.

Architectural and engineering reports submitted in a Feb. 28 memo from Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors  indicate that all three historical buildings believed to be designed by Jack West of the Sarasota School of Architecture can ultimately be restored.

The city created its local historical register specifically so the three structures at 12200 San Servando Ave. could be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. They were awarded that status in 2019.

Ultimately though, city commissioners will have to decide whether a historically faithful restoration is worth the cost.

The last formal bid, received on June 6, 2022, came in at $17.6 million.

Since then, the sales and spa buildings and cyclorama sustained heavy damage when Hurricane Ian made landfall on Sept. 28, 2022.

The three structures built for the Florida Quadricentennial are all on the 21.6-acre Warm Mineral Springs historical site.

The commission will also discuss more options for the 61.4-acres of parkland surrounding attraction since the city and Warm Mineral Springs Development Group recently ended plans for a public-private partnership.

As part of that partnership, WMS Development Group would have renovated the three structures and operated the springs. It would also have built a hotel, residences and other amenities on the surrounding parkland.

For the three year period of 2020-22, the park pulled in a net profit of more than $2 million but in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which included the impact of Hurricane Ian and subsequent closure it lost $208,138, taking in $644,087 compared with $852,115 in expenses.

In the first three months of the 2023-24 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, the park has brought in $447,501 vs. $290,163 in expenses.

The commission meets at 10 a.m. March 5 in chambers at City Hall, 4970 City Hall Blvd.

What to do with the historic buildings?

Hurricane Ian left the sales and spa buildings in poor condition and the cyclorama in fair-to-poor condition, according to a report by Snell Engineering Consultants.

Combined, all three structures represent 13,775 square feet of covered area – 3,370 square feet for the sales building; 6,055 for the spa building and 4,350 for the cyclorama.

The original renovation plan, developed by Sweet Sparkman and Kimley-Horn, included gutting the structures to their “historic bones,” with significant structural repairs, replacement of all windows, as well as mechanical electrical and plumbing systems, and installation of a fire sprinkler system, according to the memo from John W. Bryant, vice president at Sweet Sparkman.

All three buildings were constructed using ceramic-faced structural clay tiles.

Those tiles are not readily available and would likely need to be produced by a specialty clay tile company from custom-made molds.

Also, at that time, the structures were not in what the Federal Emergency Management Administration considers a high-risk flood zone.

As of March 27, 2024, they will be in a FEMA high-risk flood zone. Hurricane Ian left a flood water line measured at 14-to-16 inches above the finished floors.

That flood water also likely caused further deterioration in exposed structural steel columns, many of which were being kept in the original renovation plan, Bryant wrote. The flood damage may result in more of those needing replaced.

The buildings could be renovated at their current flood elevation, Bryant wrote, but in that case he suggested upgrades, including removable flood barriers at all doors; elevating all mechanical equipment 24-inches above grade; elevating all electrical outlets 24-inches above the finished floor; and having no permeable surface or drywall within 24-inches of the finished floor.

All of those suggestions would increase the overall cost.

What are the options?

Option 1, a complete historic renovation, could cost between $800 and $950 per square foot. The structures would not need to be elevated because of a historic building code exemption.

With that in mind, Bryant cited a potential construction cost between $11 million and $13.1 million. That does not include design fees and site construction costs, as well as extending water and sewer to the three buildings, which was part of the original Phase One bid that came in at $17.6 million.

Option 2 is a partial historic renovation of the complex, with only one of the three buildings historically restored. The Cyclorama – one of three in the U.S. and roughly 30 around the world – is the most likely candidate in that scenario.

Bryant noted that more research must be done to see if raising the other two buildings jeopardizes the historic designation of the third building and the historic building code exemption.

While Bryant pegged the cost of historic renovation in the $800 to $950 per square foot range, he figured the cost of new construction at $650 to $800 per square foot.

That placed the potential historical renovation cost for the cyclorama between $3.5 million and $4.1 million, excluding the design and site construction costs.

Option 3 would be to raze all three structures and replace them with new facilities at a cost of $650 to $800 per square foot.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Future of 3 historic buildings at Warm Mineral Springs to be weighed