Pictured: The new FST facility will feature artist housing, three new theatre spaces and three floors of parking for audience members. Credit: Wendy Kiesewetter

After eight years of planning and design, Florida Studio Theatre broke ground on the McGillicuddy Arts Plaza last Wednesday. The Plaza will feature a new mainstage theatre, two cabaret theatres, on-site artist housing and three parking floors.

The project, Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins says, was born simply out of a need for increased artist housing. Throughout its time in Downtown Sarasota, FST had acquired a number of properties to house artists, but Hopkins says these properties were increasingly far from FST and in need of significant renovation. “We did an analysis that told us, if we renovated these properties, it would cost a lot of money. It would be less expensive to build from scratch and sell these properties. That's what led us to the first stage in this project, and defined that we need a new building for artist housing.” That housing will be affordably priced and feature 57 units, split between apartments for artists who permanently reside in Sarasota and apartments for visiting artists.

Richard says this initial need prompted him and the team to consider what other needs a new development could meet for FST. Those other needs included increased theatre space and parking.

“We build organically based on need, step by step. This building, as big as it is, actually follows that and is the final piece of the puzzle to secure FST for the next 50 years,” says Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins. She says that the new space will contribute significantly to the theatre’s mission. “We're based on being affordable and accessible to as many people as possible, and tied into that is really the intimacy of our theaters and the relationship between the actor and the audience. Instead of building bigger theaters, we'll build more in order to continue to grow and serve but also maintain that really close relationship with our audience.”

Richard and FST’s architect, Alan Anderson, have collaborated on the facility’s design every step of the way. “For the last eight years, Richard and Alan have been working on this design together. And I don't mean once a month. I mean, once a week, they have hours-long meetings where they have put these designs together. Richard has been integral to creating the design of this, of all our spaces, but especially this new one,” says Rebecca.

Phase one of the project — which includes the housing and parking — will be completed in two years, while phase two will focus on the theatres and is expected to be finished four years from now.

Pictured: The new FST facility will feature artist housing, three new theatre spaces and three floors of parking for audience members. Credit: Wendy Kiesewetter