- September 8, 2026
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Bruce Patneaude came to Nathan Benderson Park as COO three years ago from IMG Academy in Bradenton for one primary reason: to build a boathouse and indoor sports and recreation complex.
That mission is moving apace.
On Aug. 26, he told the Sarasota County Commission the Nathan Benderson Park Multi-Sport Complex and Boathouse will be completed by summer 2028. That’s because, in addition to the dozen major waterborne events held there every year the World Rowing Championship is going to be here in 2028.
That’s a firm timeline, Patneaude says, as County Commission Chairman Ron Cutsinger quipped, “There's nothing like a deadline of having the world championships coming,” as motivation to complete the project.
And there’s more.
“We're bidding on American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships for 2027," Patneaude says. "The NCAA, which is the women's (collegiate) rowing, will be here this year and next year, and we'll be bidding on a hopefully forever program.”
The championships, previously held annually at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is the rowing equivalent of the College World Series softball and baseball tournaments famously held annually in Oklahoma City and Omaha, Nebraska, respectively. The indoor athletic space also offers opportunities to bid on tournaments for other sports.
Top that off with the prospect of USRowing establishing offices in the boathouse, permanent space for the USRowing national team and possibly locating the National Rowing Hall of Fame there and Patneaude estimates the complex bringing in $20 million in additional economic impact.
“I think we're going to bring $50 million to $60 million economic impact once this is all up and running and the pipelines are full,” Patneaude says. “Just the location and the amenities in this area will bring tremendous amount of support for this building.”
The lake at Nathan Benderson Park, formerly a construction borrow pit, includes a 10-lane, 1,500-meter and 2,000-meter course separated by a wave reducing attenuator. The USRowing website describes that "with an anticipated spring 2027 (now summer 2028) completion of a spectacular multi-functional boathouse, thanks to the Nathan Benderson Foundation, the center will become one of the premier training environments in the world."
A year ago, Wannemacher Jensen Architects of St. Petersburg was contracted and to date is nearly completed with schematic drawings. The project is in the permitting stage with Sarasota County for permitting and site work, and Patneaude told commissioners he expects the site permit to be issued in October.
Tapping into his experience at youth sports powerhouse IMG, he predicts the project will be completed on time.
“It's going to happen,” he says. “I spent 12 years at IMG Academy doing the same thing, and we built buildings within 14 and 15 months every single time, similar facilities.”
The Nathan Benderson Park Multi-Sport Complex and Boathouse, anticipated to cost between $75 million and $80 million, will be built on Regatta Island, the footprint occupying about four of the island’s 25 acres. The island was built as a launching and recovery area for rowing and paddling events and features boat maintenance facilities, team staging areas and the signature finish tower. It’s also the site of festivals, concerts and the occasional circus.
For rowing and paddling, the complex will have 10 boat bays, plus more reserved for use by the locally based national rowing team.
For the indoor sports space, there will be 100,000 square feet of hardwood flooring designed in flexible fashion to accommodate eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts or 32 pickleball courts for recreation and tournament use.
“It's space for movement. That will allow us to bring in dance, cheer, you name it — wrestling, martial arts, whatever can fit, whatever can be done on a floor-type sport to bring in additional economic impact,” Patneaude says. “This building gives us the ability to reduce the heat on that island. This gives the athletes space inside to warm up. This gives volunteers a better place to meet. This gives the referees and event-holder better places to meet.”
The prospect of the USRowing's permanent presence and that of the Rowing Hall of Fame is a value-added proposition.
“Talking to USRowing folks, they love the park, and as you mentioned are thinking about making it their home, which would be amazing,” Cutsinger says. “It’s also going to be a great thing for our community. … We’ve got wonderful parks and we've got wonderful recreation areas, but we have not had an indoor sports facility. Combining the sports facility and the boathouse is just efficient.”
This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.
