Hermitage Artist Retreat may have suffered $1 million in Hurricane Ian damage

The historic wooden cottages that make up the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key in Englewood are still standing after Hurricane Ian, but will probably require more than $1 million in repairs.

‘It looks like the giant from ‘Into the Woods’ walked onto the campus and stomped around,” Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg said Saturday.

“It’s hard to assess the full damage as yet and we’re working to get contractors down here, but I’m guessing we’re looking at seven figures of damage repairs,” he said.

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Fortunately, there were no visiting artists in residence at the retreat, which traditionally closes for a few weeks each September to refresh and repair the buildings. The Hermitage has canceled residencies for two weeks and a program on Oct. 6 at the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast’s Bay Preserve, Sandberg said.

“The grounds are severely torn up. There are trees, leaves and branches on every square inch of the property and all over Manasota Key, and it’s hard to access the key. Manasota Key seems like it’s been a little bit forgotten here on this barrier island that splits two counties,” Sandberg said.

The Hermitage has five historic buildings on a nine-acre campus where artists from around the world come up to six weeks over two years to work on new projects without the pressures of their everyday lives.

Two of the structures date to 1907, including the Hermitage House, which has served as the main gathering place for artists and some visitors on the grounds. Sandberg said those buildings were moved back 50 feet from the water’s edge during a restoration about 20 years ago. Three other buildings date back to 1941,

Sandberg said when he first drove up after the storm passed, “I was prepared to find that some of the buildings had washed away to Mexico. I was happy to see that the campus is still there. But we suffered some severe damage, some flooding. Fortunately, the storm surge wasn’t as bad as they expected, but the wind damage was pretty bad.”

A few of the doors and windows blew out on the historic structures, and a kayak shed “essentially blew away and I can’t tell you where it went,” he said. The lanai screen also was ripped away from the Palm House, which serves as the organization's administrative offices.

Sandberg said everything is fixable and “it’s going to take quick action to make it happen. Our top priority is getting back to habitability. We can’t control when Manasota Key gets power back, but we can take action to make sure the buildings are up to functionality in that time.”

He added that some of the artists who have already been to Hermitage have offered to come down and help.

Other Sarasota-Manatee arts groups suffered Hurricane Ian damage

Most Sarasota area arts organizations have reported little to no damage. Florida Studio Theatre in downtown Sarasota resumed performances of a cabaret show on Friday night.

Venice Theatre, the nation’s second-largest community theater company, however, will have to regroup after it lost the back part of its mainstage space to strong winds during the storm. On Saturday, the theater said that structural engineers were on site to assess the full extent of the damage.

“We know it will be difficult to recover from the loss of our largest performance space, but we’re deeply grateful that we have two other buildings on our campus that are in great shape,” the theater posted on Facebook Saturday morning.

Staff at the Ringling Museum were using the weekend to clean up the grounds from debris and were awaiting a decision from Florida State University, which operates the facility, on a reopening date.

On Friday, Selby Botanical Gardens reported that one of its greenhouses will have to be removed because of hurricane damage. Another greenhouse lost about 40 panels of glass, Executive Director Jennifer Rominiecki said in an email to members.

“However, we’re happy to report that many of the iconic trees that so many of us love have held up nicely, including the Moreton Bay Fig, Banyans, Bo Tree and Wedding Oak,” she wrote. The research collections also are safe.

The buildings also are in good shape, other than a minor leak in the historic Selby House, and there was no damage to the Master Plan construction now underway.

Tree damage was more significant at Selby’s Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey. The Pergola will need repairs and “minor fixes” are needed at the White Cottage and Guptill House, Rominiecki said.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Hurricane Ian: Maybe $1 million in damage to Hermitage Artist Retreat