North Port accepting bids for private partner at Warm Mineral Springs
NORTH PORT – The city of North Port is accepting proposals from private partners interested in developing Warm Mineral Springs.
Financial records show the attraction earned a net profit of almost $2 million over the past three fiscal years.
The popular attraction has been closed since the day before Hurricane Ian made landfall. The city plans to reopen later this spring, then transition the operation to the eventual private partner.
Related:North Port considers growth plan changes to enable Warm Mineral Springs development
A marked increase in revenue
Warm Mineral Springs – an hourglass-shaped sinkhole that is fed by an underground stream that pumps in 20 million gallons of 85 to 86 degree water per day – is significant on its merits as an archaeological site, which serves as a window to roughly 10,000 years of history.
It was developed as a spa shortly after World War II and from December 1959 to March 1960 was one of the sites for the Florida Quadricentennial Celebration.
North Port took over sole ownership of both the 21.6-acre springs site and the 61.4 acres of surrounding parkland in September 2014 and reopened the springs for swimming under a management agreement with National and State Parks Concessions, Warm Mineral Springs Inc.
For several years, as the city commission debated how to restore the three Jack West buildings, it received a net profit between $300,000 and $400,000 per year.
That cratered to a low of $107,075 in 2020 – when the park was closed for April and May because of the COVID-19 pandemic and only 84,159 people used it.
Earlier:Five things to know about Warm Mineral Springs in North Port, Florida
Attendance had boomed in 2021 and 2022, with 136,626 people using the springs in 2021, when the city pocketed $874,200 in net profit; and 152,806 people in 2022, when the city pocketed more than $1.014 million in net profit.
The next steps
The city of North Port posted its request for proposals on Jan. 27, with submissions due by March 15 – when all bids will be opened at 2 p.m.
The actual bid documents can be found by accessing the appropriate portion of the city website via this link: http://bit.ly/3Hnl0vn.
Bidders must offer the city development options similar to those overed in the unsolicited bid by Warm Mineral Springs Development Group.
Under that proposal, WMS would lease the springs activity center and acquire ownership of the 61.4-acres for – among other things – a 250-unit resort hotel and 300 multi-family homes marketed to Eastern Europeans who frequent the springs, as well as a 22-acre recreation and community zone and a Native History Museum and restaurant.
The submission proposal must cover a variety of details, from the proposed economic impact on the city to the impact on the city’s quality of life.
A major unknown pointed to by preservationists who oppose commercial development is the fact that there have been no geotechnical surveys or hydrographic studies conducted to see if the ground can support hotels or condominiums and predict disaster. The winning bidder would have to pay for those studies.
Actual negotiations with the proposed private partner is a closed process but ultimately any contract must be approved by the North Port City Commission in a public meeting.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port now taking proposals to develop Warm Mineral Springs
