Selby Gardens opens first phase of energy-efficient campus with toasts and tours

After years of controversy, neighborhood protests, negotiations with the city of Sarasota, revised plans and delays caused by the COVID pandemic, Selby Botanical Gardens opened the first phase of its remodeled downtown Sarasota campus Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tours and toasts led by garden leaders, major donors and Sarasota city officials.

The opening, which board of trustees chair Joel Morganroth called a “momentous day in the history of Selby Gardens,” came two and a half years after a groundbreaking in June 2021.

The project, which generated $57 million from more than 3,500 individuals and foundations, includes a four-story parking structure that will be topped with solar panels later this month; a rooftop garden that will provide food for the new Green Orchid restaurant, expanded administrative and research facilities; and a new open-air welcome center where patrons will start their visits.

Selby scheduled a special member preview for Jan. 10 in advance of the public opening at 10 a.m. Jan. 11.

On a blustery morning in advance of expected major afternoon storms, hundreds of people gathered in an open courtyard surrounded by the three new facilities created under the master plan by OLIN Studio, designed by Overland Partners architects and built by Willis Smith Construction.

"Clearly, the winds of change are afoot at Selby Gardens," said lead architect Robert Shemwell.

A greener garden

CEO Jennifer Rominiecki and some of the design team leaders stressed how Selby will become the first net-positive botanical garden in the world, meaning that with 2,000 solar panels, it will be able to produce more energy than it uses. The Green Orchid, operated by longtime Selby food providers Michael’s on East, will be the first net-positive restaurant in the world.

“You see renderings, but often that’s not how it turns out,” said lead master planner Richard Roark of OLIN Studio. “I feel this is better than the renderings.”

Roark said people visit the gardens for rejuvenation. “But the gardens needed rejuvenation. It needed a spa day.”

Rocky start

Rominiecki said the project offered a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realize the full potential of our beloved garden.”

Speakers praised Rominiecki’s vision for the new master plan and leading the project through an often tumultuous process. Mayor Liz Alpert noted that she was elected to the Sarasota City Commission just a few months after Rominiecki was hired by Selby in 2015. “She came to my office one day and had this brochure with a vision of what Selby Gardens could become and I was on board immediately.”

The initial proposal, however, stirred protests from nearby residents who objected to the original plans for a five-story parking garage and a rooftop restaurant, along with concerns about increased noise and traffic in the area. The Sarasota City Commission rejected the initial proposal, leading Selby to scale back the size of the LEAF and move the restaurant indoors. The revisions were approved by a 4-1 vote in January 2021. Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, the lone dissenter, said she was not invited to take part in ribbon-cutting photos and Rominiecki did not mention her among the city officials in attendance.

The first phase includes three main structures:

The LEAF

Visitors will arrive and park their cars in the Morganroth Family Living Energy Access Facility (or LEAF), a four-story structure that will be topped with solar panels and a garden managed by Operation EcoVets, which provides growth opportunities for veterans. They will tend herbs and vegetables that will be used by the ground-floor restaurant.

Guests at the opening ceremonies sampled five of the roughly 20 items that will be available at the 150-seat Green Orchid restaurant, which is expected to open in mid-February and operate from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The structure also includes a new ground-floor gift shop. A vertical garden is taking shape outside the building with long wires in place to support newly planted vines.

Lead architect Robert Shemwell of Overland Partners said, the LEAF “reinvents what a parking garage can be” and makes Selby the global leader in net-positive energy.

Welcome Center

After leaving the garage, guests will make their way to the Jean Goldstein Welcome Center, an open-air facility with ticketing windows, a welcome gallery, and a theater that will play videos to orient new guests before their visit.

Research Center

The welcome center connects to the Steinwachs Family Plant Research Center, which houses all of Selby’s scientific collections and research functions. That includes the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Herbarium and Laboratory where more than 125,000 dried and pressed plant specimens are kept. There is also a spirit lab, with more than 35,000 samples preserved in liquid, the second largest collection behind the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England. The building also features a new research library with books dating back to the 1700s.

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With the completion of the first phase, Rominecki said planning is underway for the second and third before they are officially announced. The second phase is expected to include new hurricane-resistant glasshouses for Selby’s living plant collections, which also will be more accessible to visitors than the current ones. They will be built on the southern part of the campus where the parking lot previously was located.

Future projects also include a new learning pavilion for expanded school programs and classroom space for adults and children, restoration of the Christy Payne Mansion, which houses Selby’s Museum of Botany & the Arts; strengthen of sea walls that surround the Sarasota Bay shoreline and renovation of docks. Designers also plan to unify all the walking paths through the campus.

Selby Gardens is at 1534 Mound St., Sarasota and is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Christmas. Admission is $11-$26, free for members. 941-366-5731; selby.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: After years of protest and delays, Selby Gardens opens revised campus