Selby Gardens plans January opening for remodeled campus

Though it has taken a few months longer than expected because of storms, supply chain delays and other issues, Selby Botanical Gardens will unveil the first phase of its new look on Jan. 11 to the general public.

That day will mark the opening of several major new features to the campus that visitors have been watching take shape for more than two years. The work has sometimes made it a challenge for guests to find their way to Selby, but CEO and President Jennifer Rominiecki said attendance has been strong throughout the construction project. Selby members will be invited to a special preview on Jan. 10.

“It’s been miraculous how close to schedule we’ve stayed on with the supply chain issues,” she said.

The opening will follow the annual Lights in Bloom holiday display, which runs Dec. 8 through Jan. 3 and brings big crowds of families to the grounds at night. “We expect to be at full capacity and we have worked out ways to cope around the construction,” Rominiecki said. “We got very good at that last year.”

The grand opening will mark the official debut of the Morganroth Family Living Energy Access Facility. Selby officials call it the LEAF. Visitors will likely refer to it as the parking garage, which is actually a multi-purpose structure that includes the new Green Orchid, a garden-to-table restaurant operated by Michaels on East on the ground floor. The LEAF also features a new gift shop, vertical gardens on the outside walls and a 50,000 square foot solar array that will allow Selby to produce more energy than it uses and make it the first net-positive-energy botanical garden complex in the world.

Also on top of the structure will be an edible garden that will be planned, planted and maintained by Operation EcoVets, a non-profit organization that grows opportunities for veterans.

Jan. 11 also will mark the official debut of the Jean Goldstein Welcome Center, the new visitor center where guests will buy tickets. The open-air structure “has a welcome gallery, which will give the visitor a snapshot of our mission-driven work and what we do in biodiversity research and conservation,” Rominiecki said. Outside the welcome center is a new Lily Pond Garden, one of several street-level improvements that also includes a Glades Garden and the transformation of Palm Avenue into a pedestrian walkway.

The Steinwachs Family Plant Research Center will provide a new and sturdier structure to house the extensive plant collections used by Selby staff and scientists from around the world. The center will include the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Herbarium and Laboratory, which will house Selby’s 125,000 dried and pressed plant specimens; a spirit lab with more than 35,000 specimens preserved in fluid; and its research library with botanical volumes that date to the 18th century. The Steinwachs building also houses the Selby administrative offices, conference rooms and a rooftop garden.

Eventually, Rominiecki said Selby will offer weekly behind-the-scenes guided tours of the research center.

Underground is a new stormwater management system, which will divert and clean millions of gallons of water before it is released to Sarasota Bay.

Joel Morganroth, chair of the Selby Gardens Board, said in a statement that more than 3,500 contributors made the project possible. “More than 98 percent of the funding has come from private donations, making this project truly a gift to the City of Sarasota and beyond.”

The project was originally expected to cost about $92 million and take about 10 years to complete, but delays and supply chain issues have made it more expensive. Rominiecki said $57 million has been raised for the project, with $51.6 million going toward the construction, and the rest earmarked for an endowment and operations.

With the completion, Rominiecki and her staff and development team will start focusing on raising money for the next two phases of the renovation project. She said details about the cost and timing will be announced soon after the opening.

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Phase II will focus on living collections, glass houses and indoor-outdoor education programs. It will include removing the existing visitor center and gift and garden shop, and creating new greenhouses to replace those that are considered vulnerable to storm damage. In the coming years, Selby also will restore the landmark Payne Mansion, which houses the Museum of Botany & the Arts, while bolstering sea walls surrounding the property on Sarasota Bay and creating new pathways through the campus to adapt to the changing physical layout.

For more information: 941-366-5731; selby.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Selby Gardens sets opening date for first phase of campus renovation