Commissioners to vote on $0 transfer of county GTE building as part of city and Point Park campus plan

BRADENTON — At Tuesday's BOCC meeting, Manatee County Commissioners will be asked to approve the $0 transfer of a county-owned downtown Bradenton property appraised at $1.2 million to the City of Bradenton.

Resolution R-26-97 would convey the former GTE building at 1009 4th Avenue West to the city. The three-story, 13,473-square-foot building has been the subject of several county transactions in recent years.

In August 2022, Manatee County sold the former GTE building to the Florida Cultural Group Inc. (aka the Manatee Performing Arts Center) for $150,000. The nonprofit planned to renovate the building into a conservatory. However, a year later, in August 2023, county officials presented plans for a new parking garage to replace the existing garage, which was showing signs of deterioration from age and water intrusion. Those plans included the GTE property as part of the proposed replacement garage's footprint.

In December 2023, the commissioners approved an agreement to buy the property back from Florida Cultural Group for $483,000.

While a new parking garage structure has yet to come to fruition, in May 2025, Manatee County commissioners approved the purchase and renovation of its second Administration Building in Lakewood Ranch for roughly $35 million; $34.8 million previously allocated for the downtown parking garage rebuild was redirected to fund the acquisition and renovations.

After county officials determined the downtown garage was too expensive to rebuild under previous plans, the county shifted its rebuild plan to seek a potential public-private partnership. The county published an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) which included the GTE building as part of the subject parcels under negotiation. The ITN ended without a viable proposal, leaving the county with the distressed parking garage and other nearby structures it had planned for its rebuild, including the vacant and aging GTE building.

County officials now say the GTE building is no longer needed for the parking garage project and have determined, in collaboration with the city, that it would be better used as part of Bradenton's Downtown Community Redevelopment Plan.

According to the item's cover sheet, a county appraisal valued the property at approximately $1.215 million. The proposed transfer includes restrictions on the property's use and allows the county continued access to part of the site to reach a nearby radio communications building and backup-generator parcel.

The resolution also would prohibit the city from transferring the property to another party without the county's prior written consent. The use restrictions and the county's right to reclaim the property under certain circumstances would remain in effect for five years after the deed is recorded.

The plan, according to city officials, is to restore the historic building for future use as a conservatory that might support the development of a future Downtown Bradenton campus for Point Park University.

Point Park University is a private liberal arts university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is widely known for its Conservatory of Performing Arts and is highly regarded for its competitive programs in dance, theater, cinema, and animation. The university has a long-standing tradition of restoring and adaptively reusing historic buildings for its Downtown Pittsburgh campus.

Officials Exploring Potential Partnership

While Manatee County remains the owner of the GTE building and has yet to vote on its proposed conveyance to the City of Bradenton, city officials have already begun laying the groundwork for a potential partnership involving Point Park University.

During a Bradenton City Council meeting last week, City Administrator Rob Perry apologized for adding a last-minute agenda item asking councilmembers to approve what he described as a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and Point Park for potential use of the GTE building. The MOU is contingent on the county commission approving the building's conveyance at its Sept. 1 meeting.

TBT was unable to locate copies of the proposed MOUs in the council's published agenda packet for that meeting, apparently because the item was added after the agenda had been published.

“Time is of the essence,” Perry said, explaining that Point Park is pursuing state accreditation and must finalize or demonstrate access to facilities that would support its proposed Downtown Bradenton campus.

Perry also acknowledged that several details surrounding ownership and the property's future use have not yet been settled.

Referring to the upcoming county vote on conveyance, Perry added, “Then we will figure out what to do. Whether we will hold title to it, whether the CRA will hold title, we still have that to work on, but it’s on the county agenda to be transferred.” 

Two weeks earlier, during an Aug. 12 Bradenton City Council meeting, Perry publicly briefed councilmembers on the exploratory discussions and work plans regarding a potential Point Park University campus in downtown Bradenton.

Perry was joined by the City of Bradenton Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Executive Director Jeff Burton for the presentation.

Perry told the council that the efforts to explore a possible partnership with Point Park University had included the county, which he said “is helping out greatly in a multitude of different ways.”

Perry specifically identified Manatee County Commission Chairman Tal Siddique, stating that Siddique had traveled to Pittsburgh “a couple of times” to meet with Point Park officials. He also credited Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione as “instrumental in trying to explore the partnership.”

He also named the Florida Cultural Group Inc, led by Janene Amick, as a local partner in the discussions.

On the city side, Perry said he, Mayor Gene Brown, Burton, and “a few other folks,” including Councilwoman Jayne Kocher, had traveled to Pittsburgh to learn more about the potential partnership.

Perry also said Point Park officials had made “substantial” investments in exploring the opportunity, including by traveling to Bradenton. 

Records obtained by TBT show that Point Park representatives had already visited Bradenton in May and returned for a second visit on Aug. 12, with meetings scheduled with Amick, Brown, Perry and Burton beginning later that afternoon.

Those representatives were scheduled to arrive in Bradenton that morning, yet no mention was made during the meeting that Point Park officials were coming to town or that meetings with Brown, Perry and Burton were scheduled for later that afternoon.

A two-day itinerary prepared on Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau letterhead shows Point Park representatives were scheduled to receive updates on several matters, including the county's GTE building, shortly after arriving.

The itinerary, which ran Aug. 12 through Aug. 14, also included tours of several downtown properties and institutions, including the First United Methodist Church, the Fawley Bryant offices, and the downtown Manatee County Administration Building.

Brown emphasized that the discussions remained exploratory and said an economic study was anticipated in the coming weeks.

“This is just the exploratory so far, but it had gone through so many opportunities that we felt that it was the time to bring it (forward) and the right time to explore the opportunity,” Brown said.

The presentation was met with support from councilmembers, but Councilwoman Lisa Gonzalez Moore also raised questions about the process, particularly regarding potential public financing and the need for transparency and due diligence as the discussions progressed.

Moore said she understood that, unlike Point Park's approach to restoring historic buildings for its facilities in Pittsburgh, discussions in Bradenton could involve the city or CRA financing renovations to buildings that would then be used by the university.

She expressed strong support for exploring the partnership while urging staff to proceed carefully and consider costs, funding sources, and other details.


The Aug. 12 presentation before council and a city-issued press release that same day marked the first public disclosure by city officials of the potential partnership. By that point, however, Point Park representatives and local officials had already made multiple trips between Bradenton and Pittsburgh to discuss the potential partnership.

TBT reached Manatee County Commission Chair Siddique by phone to ask about his involvement in the trips and conversations Perry referenced.

Siddique shared that, as he understood it, initial conversations began between CVB Executive Director Falcione and a university board member more than six months ago, in February 2026, and that he did not become aware of any discussions himself until May.

He said his first meeting with representatives of Point Park University took place over the summer, during the Convention and Visitors Bureau's annual sales mission to Pittsburgh. The trips typically focus on promoting the Bradenton area to tourism and business contacts, while also giving local government and economic development officials opportunities to connect with Pittsburgh's business and civic leaders. This year’s trip took place July 6 through July 9.

“Falcione tacked on to that trip’s itinerary a meeting at Point Park University and a tour of downtown Pittsburgh because the university's campus is there,” Siddique explained. “A second trip to Pittsburgh for dedicated meetings with university officials happened at the end of July.”

The second trip, organized by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, took place July 26 through 28 and included county and city officials, including County Administrator Bishop, Falcione, Mayor Brown and City Administrator Perry, Siddique said.

“The county's purpose, or role, was to help identify county properties that could be part of the university's master plan for downtown,” he said. “We went up there to learn more about Point Park and explore what the university could potentially do in downtown Bradenton.”

Siddique added that the county's involvement was never intended to include a financial contribution. Instead, he said, the county's role was to identify downtown properties it owns and determine whether any could fit the proposed Point Park expansion to Bradenton.

“The county's potential contribution would not involve an allocation of tax dollars, but rather the use of underutilized public assets. The goal would be to put those properties to productive use while helping bring university students and staff, businesses, and other activity into downtown Bradenton, particularly as county government has shifted much of its administrative operations to the 9000 Town Center Parkway building in Lakewood Ranch,” he said.

On the city side of the equation, an upcoming meeting agenda for the city's Architectural Review Board includes an item for the GTE building at 1009 4th Avenue West. The agenda packet shows that NDC Construction Co. and CRA Executive Director Burton have applied for a Certificate of Appropriateness to allow exterior renovations to the historic building. The accompanying plans, dated Aug. 14, outline a substantial rehabilitation of the three-story building, including exterior restoration, replacement of the roof and windows, and renovations to convert the building into a performing-arts education facility.

According to the city’s website, the Architectural Review Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3, just two days after the BOCC is scheduled to vote on the building's transfer. 

The Sept. 1, 2026, Manatee County Board of County Commissioners meeting agenda is available here. The GTE building conveyance is regular agenda item No. 35, under Property Management.