Nathan Benderson Park is getting a 100,000-square-foot indoor sports complex after securing $10 million in state funding. Development chair Louis Kosiba says the project must be finished before the 2028 World Rowing Championships arrive in Sarasota.

The facility will rise on Regatta Island, south of the park's finish tower, and feature hardwood courts for volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, cheerleading and pickleball. A new boathouse for rowing and paddling, community event space, and a storm-resilient venue that can serve as an emergency recovery hub are also part of the plan.

Kosiba told WWSB the timeline is tight.

"Our hope is that we will have a groundbreaking in the fall, probably around October," Kosiba said. "It's going to be 20 months to build, so the expectation is for it to be available for the World Rowing Championships in August of 2028."

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the $10 million appropriation into Florida's 2026-27 budget. State Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, and state Rep. James Buchanan, R-Osprey, secured the funding, citing the building's dual use as a storm shelter and emergency hub.

The total project has been estimated at $70 million to $80 million, a figure attributed to Benderson Development Co. in a local opinion column. The park has not published an official budget. Sarasota County commissioners reportedly committed $20 million in tourist development tax revenue toward the facility in 2022, though official budget documents were not available for verification.

The park conservancy projects the expansion will generate an additional $20 million per year in economic impact for Sarasota County, on top of the $22 million it says the park already produces annually, according to WWSB's reporting.

USRowing announced Oct. 1, 2025, that Nathan Benderson Park will host the 2028 World Rowing Championships, dubbed "Mega-Worlds." The event will bring senior, para, under-23 and under-19 athletes from around the globe. It marks the first time in U.S. rowing history that the Olympics, World Championships and Paralympics all fall in the same year.

The park already serves as the home base for the U.S. men's national rowing team as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games, according to Bruce Patneaude, chief operating officer of the Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy.

When Sarasota hosted the World Rowing Championships in 2017, the state spent $2.5 million renting temporary facilities. The new complex is meant to eliminate that kind of scramble.

Sarasota resident Kimberly Spencer told WWSB the variety of sports will keep young people active year-round.

Park leaders said the goal is to keep Nathan Benderson Park busy every week of the year, not just during major events. If the October groundbreaking holds, construction would wrap by approximately June 2028, two months before the World Rowing Championships open.