Tuesday, February 22, 2011

UPDATED 2/26.: 'Sarasota Co. reevaluating Sanborn Studios'; An additional half-million dollars for Sanborn Studios?

Photo by GRANT JEFFERIES/gjefferies@bradenton.com: Congressman Vern Buchanan, Karinne Behr, president of Sanborn Studios, Ken Sanborn, CEO, and actor Casper Vandien, spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony at Sanborn Studios on Nov. 20, 2010.

UPDATED: 2/26: "Sarasota Co. reevaluating Sanborn Studios"

UPDATED 2/25: "Sanborn nixes deal to buy land in Lakewood Ranch"

UPDATED 2/25: "Sanborn Studios withdraws request to Saarsota for $500K" 

UPDATED 2/24 at 8 p.m.: "Sanborn Studios withdraws request to Sarasota for $500K" (first posted at 5 p.m.)

UPDATED 2/24 at 4:15 p.m. This link to latest Sanborn story has fresh batch of comments (15).

UPDATED 2/23 at 8 p.m.: "Commissioner ‘startled’ by Sanborn’s $500K grant request"


UPDATED 2/23: From today's print edition and the Herald homepage: "Sanborn requests additional $500K"

UPDATED: 9:24 a.m.: "Ken Sanborn called me yesterday and said that circumstances had arisen that didn't allow him to be here," said Sarasota County Manager of Business and Economic Development Jeff Maultsby. "(Sanborn) requested we push the meeting back until when he could be in attendance."


I just spoke with Maultsby one-on-one outside the meeting room. 

No date has been confirmed for when Sanborn and his $500K request will be back on agenda.

UPDATED: 9:17 a.m: Sanborn Studios' request taken off agenda. Stay tuned for reason why.

On the agenda for today's Sarasota County's commissioners' meeting (where I'm seated):
To consider a request by the Economic Development Corporation on behalf of Sanborn Studios, LLC, for an Economic Development Incentive Grant as financial assistance for expenses related to the accelerated expansion of operations in the County, in the amount of $500,000.00.
Sanborn Studios, which has a facility in Lakewood Ranch, has already received $717, 000 in taxpayer incentives (see link below).

Check back here and at the homepage for updates.

Past stories on Sanborn Studios:


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I knew this would happen. You can not give people who have never made a major motion picture or a Successful film, ever, a ton of money. It always turns out badly. Sarasota was blinded by glitz and glamor and now faces the harsh reality that I've known from the beginning.

cynmanna said...

Sanborn already brought money and jobs to the area with working productions. They've sunk millions of their own dollars in their studio and production company and local businesses have already benefited including local restaurants, hotels, builders, construction crews, students, etc. What more do you want? Give the Sanborns support. The family has been in Florida for generations, brought hundreds of jobs here when Ken Sanborn invented a camera that locates terrorists in war zones and built those camera here. Good luck to them and their expert film makers from across the country. This newspaper and locals should be optimistic and invest in this business.