No Promises Made to Blue Bamboo
The nonprofit music venue did not receive the assurances it was seeking from the City Commission that there was room to renegotiate the lease for the old library building
June 25, 2026
By Beth Kassab
No clear resolution emerged Thursday from a contentious meeting over the future of the Blue Bamboo, which was seeking a rent reduction or some other accommodations from the city government to continue operating in the old library building.
But none of the five commissioners expressed support in the work session for changing the terms of the Blue Bamboo’s lease, though Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram suggested handing the lease to another arts organization that could perhaps sublease space to the nonprofit music venue.
At issue, is the Blue Bamboo’s ability to meet its lease obligation when the rent is scheduled to double in August without subleasing the second and third floors.
Blue Bamboo Director Jeff Flowers said no arts organizations can afford the necessary rent on those floors and that he’s also been hampered by construction delays. He said he wants the flexibility to divert from the original vision of transforming the building into an arts hub and, instead, potentially lease space to non-arts nonprofits or commercial businesses.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio quickly countered that she’s heard from a number of arts groups and the problem is not that they can’t afford the rent, but that they can’t work with Flowers and other leadership at the Blue Bamboo.
“We have letters from people who said they could not deal with you,” DeCiccio said, noting that Flowers and Blue Bamboo Founder Chris Cortez dictated the amount of the rent and other terms and were made aware of issues in the building that would need to be addressed during construction.
“You came to the commission with the rent figures,” DeCiccio said to Flowers. “We didn’t fight you on that. You gave us those.”
Flowers said the assertion that other arts leaders were unable to work with him on lease terms is false.
But Theresa Smith-Levin stood up to talk about why Central Florida Vocal Arts walked away from dealing with the Blue Bamboo nearly a year ago after working with the organization for more than a year to secure the city lease as well as a grant from Orange County funded by hotel hotel tax money.
She said she was shocked to read in Flowers’ recent memo to the commission that CFVA “lacked the financial capacity” to meet the lease.
She pointed to her organization’s tax return that showed stronger financial growth and capacity than the Blue Bamboo.
Smith-Levin said her group had no problem assuming half the rent or about $11,000 per month.
What she said she was unwilling to do was accept what she called a “bait and switch” of terms such as restricting CFVA’s operating hours to only before 5 p.m. and capacity limitations. She said the terms were unworkable for an arts organization that relies on evenings to host rehearsals and provide lessons for students.
She said the terms were in “direct contradiction” to the conversations she had with Cortez, who died of brain cancer last year just months after she walked away from the deal.
Flowers said he was “misrepresented” and asserted their disagreement actually hinged on whether CFVA could rent out space to others.
At one point, Ingram — whose own background is as an opera singer — suggested Smith-Levin’s group could take over the main lease of the building and rent space back to the Blue Bamboo so that it would not lose its investment in construction on the building.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey asked Flowers if he had a Plan B if he were unable to continue to meet the terms of the lease.
Flowers offered that he did not want to lose his organization’s more than $2 million work on the building.
“First, the plan is let’s work together and come up with a plan that works for both of us,” he said.
A number of people from the community spoke in favor of the Blue Bamboo and the opportunities it provides for younger musicians as well as the paying gigs it provides professionals.
DeCiccio, the only commissioner who voted against the lease in 2024, suggested that perhaps Flowers could attempt to secure additional grant dollars that would allow the organization to move to its own building.
Lindsey echoed that point, saying he appreciated the venue’s contribution to the arts, but that the commission needed to protect its interest in a highly-visible building.
“We have to be good stewards,” he said. “It’s a city asset.”
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We were at the meeting. And there was one other point that you failed to mention — the fact that the CFVA had put in their sublease that they wanted to have up to 250 people in the building from 7 AM to 11 PM. Since the building only allows 262 people, that means the blue bamboo would have no way to do their performances. When Mr. Flowers wanted to read the actual written sublease out to everyone he was refused to do a rebuttal, so all anybody heard was Levin’s undocumented side of the story. i feel this was a setup by our mayor because she never wanted blue bamboo to have the lease in the first place, and that she wants this other arts charity to take it over. The lease was bad from the start and why they didnt go the same route as the winter park playhouse did is unclear to me. I believe they were rushing to secure the building before the city sold it to Rollins. But we cant rewrite history, we have to move forward from this point.
A simple modification to allow them to rent to a commercial tenant and keep the rest of the lease intact would solve the issue. We never heard from the other nonprofits that supposedly said Mr Flowers was unreasonable. all I heard was a lot of slander with no documentation to back it up.
We need the blue bamboo to stay put after all the money they spent to fix a building they dont own.
I think it would only be fair to allow the other two floors to be leased out to whoever can pay the needed extra 11k a month and then the lease is valid and everyone wins.
Hi Joann and Doug,
Thank you for your passion for the arts and for your commitment to supporting an organization you clearly care about.
I did want to clarify some confusion surrounding Mr. Flowers’ comments yesterday regarding occupancy limits.
During the building process, despite our repeated requests to collaborate, Blue Bamboo obtained occupancy limits for the building as a whole rather than separate occupancy limits by floor. While the City’s parking code limits the building to just over 250 occupants, my recollection is that the building’s fire code occupancy is approximately 450 people. Our proposed second-floor occupancy was similarly based on fire code calculations.
The important distinction is that, because Blue Bamboo obtained occupancy for the entire building rather than by individual floor, any future subtenant would have no guaranteed occupancy rights unless those rights were explicitly defined in the sublease.
It’s also important to note that the occupancy figures referenced in the lease relate to maximum fire code capacity—not intended or typical use. Even at our busiest, I cannot imagine a scenario where CFVA would have had more than approximately 150 people on the second floor. Likewise, the occupancy number in the sublease was never intended to mean that either organization could simply fill its space to capacity without regard for the other. The expectation was always that both organizations would coordinate scheduling so that uses were complementary rather than competitive.
Even in the highly unlikely scenario that the building was operating at full capacity on every floor, there were numerous workable solutions to address parking, including partnerships with nearby churches, the Woman’s Club, the Rollins parking garage, or valet services. Those options would have allowed both organizations to remain compliant with City parking requirements.
These interpretations were confirmed by our builder, Kait, who also spoke during public comment yesterday. She had direct conversations with the City’s building department, and this information was shared with Blue Bamboo before CFVA ultimately made the difficult decision to withdraw from the project.
Over the course of three weeks last September, we repeatedly requested—both directly and through City staff—the opportunity to sit down with Blue Bamboo and the City to clarify any misunderstandings regarding code and negotiate a mutually beneficial sublease. Had Mr. Flowers wanted a lower occupancy allocation or additional language ensuring coordinated scheduling and collaborative use of the building, we would have been more than willing to work through those concerns.
I would be happy to share the correspondence documenting these discussions if that would be helpful.
Ultimately, my position remains simple: Blue Bamboo should be held to the commitments it made to the City when it entered into this agreement, just as CFVA was fully prepared to honor those same commitments. I do not believe it is appropriate for the City or taxpayers to provide additional concessions to resolve issues that stem largely from Blue Bamboo’s own handling of its relationships with prospective nonprofit partners.
Unfortunately, CFVA’s experience was not unique. Similar concerns have been shared by several other arts organizations that either explored the space or engaged in discussions with Mr. Flowers.
I sincerely hope Blue Bamboo is able to navigate these challenges successfully. It is an important arts organization, and I want to see it thrive. However, I also believe the current situation is largely of its own making, and I do not believe that warrants further concessions from the City at the expense of the original vision for the building.
I think we can all support the Blue Bamboo as a creative music-focused resource within Winter Park. But at what cost to the Community?
When the Blue Bamboo took on the lease for the old library building they did so with the knowledge of the restrictions on building usage and the financial terms. Blue Bamboo insisted that they had a business plan to succeed. And the City supported that ideal at a cost of rejecting a more commercially robust bid from Rollins.
Now that business plan has failed and Blue Bamboo wants the City to bail them out – allow commercial sub-tenants and no increase in the rent.
I say no to more of my tax dollars being spent on a bail out.
This city is slowly showing us that they really don’t care about small art businesses. They’ve screwed over plenty of places. Such a shame.
Blue Bamboo failed to submit any proposals for leasing during the early and extended RFP timeframes advertised by Winter Park. Later on, Rollins College was specifically invited by the City to submit for the new Rollins Museum of Art to lease the library. A detailed presentation was made, and the City had complete confidence in the financials, much owing to the fact that the College had raised about $25 M for a new facility. But Blue Bamboo showed up in force, much supported by then-commissioner Todd Weaver and a large contingent of Blue Bamboo supporters, many from outside Winter Park. There were some financial gray areas in the Blue Bamboo scenario, assumptions about subleasing included. The Mayor was the only to vote against Blue Bamboo, her concerns about fiduciary responsibility to the people of Winter Park at the fore.
And here we are.
I’m a huge supporter of the Rollins Museum, and at the same time, excited about programs at Blue Bamboo, which is a block from my home. However, the decision to move forward with the lease to Blue Bamboo was not a good one for Winter Park.
As a footnote, if feasible, the City could consider the old library for managed art studio spaces similar to McCrae, FAVO (Faith Arts Village Orlando) and others, as there is a pressing need for this kind of space in our community.
As well-intended as the Blue Bamboo & Central Florida Vocal Arts may have been in the original presentations to the city, it should now be obvious to any reasonable tax-paying citizen that the project is not going to work.
Time to end this boondoggle is NOW, before any more money is wasted. Sell the building to the highest bidder.
From my point of view, there were 2 mistakes made here. First mistake was Blue Bamboo anticipating they could make the lease payments work. The second mistake was the city commission thinking that Blue Bamboo could financially meet their lease obligations, thereby awarding them the lease. Now that Blue Bamboo cannot abide by the terms of the lease they originally signed, they propose a modification to the lessen their burden.
I’m sure many homeowners would love to lower their mortgage payments also. There should be no free-ride to Blue Bamboo or any other concern regarding a reduction of an agreed to lease payment. Blue Bamboo’s projections were flat out wrong in estimating anticipated revenues & cash flow to fund their required lease payments. The city commission should just say no to any modifications. I believe the building should have originally gone to Rollins for their art museum, although someone’s suggesting as utilizing the building as a new city hall might have merit.
The Rollins Art Museum received City Commission approval for its current buildout site years ago, and donations were secured based on that exact proposal. Repurposing those funds for a completely different project raises serious ethical concerns regarding donor trust and could easily be viewed as a bait-and-switch. Furthermore, misconceptions about Blue Bamboo must be corrected: the organization is not seeking rent relief. It was never agreed that they would financially support a three-story building while only occupying one floor. The recent workshop request was simply to permit diverse tenant types on one floor to successfully realize the projected rent increase. Finally, the mid-2010s Commission justification for a new library—claiming the old facility was too costly to renovate—has been thoroughly debunked by Blue Bamboo and Walker Construction. They have proven the structure is sound, achieving stability at a mere fraction of the new library’s multi-million dollar budget.
As a 40 year resident of Winter Park, I have never attended a play or event at the Winter Park Playhouse. Having said that, I’m glad it is here and I think the improvements to the building were wonderful. It seems they have a good track record of success and a good business model so I think the City could have cut a better financial deal with them based on such.
The Blue Bamboo deal was a mess from the start and most folks who were paying attention doubted they would make it financially in the long run. And now, here we are. It is great that the City can help out the arts with grants and such, but it is not the City’s responsibility to prop up the arts when they don’t have a viable business plan and stable finances. Let Blue Bamboo perform in the lightly used Winter Park Community Center venue, the stage in Central Park or maybe even the Winter Park Playhouse.
It’s time to sell the building to either Rollins or a residential developer to build a few high-end condos. Listening to the Mayor the other day speaking about various cuts the city may have to make if the property tax bill passes and then listening to some who want the City to subsidize Blue Bamboo just doesn’t pass muster with me.
A mayor should be solution-oriented. Looking for solutions and keeping as many people whole as possible. Not a divider.
Please explain why Winter Park Playhouse pays just $1 in annual rent ….while Blue Bamboo currently covers $11,000 annually, to be increased to $22,000.
Both buildings are owned and controlled by the city. Please explain why this mayor and commission have floundered for months wondering what to do with the old library—including a disastrous (and embarrassing) —failed RFP seeking developers—while Blue Bamboo has stepped forward to invest construction dollars to upgrade a city facility and produce a successful going community-embraced concern in short order.
I think its time for a new RFP: Wanted: an elected city leader who pulls people together, who doesn’t seek to divide, who seeks solutions with a nurturing and accommodating tone. Must be widely respectrd for an acknowledged sense of fair play and lack of judgmental bias.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle”-Plato
FYI – the existing Blue Bamboo lease was $132,000 a year for the first two years, increasing to $276,000 a year after that (about 40% of a market rate lease for Class C commercial space in Winter Park.
Prior to receiving the $8,000,000 grant of tourist tax dollars from Orange County, the Winter Park Playhouse incurred about $180,000 a year in occupancy costs (per their IRS 990). While the city has put up no direct cash to the playhouse, they have granted them a lease of $1 per year on the now city owned property. This lease subsidy makes no sense.
Since our name has been mentioned a few times, I want to again clarify why The Winter Park Playhouse has the arrangement it has with the city. In 2024, Orange County had a cultural facilities grant program open up for non-profit organizations that attract and serve the visitor market. The Playhouse does. One of the eligibility requirements was that the non-profit had to partner with a municipality and if awarded the grant money, the municipality would become the building owner at no cost to them.
So, the Playhouse partnered with the City and submitted an extensive application which involved proving financial and organizational stability, a 23 year history of fiscal responsibility, strong management and a detailed project plan.
The Playhouse and City were awarded a $10 million grant in October of 2024 which paid for the purchase and renovation of the building. A required term of the grant was the $1 per year rent, because the City didn’t pay anything for the building. Now the City has retained a cultural asset that makes a $2.3 million economic impact AND has gained a real estate asset as well for free.
Hope that clears things up:)
Very happy to see you clarify these misconceptions, Heather.
Winter Park Playhouse went through an extensive and highly competitive grant process—quite different from the Orange County Cultural Facilities Grant (much of which I authored) that supported the Blue Bamboo project—to bring its vision to fruition.
The Playhouse partnered successfully with the City and secured millions of dollars to renovate and create a permanent home. I know I’m not alone in saying how thrilled I am for the organization and how proud our community is of what it has accomplished. I can’t wait to celebrate your grand opening later this summer.
Comparing Blue Bamboo’s current challenges to the success of other arts organizations—or suggesting those organizations are somehow to blame—doesn’t move us toward a solution or strengthen our arts community. Winter Park is fortunate to have many organizations working hard to serve residents, and we all benefit when we celebrate one another’s successes rather than diminish them.
Much of this could be salvaged if there was new leadership at the Blue Bamboo.
The City of Winter Park has bent over backwards to give not for profit arts organizations a chance, at great cost to our taxpayers. The building is 33,000 square feet. A very low (Class C) triple net office property lease in Winter Park is $20 per foot. This would amount to $660,000 a year for the old library space.
The existing lease gave Blue Bamboo annual rent of $132,000 for two years, increasing to $276,000 a year after year two, a more than 40% subsidy to market.
The land alone has a likely value of $8,000,000 for its highest and best use.
I again suggest that the city financially assist Blue Bamboo in moving to a new location on private property, and then lease or sell the old library land for it its highest and best use.
If the city sells the building, all offers should be made public. I don’t want to just be told Rollins (as if it’s going to anyone else) made the highest offer.
Correction to my prior comment: The grant received from Orange County was $8 million and the Playhouse raised the other $2+ million to pay for the $10 million project.
My husband and I would greatly miss the Blue Bamboo if an agreement cannot be reached. It offers an evening of music at an affordable price.