The newest finished piece of The Bay sits off 10th Street on the boat basin, where a floating day dock lets anyone with a boat tie up for free. One Park FOUR All, the month-long anniversary celebration, wrapped up with its Nov. 1 music fest. The Plaza on Van Wezel Way had an October target, and the Bay Park Conservancy's own notices still had it fenced at the end of September.
The dock is the start of a larger plan for the basin. The restaurant now in city permitting will sit right beside it. The expansion scheduled for next summer adds more docks on the other side of the basin. Most of what The Bay plans to open over the next year starts at the water's edge.
A dock built for short visits
The Conservancy announced in February 2026 that the floating day docks on the south side of the Centennial Park boat basin, just north of 10th Street, were open to the public. The Conservancy led the design and construction. The City of Sarasota Parks & Recreation Department runs and maintains the docks, and the city's Parking Division enforces the hours and time limits.
The Conservancy says the docks are there to give boaters "short-term access to the City of Sarasota and to The Bay park site from the water." For a downtown boat owner, that means you can cruise over for a Sunday concert, tie up and walk onto the lawn without hunting for parking on Boulevard of the Arts.
The posted City of Sarasota guidelines are short:
- Time limit: five hours, strictly enforced. Boats that stay longer can be cited.
- Cost: free for now. The Conservancy's notice says fees may be added later.
- Boat size: up to 40 feet. The docks were designed to hold 13 or more boats of about 26 feet, so how many fit on a given day depends on boat sizes.
- Not permitted: jet skis, personal watercraft, kayaks, paddleboards, pedal boats and dinghies.
- Overnight: no docking from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., when the park is closed.
- Spaces: first-come, first-served. There are no cleats on the section directly across from the boat ramps, so boats there have room to maneuver.
The free docking has a history. A December 2025 Your Observer report described a proposed $2-per-hour fee. In May 2026, the Observer reported that the City Commission had dropped the fee, because the federal funding behind the docks bars charging for at least 20 years. The signs at the dock are the final word on current rules, and anyone unsure about a citation should check with the city directly.
The docks also float. They rise and fall with the daily tide and with storm surge, which the Conservancy says keeps boarding more consistent and cuts long-term maintenance. At low tide, you won't be climbing up to a fixed dock.
The restaurant planned beside it
The dock was built with a neighbor in mind. On Oct. 7, the team behind The Bay's first restaurant made its first appearance before the city's Development Review Committee, at a pre-application conference, Your Observer reported. The proposed site is at the end of 10th Street, across the basin from the boat launch. In the Observer's words, the finished floating day dock "provides direct water access to the restaurant."
"It's always been part of the long-term plan to implement uses like the one that we're discussing today," Philip DiMaria of the consulting firm Kimley-Horn told the committee, according to the Observer.
The site plan calls for 4,999 square feet. That is one foot under the 5,000-square-foot threshold that allows administrative site plan approval in the Bay Park Zone district. Venice Pier Group, which runs Sharky's On The Pier and Fins at Sharky's, will operate it. The Conservancy's May update described a building in Sarasota Modern style by the Sarasota firm Sweet Sparkman Architecture. It will stand on 12-foot pylons on the former U.S. Coast Guard station site at the southwestern tip of the basin, with fewer than 220 seats inside and 100 outside.
"It's an incredible location. It's a one of a kind."
That was AG Lafley, the Conservancy's founding CEO, describing the site in an Observer story the Conservancy later republished.
The May timeline put Restaurant No. 1 at September 2027. In October the project had only reached a pre-application conference, so September 2027 is a target, and a dinner reservation is still a long way off. The project matters beyond the menu. The Observer reports the restaurant is a key source of revenue for long-term park operations.
Where the fences are this fall
On land, construction is still the main story. As of the Conservancy's FAQ updated Sept. 30, the area between the Municipal Auditorium and the Art Center was closed for the new Plaza. The western edge of the parking lot just north of the Van Wezel and the Centennial Park parking lot were also closed for resilient-shoreline work. The park map dated the same day still labeled The Plaza "coming soon."
When it opens, The Plaza will have a familiar name. Diana Shaheen, the Conservancy's chief operating officer, told the City Commission that in April 1964, then-mayor Herschel Hayo dedicated the area along Van Wezel Way as Plaza de Santo Domingo, after Sarasota's sister city in the Dominican Republic, and called it "the very hub of our civic life." The new town square will be called simply The Plaza. A large shade structure will be the centerpiece, with event and gathering areas around it for programs and rentals. Check the current park map before planning a visit around it.
Free parking during construction is on the north side of Boulevard of the Arts and in the lots in front of the Van Wezel, the Municipal Auditorium, the Art Center and the Blue Pagoda. The Conservancy asks visitors to stay out of the designated Sarasota Orchestra spaces and off the south side of Boulevard of the Arts.
The Conservancy's own schedules don't fully agree. The FAQ says Phase 2, a 14-acre, $65 million build, should be finished by the end of 2026. The May timeline is more specific and later:
| Project | Approximate completion, per the May 2026 timeline |
|---|---|
| Town Square / Van Wezel Way | October 2026 |
| Municipal Auditorium renovation, resilient shoreline | February 2027 |
| Centennial Park expansion | July 2027 |
| Restaurant No. 1 | September 2027 |
| Parking garage | December 2027 |
| Phase 3B | 2028–2029 |
| Sarasota Performing Arts Center | 2030–2033 |
The July 2027 line points back to the water. The Centennial Park plan adds 60% more trailer parking, 33% more boat launch capacity, new seawalls and more day docks on the north side of the basin, along with a mobile bait shop and renovated restrooms. Next year's main project is a larger version of what opened on 10th Street this year.
The calendar after the anniversary
None of this construction slows down regular programming. The Conservancy counted more than 1.2 million visits in the park's first four years. The weekly schedule on The Bay's November calendar is the same one many of those visitors come back for:
- Monday: Mat Pilates, 6–6:45 p.m.
- Tuesday: Y: Primetime+, 7:30–8:15 a.m.; Bootcamp, 6–6:45 p.m.
- Wednesday: Tai Chi/Qigong, 8–8:45 a.m.; Dance at The Bay, 6:30 p.m.
- Thursday: Y: Primetime+, 7:30–8:15 a.m.; Namaste at The Bay Yoga, 6–7 p.m.
- Saturday: Bootcamp, 8–8:45 a.m.; Namaste yoga, 9–10 a.m.
- Sunday: Sundays at The Bay concerts, 4:30–5:30 p.m.
The coming weeks also have a few one-time dates. On Sunday, Nov. 8, the Sunday concert is a Veterans Day tribute by The Pops Orchestra Brass Quintet, 4:30–5:30 p.m. The "Moderns that Matter" architecture tours run Nov. 13 and Dec. 11, 10–11:30 a.m. In December, Cinema at The Bay shows holiday films at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3, 10 and 17, then breaks until 2027. Dance is off Dec. 23 and 30. The free fifth annual Holidays at The Bay is Saturday, Dec. 12, 4–7:45 p.m., with Santa photos, crafts, a story, a holiday showcase and an outdoor screening of "Toy Story 5."
Every one of those dates can be reached by water, with five hours on the dock from tie-up to departure.
Teresa follows The Bay's build-out closely, because the park's next stages affect daily life in the downtown condominiums around it. If you'd like to talk through what the Canal District, the Plaza and the Phase 3 plans could mean for a residence near the bayfront, Teresa Tyrrell & Company would be glad to help. Schedule a Private Consultation.
