Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has announced the successful execution of a $31,165,000 bond sale to help finance the Master Plan for its downtown Sarasota campus. The proceeds from the bond sale enable Selby Gardens to maintain an aggressive construction schedule to meet Phase One's August 2023 completion goal.

When finished, Selby Gardens’ 15-acre downtown Sarasota campus will have a new entrance area and parking garage, as well as house its world-renowned plant research collections and library in new hurricane-rated facilities. These will all be powered by a new stormwater-purification and solar-energy plant that will make the campus the first net-positive-energy botanical garden complex in the world.

R.W. Baird served as the underwriter for the Selby Gardens bond sale, which was executed in December 2021, while Capital Trust Agency issued the tax-exempt bonds and Kestrel Verifiers gave the bonds the ESG rating, a reflection on the Master Plan's high level of green innovation. Of the $51.6 million estimated to complete Phase One of the Master Plan, more than $45 million has already been secured.