The Sarasota Classic Car Museum Is Being Forced To Relocate

As you can probably guess from the name, the Sarasota Classic Car Museum is located in Sarasota, Florida. It’s been operating since 1953 and currently owns about 150 cars that it displays in a 55,000-square-foot facility, along with other classics loaned to it by collectors. More than 30,000 visitors reportedly come through the museum every year, but at the end of the month, it’s all going to come to an end.

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The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that the New College of Florida, which currently owns the land the museum sits on, wants to temporarily turn the building into housing and later an athletic facility. And it wants the Sarasota Classic Car Museum out by the end of June. According to Martin Godbey, who runs the museum with his son Blake, that’s way too short of a timeframe to find a new location for the collection and move out.

“You’re looking at one to two years to identify, renovate and move into a suitable structure,” Godbey told the Herald-Tribune. “There’s lots of things to consider: negotiations, the scheduling and timing of construction crews and architects, and all that goes with that.” He later added, “It’s a logistical nightmare.”

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The museum has asked New College for more time to move its collection, but as of Friday, it hadn’t heard back. And if it doesn’t receive more time, it doesn’t sound like the museum has a plan in place about what to do. From Godbey’s perspective, it’s simply too much to ask on such a short timetable. “You can’t walk through the property and not come to the conclusion that this is a hell of an endeavor,” he told the Herald-Tribune.

But he’s not giving up hope, either, and says he still believes the museum can work something out with New College, saying, “We’re ready for a conversation. We’re ready to choose a reasonable date, ready to be agreeable.”