A museum collection from an old Cortez schoolhouse soon could be popping up in a strip mall in Bradenton.
The Florida Maritime Museum, 4415 119th St. W., Cortez, wants to create a pop-up exhibit in the Cortez Village mall in the 6600 block of Cortez Road while renovations and repairs continue at the permanent museum site, a 1912 schoolhouse in the fishing village.
The Manatee County Tourist Development Council, meeting April 21 at the administration building in Bradenton, unanimously recommended the museum request and $60,000 in tourist development tax revenues for the project.
The recommendation will go to county commissioners for consideration.
Phaedra Dolan, director of historical resources for the Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, presented the request.
“We thought out of the box,” she said. “It’ a great way to welcome visitors back.”
Dolan said the museum building suffered damage during hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall but had been closed even before the storms for rehab work.
The repairs and renovations are expected to continue until mid-August 2027.
So FMM wants “an alternative space to resume visitor engagement while the main museum gallery is closed for rehabilitation.” The space “would ideally be situated in a leasable retail space as close as possible to the Village of Cortez.”
Elliott Falcione, the executive director of the Bradenton Convention and Visitors Bureau, pitched for the project, saying the museum is a special place in a special community and creating a pop-up exhibit would allow people to learn about the village while the schoolhouse building is repaired.
“We don’t want it to be hidden for well over a year,” Falcione said.
TDC member Gene Brown, Bradenton’s mayor, made the motion to recommend the project, which received unanimous support.
The next TDC meeting will be 9:30 a.m. Monday, June 16, at the Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.