Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Background

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a Florida nonprofit organization that operates a public botanical garden in Sarasota, Florida. Founded in 1973, Selby Gardens welcomes more than 310,000 visitors annually and is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, ferns and other tropical plants. A Smithsonian Affiliate and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, Selby Gardens advances internationally recognized botanical research, conservation, education and public engagement.

Opportunity

Following its role as underwriter on Selby Gardens' inaugural Phase One financing in 2021, Baird was selected to serve as sole managing underwriter for the organization's $41.89 million non-rated revenue bond financing supporting Phase Two of its three-phase Downtown Sarasota Campus Master Plan.

Phase Two of the three-phase Downtown Sarasota Campus Master Plan includes construction of a 30,000-square-foot, hurricane-resilient conservatory complex, a Learning Pavilion and new garden features. The conservatory will protect Selby Gardens' internationally significant living plant collection from storms, wind-blown debris and sea-level rise while making nearly 100% of the collection visible to the public, compared with less than 5% today. The project also expands educational space for school programs and community learning while supporting Selby Gardens' vision of creating the world's first net-positive energy botanical garden complex.

To help finance these improvements, Selby Gardens completed a $41.89 million non-rated revenue bond financing, with Baird serving as sole managing underwriter.

Implementation

As a non-rated short term financing, the transaction required a targeted marketing approach to effectively communicate Selby Gardens' mission, operations and long-term vision to institutional investors. Baird worked with the financing team to develop and execute that strategy, leveraging its institutional distribution platform and investor relationships to market the financing to a broad audience. The bonds were marketed with a seven-year final “bullet” maturity, structured principal amortization to match the estimated capital campaign future pledge schedule and utilized a 4-year optional call feature beginning June 15, 2030, providing flexibility for future redemptions and capital planning.

Investor demand resulted in an order book totaling approximately 9.5x the par amount offered, attracting participation from 15 unique institutional investors. Strong demand allowed yields to improve by 15basis points (0.15%). The strong response reflected broad institutional demand for the financing, supporting favorable pricing and broad institutional distribution in support of Selby Gardens' financing objectives.

Results & Impact

Broad institutional investor participation helped provide long-term financing in support of Phase Two of Selby Gardens' three-phase Master Plan and the continued transformation of its Downtown Sarasota Campus. As the project progresses, the new facilities are expected to enhance protection of the Gardens' internationally significant living plant collection while expanding public access and creating new opportunities for botanical research, conservation, education and community engagement. The financing structure allows for the accelerated redemption of bonds in the future and allows Selby Gardens to refinance and restructure in as soon as four years, providing financial flexibility once the project is complete. Together, these improvements are expected to strengthen the Gardens' resilience, advance environmental sustainability and further support Selby Gardens' mission for generations to come.