Bordered on the north by Hillsborough County, and to the south by Sarasota County, Manatee County, Florida is home to over 264,002 residents.

The School District of Manatee County supports more than 42,000 students and consists of 34 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, and six high schools. Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. began its relationship with the district in 2005. Our firm is currently providing design services for a new production studio for theDistrict.

The District purchased a 19,000 square foot building from an independent owner to house their own TV production teams, Manatee Education Television (METV) and EdVantage Television (EdVTV). METV is a non-profit corporation serving the County with educational, cultural, and community information. EdVantage Television was added to provide 24 hours of uninterrupted information about the District to the community.

The building’s previous use was as a “glam garage” to house collectible cars. The District plans to renovate this warehouse structure into a state-of-the-art TV Production Studio, which will include one large studio, a control room, a green room, and office space. Part of the building will be set aside and roughed-in for two smaller studios and classroom space to be added at a future date.

Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. provided Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Communications design services for the project. Our firm also performed a preliminary structural evaluation of the structure to determine its ability to support large air handling units, while allowing minimal vibration.

To gain insight on how to approach the design of the production studio, our design team, along with Harvard Jolly and District members, visited Bay News 9 Studios located in St. Petersburg, Florida to see how their floor plan functioned. Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. worked closely with the District and Harvard Jolly Architects during the Schematics Phase to ensure that the District receives a final product that meets their technical requirements and conforms to their budget.

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