- December 7, 2024
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Just a little more than two years after Hurricane Ian made landfall, construction is underway on the rebuilding of a popular Fort Myers Beach bar wiped away in the September 2022 storm.
Crews are on site just a few feet from the Gulf of Mexico. Work is progressing toward a 2025 completion.
The bar is simply called The Beach Bar.
But that’s where the simplicity ends.
The project has been designed and is being constructed in a way that protects the property from future storms with the help of creative techniques and modern codes, which saved many properties on the barrier island during Ian and subsequent storms.
The focus, says Dan Adams the executive vice president and partner at Fort Myers-based Stevens Construction, is resiliency.
“I was born and raised here in Southwest Florida, in Fort Myers, so I lived through a lot of storms. Never been this frequent and never experienced the surge, the storm surge that we have been experiencing,” he says.
“But I don't think it, by any means, makes this place uninhabitable. Some of these older structures, unfortunately, are going to be wiped out, but they're going to be replaced with new structures, new buildings built to modern code that can withstand these stronger storms we're experiencing.”
He sees a way around the growing risk and believes what his firm is doing at The Beach Bar — and elsewhere — can serve as an example of how to adapt.
The popular local hangout is at 1668 I St.
The company says the design for the 5,813-square-foot, three-story building calls for the use of durable materials, composite soffits and a standing seam metal roof for greater longevity and storm resistance.
Adams says that the entire first floor is designed to be flexible and that the property will have temporary cooler storage and restroom trailers — both of which can be quickly relocated in the event of a storm.
In addition to the building being fully concrete and built on piles, another resiliency measure is the exterior. Adams says rather than using wood siding — which could be eaten by termites — or vinyl siding — which could be ripped off — or synthetic wood, they used stucco and made it look like wood. A big reason for that is its more wind resistant, especially when coupled with impact windows and doors required by code.
“Really, the structures are now designed to withstand the storms as they're coming,” he says.
The builder will also use marine-grade cabinetry meant to handle harsh coastal elements, including sunlight and saltwater exposure. And the building will have turtle-friendly glass and lighting to protect hatching sea turtles by controlling beachfront illumination.
The top two floors, meanwhile, will be residential rental units.
Adams says what his company is doing at The Beach Bar, designed by Studio A.D., is what’s going to happen along the coast moving forward.
That especially true in place like Fort Myers Beach which, before Ian, was filled with older buildings that had been around for decades. He remembers driving around the barrier island after Ian and seeing what many have reported seeing: Properties built after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 withstood the devastation while the older ones were destroyed.