Columbia Restaurant's Longboat concept on pause — 9 years after a $2M purchase

The restaurant group behind the Columbia Restaurant has yet to move forward with its plans to build a new concept on Longboat Key — nearly a decade after buying the waterfront property. 

The former home of Pattigeorge’s Restaurant, the parcel was purchased for $1.96 million in 2016, according to property records. Pattigeorge’s, a prominent restaurant on the Key for some 40 years, was demolished in 2018.

1905 Family of Restaurants President Richard Gonzmart told the Observer Media Group in the summer of 2016 that the company, which has operated the Columbia brand for 120 years, intended to build a 200-seat restaurant on the site, at 4120 Gulf of Mexico Drive, that he would oversee. Gonzmart said, at the time, that when he learned the iconic Pattigeorge's was for sale, he was reminded of his father's advice: “Never turn down the opportunity to build on the water in Sarasota.”