Longboat hotel reopens nearly a year after storm

The Sandpiper Inn on Longboat Key has reopened — less than a year after the owners said the property would be "closed forever" following extensive hurricane damage.

Sandpiper Inn owners Christine and Harold Cullison announced its reopening on Aug. 16. The hotel, built in the 1960s, has hosted visitors from all over the world in its decades of operation.

"We were going to try to sell it, initially, after Helene," Harold Cullison tells the Longboat Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer. The property at 5451 Gulf of Mexico Drive was on the market for $6.9 million from late January to mid-July, according to online real estate listings.

"There was just so much damage," Harold Cullison says. "Structurally, there was basically nothing damaged. But we got some water in every room. Sheetrock was blown up. Almost all the furniture went."

Christine Cullison says the sand-covered Gulf of Mexico Drive looked almost the same as the streets up north did during the Northeastern blizzard of 1978.

"We really lucked out with Irma," Christine Cullison says. "We were lucky with Ian. We were lucky with Idalia. We just weren't lucky in this one."

The days after the hurricanes were challenging, and the Cullisons didn't know for certain they would be able to reopen. A Facebook post and a note on the property's website Oct. 5, 2024, said the property was shut down effective immediately. The note went on to say that it was not feasible to repair the property, especially as storms of Helene’s magnitude are happening more often.

Asked if the closing was permanent on a local Facebook page, Christine Cullison wrote: “Yes I am the owner sadly we are closed forever the damage is extensive.”

But the Cullisons say they didn't want to let an institution with such long-standing history on the island go, and they invested in rebuilding. They estimate the costs, when  completely finished, including landscaping, will be about $500,000. They did not have flood insurance, Christine adds in an email, so "all rebuilding cost came from our resources."

Some elements, like their old Norfolk pine tree, are gone. But the owners say they are proud of the work they've done to bring back the spirit of the inn.

Christine Cullison says they have been taking reservations for guests excited to see the inn reopen. And on the inn's website, the weekends are booked until late October with many bookings during the week as well.

There is still some final work to do when it comes to landscaping and other touches, which the Cullisons say they hope to complete after the Atlantic hurricane season passes in November.

"We took a risk and used what we had to build back," Harold Cullison says. "Even though there are no guarantees, a lot of what we've rebuilt is better set up for if we get another storm."