City officials: Boathouse will be back
Discussions include interim options with rebuild planned
The Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill will be back as an integral component of the city’s redevelopment of the Yacht Club park.
To that end, city staff continues to have weekly or biweekly meetings with the Kearns Group regarding the construction of the new Boathouse, City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn said in an update to Cape Coral City Council Wednesday.
The popular waterfront eatery, which was destroyed by a fire after it rebuilt and re-opened following Hurricane Ian, will reopen when the park at the end of Driftwood Parkway fully opens again to the public, Ilczyszyn said, adding an interim option that would allow Kearns Group to provide its services sooner also is in discussion.
The city and the company with which it has a public-private partnership for food concessions at the park, is in regular contact and is working with Zak Kearns, who is rebuilding the Boathouse.
Ilczyszyn said the existing structure building is not salvageable.
“We continue to negotiate what will be a replacement of the old Boathouse,” Ilczyszyn said.
The fire happened after closing on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.
A large “fuel load,” including a fully re-stocked bar, and wind fed the blaze, which was tackled by land and water by the Cape Coral Fire Department which had responded quickly when employees of the restaurant discovered the fire and called it in.
“It was a fire. There was no sprinkler system,” Ilczyszyn said. “A new building will have a sprinkler system.”
The new building, in the planning stages, will be built to current floodplain and flood standards, he said.
It will take nine to 12 months to design the new two-story building, which has the intention of being built with the new Yacht Club motif. It will take between 18 to 24 months to build.
“That will not reopen until the entire park and restaurant reopen,” Ilczyszyn said.
Discussions with the Kearns Group includes an interim opportunity to bring food and beverage to the community at that location, he added.