Can a landmark Florida pier restaurant rebuild after hurricane? It's complicated
The Rod & Reel Pier is reopening on Anna Maria Island after its destruction in a hurricane — but it's in a new location.
Oliver Lemke, who bought the landmark restaurant a year before Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton destroyed it, said he's planning to revive Rod & Reel in Holmes Beach.
Lemke hasn't revealed an opening date for the restaurant's new location at the previous home of the Old Hamburg Schnitzelhaus restaurant, which closed in November.
Will the original location be rebuilt?
'What we've got planned in this new location is to give people the same that they had on the pier, minus the pier, obviously,' Lemke said. 'We don't have the water. We don't have the old building. But everything else, interior, is going to be very similar. And the staff will be the same, and the food and beer and drinks will be the same.'
Lemke said he's working to rebuild the pier on the north end of Anna Maria Island. Part of that process was starting a GoFundMe in October following Helene. As of Wednesday, Lemke has raised nearly $100,000 of the $300,000 goal. Both numbers are far from the estimated amount needed to rebuild the pier after Milton caused further damage.
'I can't tell you [any] numbers at this point of time, but it's going to be far more than those $300,000,' Lemke said. 'We're talking about millions. And obviously that [fundraiser] is going to bring just a little bit of what we need. And, unfortunately, we do not get government help. There was no insurance, because a building like that will not be insured by anybody.'
Lemke said he is using the GoFundMe fundraising effort, bank loans and revenue from restaurants he owns in Germany to bring back the pier.
'We're determined to rebuild the Rod and Reel Pier, but we can't do it alone,' the online fundraiser said.
An iconic restaurant
Anna Maria Mayor Mark Short said everyone wants to see the Rod & Reel Pier return.
'It's iconic,' Short said. 'You think of the island and that, our city pier and Bridge Street. I mean, that's all you have on the whole island now of something that even resembles what used to be out here. And so people want it back, and I want to see it come back.'
But first, Lemke will need to clear several hurdles. In addition to raising enough money to rebuild the pier, Lemke will need permits from agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
'Because their project is over open water, so they need to get those permits and those approvals to rebuild their pier first,' Short said.
Short said studies from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission might be needed, too.
'There will be a process they have to run first with those agencies to get them to sign off and give them the green light to rebuild their pier,' Short said. 'Then once all of that is done, then they would come to the city for the appropriate permitting permits that they would need from the city's perspective.'
The city's process wouldn't require special commission approval — it would just be a normal construction project through the Anna Maria building department, Short said.
Lemke said they have already started the permitting process and they're going to do something about repairing the sea wall.
How long will it take?
Lemke said he hasn't heard anything that would make rebuilding the Rod & Reel Pier impossible.
'I just cannot say right now when that's gonna be the case,' Lemke said. 'It's not an if, it's a when.'
While an exact timetable is unknown for rebuilding the original Rod & Reel Pier location, the Anna Maria City Pier's rebuild, which was also damaged by Helene and Milton, is scheduled to begin as soon as this fall.
A huge swath of the walkway connecting the city pier building and Mote Marine Science Education and Outreach Center with the mainland disappeared after Helene's storm surge weakened the pier for Milton to destroy the rest, Short said at the Anna Maria City Commission meeting on March 27.
Short said the city received permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in early January.
Short said the city commission will vote this week on whether to approve 'a vendor to demolish what's still in the water that needs to be removed.' He added that city officials will seek to rebuild the walkway in the meantime.
Meanwhile, hurricane season begins June 1.
'We are crossing our fingers that ... doesn't just throw a monkey wrench into everything,' Short said.
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