Slowly but surely, we’re making progress at Ocean’s Reach, where today we find ourselves at the eight-month anniversary mark of Hurricane Ian.
Andy and Lisa are our “boots on the ground” working daily to help rebuild the resort that we all miss and love so dearly.
They’re reporting progress on several fronts. We’ve received our first batch of insurance checks, allowing us to proceed with new roofing and new lanais for ground floor units. We’re making our way through the permitting carousel and actual framing of ground-floor units has also just commenced. We have started working on plans for rebuilding the office and carports. Preliminary landscaping proposals have been received. Key items such as windows, sliders, doors and HVAC systems have been ordered and are expected by mid summer. Owners are now selecting contractors and finishes for their individual units for when that work is ready to proceed later this year.
With that being said, there are still too-many-to-count challenges and complexities to work through as we continue our rebuilding efforts, but we’re happy that we are now in “hard hats only” mode for the buildings.
On the other side of our complex, Andy revealed that we’ve gained at least 50 yards of new beach due to the storm. Our walkways will have to be rebuilt, but we’re waiting on guidance from our city’s environmental experts before proceeding further, as the type of design required to make them more resilient remains in question. Additionally, no physical work can be done during sea turtle nesting season, so our new walkways will need to take a back seat until closer to the end of the year.
Speaking of our sea turtle friends, we’re delighted to report that it’s been a very busy nesting season so far, with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) sea turtle monitoring program relaying that their volunteers are finding upward of 30 new sea turtle crawls daily. Click here to learn more about “A Day with SCCF Sea Turtle Volunteers” (and be sure to click on the two videos, too — they’re great)!
