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Construction stalls Holmes Beach businesses

Construction stalls Holmes Beach businesses

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Some businesses have had a hard few years with a lot of it due to ongoing construction at and around their locations.

Businesses in the S&S Plaza on Gulf Drive and along Holmes Boulevard have faced construction woes for well over a year as city and Manatee County projects have obstructed the roads around several businesses.

The city center project to enhance the intersection at Gulf and Marina drives closed primary access to the S&S Plaza and the Island Shopping Center for several months while work was completed.

Prior to, during and after that project, the Manatee County force main replacement also closed access to businesses behind the Island Shopping Center along Holmes Boulevard and to the S&S Plaza, particularly the western section.

That smaller section is where Just 4 Fun Rentals, Minnie’s Beach Café, AMI Health and Fitness and Edibles N More are located. For part of the time during construction, Minnie’s co-owner, Kathy Smart, said that some days, her restaurant was inaccessible due to the ongoing construction, particularly the force main replacement project that took several months longer to complete than it was initially projected to take and resulted in sections of Holmes Boulevard being repeatedly torn up and repaved.

Sean Murphy, owner of The Doctor’s Office, a restaurant and bar, sent out newsletters during the construction encouraging patrons to visit the establishment, noting that it remained open during the roadway construction.

Construction on the city center project was completed in the fall of 2023 with construction on the force main project completed in spring 2024.

Though the roadway construction is done and all the entrances to businesses are open, currently all the businesses in both sides of the S&S Plaza are struggling with ongoing construction related to the facade of the buildings being updated. Despite ongoing construction on the facade, all the businesses are open with normal business hours.

One of those businesses, Minnie’s, recently made headlines when owners Smart and Mary Doub took to GoFundMe to ask the community for help. After suffering business losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and long-term construction, the couple asked the public to help with needed funding to assist in saving the café. The community, including visitors and locals who love Minnie’s and its staff, exceeded the $20,000 fundraising goal in less than 48 hours with a total of $26,850 raised at press time for The Sun.

Sarasota brunch restaurant to take place of local favorite

Sarasota brunch restaurant to take place of local favorite

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Business, Restaurants | Bars.

HOLMES BEACH – The community said goodbye last week to Peach’s Restaurant, a long-time Anna Maria Island staple for breakfast and lunch on East Bay Drive.

The restaurant’s doors officially closed at the end of service on Sunday after landlord Benderson Development opted to not renew the lease on the space in the Anna Maria Island Center in May as well as the lease on the Peach’s location in Ellenton.

The announcement came on Peach’s social media pages on May 21 with management at the Holmes Beach location stating that Benderson said they were moving in a different direction for the shopping plaza.

That direction is The Toasted Mango Café, a breakfast and lunch restaurant similar to Peach’s business model, with two locations in Sarasota and Siesta Key. While Benderson has not responded to requests for comment, the news of the new tenant was confirmed when a woman who said she was an owner of The Toasted Mango approached diners and servers at Peach’s in Holmes Beach on June 5. Customers flocked to social media to state that she offered diners coupons to use when The Toasted Mango opens in Holmes Beach and offered to recruit servers.

“Well, that guarantees that Toasted Mango will never get my business,” Angela Pollock said on the Peach’s Holmes Beach Facebook page.

“I was quite turned off that a lady stating she was an owner of Toasted Mango in Sarasota was in my favorite restaurant attempting to hand out business cards or coupons to all the guests as well as asking the servers if they wanted to stay in this location and work for her,” Jenna Baird said. “Myself and several other guests were all just stunned that she would come into a fellow business – same breakfast and lunch – and do this, especially given the unfortunate circumstances of Peach’s being pushed out of the center by Benderson. Peach’s has been here in our communities far longer than The Toasted Mango and this is a terrible way for her to ‘attempt to promote’ taking over the location.”

“We don’t understand,” Peach’s Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Hester said. “What we were told was that they were moving in a different direction, however, putting the exact same type of restaurant in our place doesn’t seem to be a different direction. It is sad finding out who was coming in behind us this way.”

Peach’s held a thank you party for the community last Friday.

Though two locations are now closed, Peach’s still has four locations with the closest to Holmes Beach located at 5240 State Road 64 E. in Bradenton.

The company’s management said they’re still looking for a new location for the Holmes Beach restaurant, which opened in 2001, and are meanwhile committed to moving staff from the two closed restaurants to one of the four open locations.

No opening date has been given for The Toasted Mango Holmes Beach location. Peach’s lease in the space officially ends on June 30.

New restaurant receives commission approval

New restaurant receives commission approval

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Plans for a new restaurant received unanimous approval from city commissioners despite criticism from a city resident and local business owner.

The new, ultra-modern Bohemian restaurant is slated to take the place of the closed Island Grill at 5910 Marina Drive. A concept by five-time James Beard semifinalist and Anna Maria Island native Chef Jeannie Pierola, the new restaurant will feature both indoor and outdoor dining with the outdoor bar and seating area covered. The restaurant will undergo extensive renovations to feature about 100 seats when it’s complete.

New restaurant receives commission approval
A new outdoor seating area addition is planned to have 50 seats along with a bar under a covered space. – Submitted | Halflants and Pichette

Presenting the site plan to city commissioners for approval during a May 23 meeting, representatives from Halflants and Pichette said the plan with the new restaurant is to provide a fine dining experience for guests while also bringing the indoors outside with the new exterior seating area.

While commissioners were fully in support of the new restaurant plans, not everyone was as happy about the concept.

New restaurant receives commission approval
The owners of Isola Bella Italian Eatery object to plans to create an outdoor seating area for the planned Bohemian restaurant, which would have a host stand for the new restaurant occupying a common area walkway connecting the restaurant locations to a shared parking lot. – Submitted | Halflants and Pichette

Speaking on behalf of her restaurant, Isola Bella Italian Eatery, owner Alessandra Salafia said that while she supports the addition of the new restaurant in the long-vacant space, she doesn’t like what it could do to her business. The building that Bohemian is planned to occupy is also shared with Isola Bella and an office space with the majority of parking for the tenants located in front of the planned Bohemian restaurant and accessed by Isola Bella patrons along a shared walkway. Plans for Bohemian show that the walkway will be partially used by a seating host for that restaurant with entrances to the outdoor and indoor seating located on either side of the concrete path. Salafia said she doesn’t like the idea that Isola Bella’s guests would have to essentially walk through another restaurant to get to her eatery. She also said she feels that the outdoor seating area, which is planned to occupy an area that is now grass, and its accompanying 6-foot tall landscaping barriers would block the visibility of her restaurant.

“Our address is on Marina Drive, not 59th Street,” she said.

Holmes Beach resident Margie Motzer questioned the viability of adding a more intense use to the area. She said that while she’s pleased with the prestige Pierola would bring to the Island along with the aesthetic facelift to the aging building, she’s concerned that adding another 100-plus-seat restaurant to the area will create a greater strain on local resources including water, drainage and other infrastructure.

Seating at Bohemian is planned to be a 53% increase over the seating that was allowed at the Island Grill.

Commissioners considered both women’s comments but proceeded to give the new restaurant their stamp of approval with a unanimous vote in favor of the presented design.