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Tag: Waterline Marina Resort

New dining experience comes to Waterline

New dining experience comes to Waterline

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

HOLMES BEACH – A new dining experience is set to open on Dec. 20 with the French cuisine of The Chateau Anna Maria.

The new restaurant, helmed by Edward “Buddy” Foy Jr. and his wife, Jennifer, will open at the Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club, 5325 Marina Drive, taking the space formerly occupied by Eliza Ann’s Coastal Kitchen.

Speaking with The Sun, Foy said that the new restaurant has been a dream of his and his staff’s since starring on the Food Network show, “Summer Rush” last year. After visiting his parents in Holmes Beach earlier in the year and staying for several months due to COVID-19 shutdowns, Foy said he knew that Anna Maria Island is the perfect place for his family’s new venture. If the show is renewed by Food Network for a second season, he said it’s possible that some of it could be shot at The Chateau Anna Maria, though Foy said there’s no guarantee.

After beating out several other applicants for the space, renovations began on the restaurant to help transform the space into the signature European/French countryside-inspired design created by Jennifer Foy that makes dining a special treat at the couple’s flagship restaurant, The Chateau On The Lake in Bolton Landing, New York.

Foy said that the goal for his family and staff is to provide a white tablecloth, five-star dining experience that makes guests feel more like they’re being entertained at someone’s elegant home rather than dining in a restaurant, a goal that he said his wife’s design of the space brings to life.

Plans are also underway to renovate the outdoor dining area in a phase two opening tentatively planned for late spring/summer.

Thanks to Foy’s upbringing in the restaurant business and his wife’s Italian heritage, he said that guests can expect a spin on French cuisine served in Italian-sized portions. The Chateau Anna Maria will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with more casual dining taking place during the day. In the evening, Foy said the plan is to transform the restaurant into more of a fine dining experience that guests can enjoy on a special occasion or every day. He added that for guests desiring a more casual evening, casual dining favorites such as burgers will be served at the bar.

Foy said that one of his daughters plans to attend IMG Academy this coming fall while he and his wife plan to spend at least half the year on Anna Maria Island, returning to New York to operate their flagship restaurant during the summer months.

Those familiar with the Foy’s show, “Summer Rush,” know that while The Chateau On The Lake is a destination restaurant, the time that guests have to dine there every year is extremely limited. While tourists flock to the area over the summer, Foy said his family, which owns three restaurants in the area, has only 60 days of season to put in the work normally done in an entire year.

The restaurant has received more than 30 Diner’s Choice awards and was named a Top 100 Most Romantic and a Top 100 Most Scenic restaurant in America.

With the new restaurant opening in Holmes Beach, Foy brought along 15 of his Bolton Landing employees to help get the new restaurant started, including chefs. Currently, his existing staff is working to help train the new staff members in the restaurant’s policies and procedures. At the New York location, Foy said that during this year’s season, his restaurant staff greeted more than 100,000 guests without a COVID-19 case among his staff or linked back to dining at the restaurant, a streak of safe dining he plans to continue at The Chateau Anna Maria.

While the new restaurant opens for a VIP dining experience on Dec. 19, it officially opens to the public on Dec. 20. Foy said that guests staying on the Island for the holidays also can join them for dining on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

To follow along with The Chateau Anna Maria, visit the restaurant’s website, follow on Instagram or go on Facebook to follow The Chateau On The Lake where you can see video of some of the renovations taking place.

Waterline resort units on sale now

Waterline resort units on sale now

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Business, Real estate | Development.

HOLMES BEACH – If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a piece of the Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club, now is your chance.

The 37 two-bedroom, fully furnished units went on the market at 10:08 a.m. on Aug. 8. Pricing for the units starts in the low $500,000s. Interested buyers can contact the sales office at 727-379-4656, email waterline@cbrealty.com, go to the realty website or visit the onsite sales office at 5325 Marina Drive in Holmes Beach. The sales of the units are a collaboration between hotel developer Mainsail Lodging & Development and Georgia Salaverri of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate.

Each of the units, or villas, features two bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen with full-size appliances, living area and balcony. All units are provided to the owners fully furnished. With Waterline remaining a full-service resort, onsite amenities include a meeting room, fitness room, pool, marina access and a full-service restaurant, Eliza Ann’s. Due to COVID-19 precautions, Eliza Ann’s and the hotel’s bar are currently closed.

Owners of the units will be able to stay in the units whenever they’re in town and also put them in a program to be rented as hotel rooms when vacant. All current reservations at the hotel will be honored despite the unit sales. Guests will still be able to make reservations at the hotel through the resort’s website.

The Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club was developed by Mainsail and opened in December 2017 as the first full-service hotel on Anna Maria Island, located in the downtown commercial district within walking distance to salons, restaurants, shops, art galleries and more. It is part of the Marriott Autograph Collection of boutique hotels.

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Eliza Ann’s opens at Waterline

Waterline Marina Resort opens

Janis Ian charms the Island

Janis Ian charms the Island

Written by Tom Vaught on . Posted in Entertainment, Lectures.

HOLMES BEACH – Grammy Award-winning singer, composer and author Janis Ian shared her wit and musical talent with three groups of listeners estimated to number more than 200. It was the most-watched appearance in the history of the Friends of the Island Branch Library’s Travel and Lecture Series.

Janis Ian charms the Island
Terry Krafchik waited more than three hours to get the first tickets. – Tom Vaught | Sun

Ian’s two top-40 songs, “At Seventeen” and “Society’s Child,” were part of the fabric of the politically-conscious side of the folk-rock music scene. She was right at home sitting in front of the audience at Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club’s banquet room. When they sensed a large crowd would want to see her free appearance, the Friends of the Island Library got help from the nearby resort. Ian appeared live in the banquet room and her performance was streamed to large-screen televisions at Cobb’s Corner, a covered structure by the resort’s pool, and back to the Walker-Swift meeting room at the library.

Janis Ian charms the Island
The line for tickets to the Janis Ian lecture was long. – Tom Vaught | Sun

To get in, people had to come to Waterline earlier in the day to get tickets and the long line was reminiscent of the rock and roll concerts of earlier years. In fact, Terry Krafchik got there at 8 a.m., three and a half hours before the tickets were handed out.

“I remember doing this for a Bruce Springsteen concert,” she said.

 

Ian remembers

Janis Ian charms the Island
The people watching Janis Ian outdoors at Cobbs Corner had to keep warm. – Tom Vaught | Sun

Ian broke into the popular music scene at the age of 16 with the ballad “Society’s Child,” a song about interracial dating. She followed up in the 1970s with “At Seventeen,” a Grammy Award-winning song about how young girls were made to think their looks were their most important virtue.

She started the concert with “Society’s Child” and later said that while singing on stage in the south, members of the audience started chanting “N… lover” to the point where she left the stage, crying.

“My manager came up to me asked me what I was doing,” she said.

Her manager convinced her if she didn’t return to the stage, the racist hecklers would have won.

“I returned and started singing again and when they started heckling me, my manager had them kicked out,” she said.

She shared a funny song she wrote after somebody told her she should write an autobiography when she was 16. She also told the crowd she dropped out of school at 16 because she was already making a living and she got her GED later to please her mother.

Ian spoke about The Pearl Foundation, an organization that helps women turn their lives around through education. It’s one of her favorites. She sold merchandise after the lecture and donated proceeds to the Pearl Foundation and the Friends, who raised approximately $1,100 according to the library. After her lecture, she spent time signing merchandise and posing for photos and selfies.

During her talk she said she loves libraries and her appearance Thursday spread a lot of love to the Island Branch Library, and the Island.