FORT MYERS
Businesses in downtown Fort Myers held steady against Hurricane Ian’s furious winds, but were inundated by torrential water.
On the 7th day since the storm hit Southwest Florida, debris and debris from the storm was strewn across the sidewalks on First Street.
Ford’s Garage and Capone’s, popular restaurants on the north side of First Street, were hit harder than The Lodge and Izzy’s Oyster House on the south side.
All four of those restaurants, along with Cabo’s Cantina, Social House and Firestone, are owned by various investors who are picking up the pieces. All but Ford’s Garage are owned and operated by Kearns Restaurant Group and Richter Hospitality Concept.
During the tourist season, these restaurants have about 600 employees, so they need to be up and running as soon as possible.
“All the stores were closed with varying degrees of damage,” said Nils Richter, an investor in the restaurants and organizer of the Downtown Property Owners Association. “We hope to open some already next week. The shops with the least damage would be Izzy’s and The Lodge. Cabo took some more damage. Capone and Firestone suffered the most damage and need the most work. Firestone had over three feet of water.”
The same investors also own two Boathouse restaurant locations, one in Cape Coral and the other off State Route 31.
“The Cape boathouse is severely damaged,” Richter said. “The Fort Myers boat ramp will be reopening soon, and the building itself sustained very little damage. At the same time, we have 40 or 50 managers who work every day, between all the stores, who work to put the pieces together. We have to be in a good position to open them one by one.”
Richter said the Lodge and Izzy’s could open as soon as next week.
On Tuesday, the House distributed more than 700 meals. Pork, chicken, beef, macaroni and cheese, all stored in the barbecue restaurant’s cooler, were distributed within hours. Because the restaurant had no water supply and could not open, the food was distributed before it could spoil.
On Thursday, the day after Hurricane Ian hit, another business owner, Ali Perez, expressed hopelessness as she cleaned the water at her new Best Ice Cream location at 1401 Lee Street.
It reopened Tuesday, less than a week after the storm.
“Mighty God!!!” – wrote Peres in a text message. “HARD WORK! 24/7! Teamwork!”
Robbie Podgorski, who co-owns the Green Cup Cafe with girlfriend Jennifer Carbajal, will have a much tougher road to opening. They lost access to their home in Dean Park, which was flooded, and lost their cars, which also went under water. They had to swim out of their home during Hurricane Jan. Podgorski carried his two chihuahuas, Rocko and Indiana Jones, across the street to the owner’s house, which was also filling with water.
Podhorski and Carbajal later learned they had lost everything they had at their business at 1412 Dean Street.
“We had to pull out all of our drywall, all of our countertops and all of our cabinetry,” Podhorski said. “The other day we figured it all out. I had 45 people. It was people I knew and people I didn’t know. They did what would have taken me four days to do in four hours. It was probably one of the most wonderful acts of human kindness I have ever seen in my 32 years of life. I had a bunch of random kids from FGCU who heard our cry for help. We had literally an army of people. The Tampa Bay News came here and covered it all.”
Podhorski set up a GoFundMe and raised nearly $8,000 short of the $15,000 goal. But he also has 15 employees and a monthly salary of about $20,000. He also wants to help them.
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Podhorski. “I will rebuild. I’m going to reopen. The timeline is something I can’t even think about. This is something I will have to take every day. I would say within two months. Maybe a month. While we wait for the opening, I will be opening a pop-up restaurant. Like a mini food truck.”
“But I don’t have a car or a house. Everything is destroyed. Every day we stop at a different place. Last night I slept in a bed for the first time in six days.’
The line between hopelessness and hope in downtown Fort Myers continued to be crossed. There will be no tourist season on the islands and beaches this year, and maybe not next. But Richter built a bridge of hope, thinking that seasonal residents and vacationers will find other ways to enjoy the City of Palms besides the beaches, and his restaurants will be full when winters up north turn cold again.
The downtown pizza place on Hendry Street never lost power and reopened the day after Hurricane Ian passed through and lined up on the Hendry Street sidewalk.
“A lot of people who work seasonally will come back,” Richter said. “In any case, our main customer base is local. If you look at the damage, it is great. But this is a smaller percentage of objects. If you go down I-75 and Fiddlesticks and Gateway, it looks like there was no hurricane. Their lives have not changed. Life on the coast has changed.”
“Every property owner I know downtown has rolled up their sleeves. They work very hard. In a month, the city center will look very good again.”
For more news on the recovery of Southwest Florida’s business community after Hurricane Ian, visit gulfshorebusiness.com
