The Shore restaurant trains staff, inches toward opening

Operating under a 30-day temporary certificate of occupancy issued by the town on Aug. 16, owners of The Shore restaurant in Longbeach Village have begun training staff and are finishing required construction work. 

As of Aug. 30, the Shore had its TCO amended to allow for it to hold a soft opening. 

No firm date for permanent opening has been set. Tom Leonard, a partner in 800 Broadway LLC, the company building the restaurant alongside Sarasota Bay, wouldn't say if a planned opening date is close. The temporary certificate is a step toward a permanent version, and it can be renewed at the end of the initial 30 days, said Planning, Zoning and Building Director Allen Parsons.

“A temporary certificate of occupancy is something that's issued for someone to be able to have someone other than construction-related personnel in the business, but not necessarily open,” Parsons said. “The typical next step for a temporary certificate of occupancy is for contractors to complete all of the work necessary to get a certificate of occupancy.”

For this case, Parsons added, the Shore is still completing items related to construction, and the temporary certificate ensures there are no safety issues pertaining to construction. Parsons said the Shore still had to pave the parking lot and make sure other parts of the building and landscaping were up to code.

“I don’t want to over-promise, and we’re trying to be very sensitive to the neighborhood,” Leonard said. “There’s curiosity, people driving up and down the street already. We’re getting closer by the day, but we don’t want to ruffle any feathers here in the Village.”

Parsons said the project "is getting close to the construction finish line now.”

“It's going to get hopefully a lot of accolades, and maybe get recognized nationally,” Leonard said. “It's a beautiful building. But again, I'm here to work with the people in this Village to be a good neighbor first.”

The Shore began recruiting staff in late May and posted a sign on a construction fence along Broadway Street proclaiming "Now Hiring." 

Since approval by the town in 2015, the Shore, built on the site of the former Moore’s Stone Crab, has plied a road pockmarked by legal and financial disputes with contractors, a fire, and engineering and construction issues. But the concept hasn’t changed: a 185-seat, 7,000-square-foot restaurant overlooking Sarasota Bay.

It would be the second Shore location. The Shore currently operates in St. Armands Circle.

Parking became an issue over the spring, as part of a larger discussion among Longbeach Village residents concerned about curbside parking, traffic and speeding. The Shore owners on May 3 requested permission to build out its parking lot to accommodate about 70 cars and sought to use an easement along Broadway Street to do so, eliminating a sidewalk on the south side of Broadway in front of the business.

Ultimately, the town staff recommended against such a move, and the Planning & Zoning Board rejected the request. 

Leonard said he was surprised by the town's recommendation to deny the proposal after he said he was encouraged to make the request by town staff in the first place. 

This story has been updated to reflect the Shore's soft opening date of Aug. 30.