Lido Beach projects near completion

Between a renourished shoreline and a refurbished pavilion, visitors to Lido Beach have likely taken note of some changes that have come together since last year.

On March 18, the city held a ribbon-cutting for the latest milestone in a pair of renovation projects at Lido Beach, the reopening of the concession stand at the Lido Pavilion. The concession stand closed in September 2019 to accommodate construction at the Lido Pavilion. As part of the $985,000 renovation efforts, the city has installed a new roof, shade coverings, a concrete patio with furniture, landscaping and a new vent hood system for the concession area.

Now the concession area is open under new management. Lido Island Grill is operated by Laszlo Bevardi, the chef who owns Bevardi’s Salute on Lemon Avenue. Bevardi noted the revamped menu at the pavilion includes lobster rolls, a popular item the previous concessionaire offered. The concession area also has a separate walk-up window for alcohol sales including beer, wine and cocktails. The concession stand is open at 11 a.m. daily and closes between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. depending on activity at the beach.

The city recently began construction on the final stage of the pavilion renovation project, focused on improving the public restrooms. The city closed the bathrooms at the pavilion Friday, placing several portable toilets and hand-washing stations at the beach. In the coming weeks, the city intends to install a high-quality restroom trailer that will be available for the duration of the construction.

The contractor for the project has not finalized a schedule yet, but construction is currently planned to begin in mid-May and could continue through September, city spokesperson Jason Bartolone said.

“We look forward to finishing this much-anticipated project as soon as possible and with the highest of quality to serve our residents and beach visitors,” Bartolone said in an email.

The city is also working to finish a $12.7 million Lido Beach shoreline renourishment project that began last summer. The city worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to renourish Lido Key via the first-ever dredging of Big Pass. Although the project team finished placing sand on the beach last year, it is still working to finish the construction of a pair of sand-retaining groins on the south end of Lido Key.

City Engineer Alex DavisShaw said the Army Corps has completed the northernmost groin, and work is about halfway done on the second groin, located near Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Beach. DavisShaw said the contractor intended to finish work on the groin April 22, with crews demobilizing and moving out the final week in April. DavisShaw said the city is working to reopen some beach parking that was blocked for construction staging.

Although the project team hasn’t conducted a formal analysis of the impact of the renourishment, DavisShaw said she has heard positive feedback to the widened shoreline from beachgoers. And even though a large storm has not directly hit the barrier island, DavisShaw said the renourished beach has held up well during increased wave activity at Lido Key.

“I think it’s already been doing what it’s supposed to do and adding protection along the shoreline when we have big [storm] events,” DavisShaw said.