- March 30, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
A recent afternoon at Nokomis Beach appeared, on the surface at least, serene. Every parking space in all the lots was filled. Cars were hovering. The sun was shining. High Season was in high gear.
That scene, combined with other signs — restaurants are serving grouper, milkshakes are being spun at a local ice cream shop — points to a positive development: After taking a beating from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, Casey Key is, albeit slower than some would like, returning to some kind of normalcy.
Another example lies in real estate. To wit: a drive across the island revealed a slew of “for sale” signs along Casey Key Road.
Realtor Kelley Anne Ayers, co-owner of Ayers & Associates Real Estate on Albee Road, near Lyons Bay, says the storms will change the landscape of the island. Similar scenes, of devastation and rebuilding but under new codes and market forces, have played out in other communities on the west coast of Florida, most recently in Fort Myers Beach.
“There’s a lot of people selling,” Ayers says, noting there are 28 listings for sale as of mid-February on Casey Key, which contains 400-plus homes total.
Some older residents say they do not want to rebuild, Ayers says, and “people are taking losses.”
Hurricane Helene pushed boulders through the windows of some homes in September, Ayers says, while Hurricane Milton piled up “drifts of sand inside houses as tall as we are” in October.
“Quite a few” Casey Key residences are being torn down, Ayers notes. “Some of the cottages that were darling are gone.”
One of her listings is 608 N. Casey Key Road, which used to contain the oldest house on the island, built in 1918.
“That ended up getting torn down due to the storm,” Ayers says. “Milton took off half the roof.”
A much talked about challenge is the 50% rule. That is a National Flood Insurance Program regulation that prohibits improvements to structures exceeding 50% of its market value unless the structures are brought fully into compliance with current flood regulations. The 50% rule, according to Ayers, makes it unfeasible to rebuild some of these properties.
Says Ayers: “There’s going to be more land available.”
Meanwhile, at Casey Key Fish House, a widely known restaurant that is decades old, everything is new again. That’s because the business on Blackburn Point Road had to replace all of its equipment after Hurricane Milton.
“Even the Coke machine” got destroyed in the storm, says Casey Key Fish House Manager Joe Zax.
The restaurant reopened Dec. 13, and “since then it’s been going really good,” Zax says, looking out over the parking lot filled with cars on a recent February mid-afternoon.
In addition to getting new equipment inside, the fish house was pressure-washed and repainted outside since it was hit with the storm surge.
“Snowbirds and locals were waiting for us to open,” Zax says, noting the establishment has gained a loyal following since opening in 2000.
One of its annual traditions is closing each September. Because the weather is hot, rainy and windy, the business packs up all its tables and chairs in a back room and shutters for the month, according to Zax. Due to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, however, this year’s closure lasted longer than usual.
“October and November, there wasn’t anybody on the island anyway, so we would have been dead,” Zax says. He notes the Tiki hut across the parking lot sustained no damage but did take a blow during Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Just off the key on Albee Road, Pop’s Pizza — a new restaurant — opened for business Dec. 27. It is owned by Joe and Kristen Farrell, who are also behind Pop’s Sunset Grill across the street.
“We’ve just been cruising along,” General Manager Taylor Martin says, building a following and getting the restaurant’s name out there.
Pop’s Pizza had been in the works for a couple of years, Martin says. His godfather, Joe Farrell, purchased the building at 820 Albee Road for $1.9 million in 2022, property records show. Permitting and utilities took a while to get straightened out, Martin says. Now there are four apartments above the pizza place, he adds, and the plan is also to lease out some office space next door.
Pop’s Pizza just added its own delivery service to its offerings, and it uses third party services like DoorDash and Uber Eats as well. That said, a number of customers are coming up to get their orders at the takeout window.
Some people have come by the pizza shop just to avoid traffic when the bridge to Casey Key goes up, Martin says.
“A lot of our regulars right now live very close to here,” Martin says. “They’re driving by every day, or they cruise over on the golf cart.”
Other businesses along Albee Road are seeing a similar climb in foot traffic in the months since the hurricanes as the tourist season picks up.
Because of Hurricane Milton, Sweet Melissa’s Ice Cream Shop had to close for 10 days, says owner Bruce Bellerose. Then the shop was without internet for about two weeks.
“We got hurt. Everybody hurt,” says Bellerose, reflecting on hurricane season.
As far as damage, Bellerose says his business was not impacted too badly since it is elevated off the ground. “We were very fortunate, because we’re high up,” Bellerose says.
“Now that we’ve got decent weather,” he notes, business has picked up. “The biggest complaint I’ve seen from people is [lack of] beach parking.”
On a day in February, Bellerose recalls, he had a family of customers who went to multiple beaches but were unable to find parking, so they stopped instead to get ice cream at his shop before heading home.
