After numerous delays, the demolition of Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel will begin next month. Interior demolition will start July 8, attorney Derek Rooney, who represents property owner Amer Asmar, told the Punta Gorda Code Enforcement Board on June 26.
Rooney plans to appeal the city’s code requirement that the parking lot be ripped up in the demolition process, as the owner is designing site plans for a new hotel that could use the parking lot.
“Unfortunately, I’m not involved in the site–planning process, and I do not know Mr. Asmar’s ultimate plans. I can only reiterate, as I did in prior hearings, that [Hurricane Ian] has been a disaster for Mr. Asmar, like all of us, and he did not desire to demolish the hotel but unfortunately has no other options,” Rooney said.
Asmar’s company, Punta Gorda AA Hotel LLC, owns both the hotel located at 300 W. Retta Esplanade in the Historic District and the adjoining restaurant structure. Both the hotel and Hurricane Charley’s Sushi, Raw Bar & Grill sustained damages from Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Idalia in August 2023.
The restaurant reopened after Hurricane Ian, but flooding from Hurricane Idalia in August 2023 rendered it a public safety hazard and fire risk, officials said. That led to its permanent closure.
After a turbidity plan is put in place, the external razing of the hotel and restaurant will follow, Rooney said. In construction or demolition, turbidity refers to water that has become cloudy or murky due to sediment runoff.
The rear of the hotel property and restaurant abuts Harborwalk, a 2.4-mile recreational trail in Punta Gorda that runs along Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River.
Rooney said although the demolition permit was obtained following a May 22 Code Enforcement meeting, the owner must wait for the city engineer’s “turbidity plan to deal with potential runoff into the harbor.” Such an event happened during the construction of Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor when a slick of dirt went into the harbor, he said.
Rooney said his client hired an engineering firm that will obtain floating turbidity screens to be placed in the water to capture runoff should it occur.
Originally, the Code Enforcement Board voted unanimously Jan. 24 to order the building razed and for Asmar to obtain a demolition permit and place a fence around the entire site.
Rooney said there was a delay in applying for the demolition permit because the contractor, Orlando-based Pece of Mind Environmental Inc., was not registered to do work in the city and had to register to conduct the demolition work.
Another delay occurred when a city worker was away when Rooney applied for the permit application, he said at an earlier code enforcement hearing.
After asbestos was discovered, some contractors refused to do the removal. Finally, a contractor was found to remove the asbestos from the hotel built in 1968.
The five-story building previously was Holiday Inn and Best Western. The two-story attachment was added in 1989 and its common wall was shared with the restaurant that also had different owners and names over the years.
An exact date of the external demolition could depend on which special events are occurring along Harborwalk, Code Enforcement Board member Kathleen Antona said.
