Manasota Key businesses are bouncing back despite Englewood Beach closure

ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — While Charlotte County works to reopen Englewood Beach, business owners on Manasota Key are making do without the typical foot traffic from beach goers.

The beach has been closed since Helene, when the county began hauling sand into the parking lot that was deposited around the island. After Hurricane Milton, the sand pile grew several feet high and consumed most of the parking lot. Since then, the county has been sifting through the pile, eventually returning the reclaimed sand to the beach.

Like the beach, several businesses on the island are closed for repairs too. The Manasota Key Group owns three restaurants on the island, all of which are still closed post-hurricanes.

“The beach being closed hasn't affected us directly yet because we are still closed from the Hurricanes,” said Chris Atamanchuk, co-owner of the Manasota Key Group.

Atamanchuk said the company is using the downtime not just to renovate the hurricane damaged restaurants, but to make improvements.

“We’re just trying to find the silver lining in everything, it's been a pretty challenging time but we are making the most of it,” said Atamanchuk. “We’re doing a lot of the things that we wanted to do but didn’t want to shut down for, but sometimes mother nature has other plans.”

The Manasota Key Group aims to have its restaurants back open as soon as possible, but hopes patrons will visit some of the businesses on the island that have reopened since the hurricanes.

“There’s lots of local businesses down here, all family owned and working hard, and are open,” said Atamanchuk. “And we encourage everyone to come down here and support them as well.”

One of those open businesses is the Waverly Restaurant & Bar. It has a second floor with a typically unobstructed view to the beach and Gulf. The view currently is of the sand pile, excavators and dump trucks.

Despite not having the standard beach going patrons, the restaurant is thriving.

“A lot of people want to see what's going on on the Key, and then they come here and ask a lot of questions and of course enjoy lunch with us,” said Jill Hemmes, owner of the Waverly. “So, we have seen an influx of people coming and we definitely have been a bit busier than normal.”

Hemmes said while the increase in customers is nice, she wants the sand pile gone as soon as possible. She said she has contacted county officials, even the governor’s office to try and speed the process along.

“I would love it to be gone and get everybody back to the beach, because the customers come in and they're upset,” said Hemmes. “But we’re dealing with it.”