Sanddollar Condos community rebuilds after Hurricane Ian devastation

SANIBEL, Fla. —

Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to the Sanddollar Condos community on Sanibel, Florida, prompting all 36 owners to band together through hundreds of hours of meetings to rebuild their condos.

Thomas Potisk, a condo owner, said, "We thought we had it made, you know, that if hurricanes came, it's going to be no problem. But, it taught us a lesson."

The condos, first built in 1978, were said to be "hurricane proof," but Ian quickly proved that wrong. Potisk only got to enjoy the Sanddollar condos for one season before the storm blew the roof off the building during the September hurricane.

He said, "We heard it was about 24 inches of rain, one of my neighbors on the first floor claims that he had seawater in his bathtub."

After assessing the damage and cleaning up the area, the Sanddollar owners formed groups, leaning on each other for support.

Potisk said, "We had lawyers that had some experience, we had the person that builds homes in Montana guiding us, we had people that were accountants."

From there, Sanddollar Condos Board of Directors President Stephen Olmstead explained that each committee met once every two weeks. Owners decided to pay for the rebuild themselves, which made things move even faster.

Olmstead said, "There was a special assessment we voted on and everybody made a significant, six-figure payment to fund the rebuild and get it going."

Through patience and perseverance, the Sanddollar condos were rebuilt and have now been up and running for almost a year.

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