The Whale and Sandy Bottom restaurant owners Mike and Dawn Miller are purchasing the old fire house building at 3043 Estero Boulevard. The sale price was $900,000.
The Miller’s plan to use the 5400 square foot building for storage and an office for the restaurants. The building, which sits on .16 acres of property, was deemed structurally safe and below FEMA’s 50% rule, according to Miller.
The most recent assessment on the property was about $1 million. The lot is zoned Commercial Boulevard.
Fire Chief Wirth explains the very interesting background about that parcel of property. “The fire station sits on two parcels, on the corner of Donora and Estero. Donora stands for Don and Ora Zimmer. Ora’s dad was the District’s first Fire Chief, his name was Earl Howie. Chief Howie’s son-in-law, Don was the first President of the Fire District’s board of commissioners. We will have the members of the Zimmer family with us at our 75th-anniversary celebration on October 26th and will recognize the family for their generous support over the years.”
Both parcels were donated to the fire District; one in 1951 and the other in 1961. The second parcel allowed the District to increase the size of the station to accommodate the bigger trucks. One of the parcels was deeded to the district with the stipulation that if it ever stopped being used as a fire station, it would revert back to the family. This parcel represents 40% of the total land area. In the sale the family will get 40% of the money (approximately $360,000) and the Fire District will get 60% ($540,000). The district will use the money to help finance their new building on the former Topps property.
The sale is expected to close within the next 30 days.
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How about a gym to replace Hammerhead!!
Congratulations! Firehouse Pizza?? Raise driveway to make patio for outdoor dinning, keep the doors open for inside dinning. The Side door for pick up orders. Memorabilia from that fire Station.
MAYBE??? Great place with the development by Seagate. 😊
Built by the firemen themselve around 52.
Fire Chief and hardware store owner Walt Thomas, fireman and builder Joe Busta, fireman Gene Goetz and firemen Lea and Scott and the others.
Later, they would take turns sleeping in the garage on a cot with a phone next to them. Residents at the time would follow the siren to see whose home was ablaze.
Great job! Congratulations. If you have time LOL, consider opening a small retail space for “The Whale” take-out only. I am just two blocks away. Welcome to the neighborhood 😉
What a good idea! We are pondering a bike delivery!
I like that as well
I would love a “drive thru” place to get food. Pizza, subs, burgers? Anything would be welcomed. It’s the one thing that this beach is missing that would be a welcome addition.
It’s great to see another empty hurricane damaged building begin to move in a positive direction. All the best to Dawn and Mike with another FMB project.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Dawn and Mike Miller are wonderful community business owners and residents. Making improvements on everything they touch.