- November 30, 2024
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The main objective at Margaritaville Beach Resort Fort Myers Beach? Immersing guests in the easy-breezy, laid-back vacation vibe for which the Jimmy Buffett–founded brand is known. The resort does, after all, have a bar called 5 O’Clock Somewhere.
But for the resort itself, which celebrates its one-year anniversary in December, getting to this point has been anything but a breeze. It was a long road for the project to even get approved and break ground, but that lengthy process helped ensure the property started off on the best footing possible within a community passionate about its Estero Island home.
“Any project that’s worthwhile doing, it takes that type of effort,” says Chris Flagg, chief investment officer for TPI Hospitality, the owner/operator of Margaritaville Beach Resort Fort Myers Beach, which sits on prime real estate just over the Matanzas Pass Bridge onto the island. “You have a lot of folks that care a lot about this island, and for a project at this location to get done, it took a village. We needed to hear everyone out and create a project that the community itself was proud of.”
But during the resort’s building process, its footing got tested in a different and much more literal way when Hurricane Ian devastated Estero Island in 2022. The resort’s first building had just been topped off and the second beachside building was almost at that point when Ian sent what the project team measured to be about a 16-foot storm surge rushing through the property.
One silver lining? The storm confirmed the effectiveness of the project’s design. The resort’s buildings sit on almost 150 piles driven into the ground anywhere from 40 to 100 feet deep. Flagg suggests picturing an oil rig to envision how the water was able to flow through the site.
“Even if we have a wall, that wall is a breakaway wall, so it’s designed to fall and let the water flow through the building,” he says. “You don’t want to stop the water. You’ve got to just let the water flow. And that’s how you survive; that’s how buildings survive storms like Ian.
“It was an opportunity for us to test the design,” he continues. “It’s not something you volunteer for, but it is something that, in hindsight, allowed us to have all the confidence in the world that our building is going to withstand the worst that Mother Nature can throw at it.”
Some of the design choices, like elevation, were dictated by FEMA due to the resort’s location on a barrier island. But in other cases, the choice was made by ownership to add in extra resiliency.
Take the resort’s beachfront pool, for example. It could have been built the traditional way, by digging a hole in the ground and then putting in concrete. But if a hurricane displaces the water from that kind of pool, the pressure from the wet ground around the now-empty pool can cause it to pop out of the ground.
So TPI chose to put the pool on piles. “It has its own pile foundation that keeps it attached to the ground, and it will never pop out,” says Flagg. “FEMA didn’t require that, but that’s something that we wanted to do to ensure the longevity of the resort.”
When the resort opened in December 2023, it was welcoming guests to a different version of the destination it served. That came with a lot of unknowns, but it also allowed the property to act as something of a bright spot amid the long-term rebuilding efforts the island was facing after Ian. The resort provided job opportunities for long-time hospitality workers whose previous employers had suffered storm damage. And it not only helped draw in visitors but also offered places where locals could gather and maybe forget their troubles, at least for a little bit.
“There’s a strong local community there that does want entertainment and life and energy, and we felt honored to be in the position we were…to be able to provide that type of experience to the island,” says Flagg. “The island changed in many ways, but we knew going into it that we had something special. We knew going into it that we had something that was permanent, that was going to withstand this type of event and future events.”
Little did they know that those future events would come sooner rather than later. Hurricanes Helene and Milton brought with them a lot of water and muck, but ownership knew the property could handle it. As the storms approached, everyone sprang into action, moving necessary equipment and supplies to higher ground and getting companies like Aeret Restoration lined up ahead of the storms to do any needed work after.
“You end up getting to a spot where the building can accept six or seven feet of water,” says Flagg. “Yes, you have a lot of cleanup; you have drywall and everything that comes with that. But you don’t have any structural damage. You don’t have a lot of lost furniture. You don’t have a lot of lost equipment. All of our kitchens, for instance, are on the second floor, so all the kitchens were entirely protected throughout both storms. It was another one of those moments where we tested our design, and it worked.”
As the resort gets ready to embark on its second year, it’s balancing optimism with pragmatism. “We’re just now scratching the surface of the 2025 budget, and we’re asking ourselves, should we budget for a month of disruption [during hurricane season]?” says Flagg. “And I think the answer is no. We should always budget for what we think is going to be a full year. Because you never know if and when that disruption is going to occur, and you just need to deal with it when it does come.”
Having the proper insurance in place is key to taking that approach. “For a resort this size, one day down is a lot of revenue that’s lost,” he says. “So we need to make sure that when we are not open, the reason why we’re not open is something that’s insurable and something that we can claim.”
Building a strong team — the resort employs between 390 and 460 people depending on the time of year — and keeping them happy through any ups and downs is also vital. “They’re the ones that interface with our guests every day and deliver the smiles that create the happiness,” says Flagg. “Without them, we wouldn’t be here.”
No matter how much has changed on Estero Island, there are plenty of things that have stayed the same. “That personality of Fort Myers Beach, that genuine coastal Florida personality, is still alive,” says Flagg. “That authenticity of Fort Myers Beach did not wash away with Ian.
“And the biggest tourist attraction on the island is the beach, and the beach is still there,” he continues. “It is still as beautiful as it has ever been.”
