Decades-old Fort Myers Beach restaurant sells for $5.5 million

Bonita Bill's Waterfront Café, a well-known Fort Myers Beach restaurant for more than 30 years, has sold.

The restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf on San Carlos Island was bought by the HM Restaurant Group, which already owns the Dixie Fish Co. next door.

The restaurant and three surrounding parcels sold for $5.5 million.

Bill Semmer, according to a history of the restaurant on its website, bought the restaurant’s property in 1991 and opened Bonita Bill’s. At the beginning it was a concession stand that sold popcorn and beer. It grew though and soon became “a local gem and popular tourist destination where we still live by Bill’s words, ‘No Shirt?, No Shoes?, Can we get you a beer?’”

The restaurant suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Semmer was diagnosed with cancer later that year. He died in January 2023.

The restaurant reopened a couple of months later in March.

But in July, Bonita Bill’s and five properties known as the Semmer Family Portfolio were put on the market for $20 million. The portfolio included several residences, a self-storage facility and a marina along the restaurant.

SVN Commercial Partners, the listing agent, did not respond to questions about the other properties Thursday.

As for the restaurant space, HM is renaming it Bonita Fish Co.. Renovations are set to begin immediately and the restaurant is expected reopen later this year. 

HM, according to its website, was founded in 1997 when Marty Harrity and Mark Marinello purchased The Beached Whale on Ft. Myers Beach. Along with the Dixie Fish Co., it also owns four Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille locations.