- April 25, 2024
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Ed Chiles still plans to take dining to a new level at Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub.
But diners will have to wait until late 2013 before they’ll be able to look out onto Sarasota Bay from a second-story tree house that Chiles, who owns the restaurant’s parent company, the Chiles Restaurant Group, first envisioned in 2010.
Chiles said that modifications to the site plan, which include changing the planned placement of the restaurant’s deck by approximately 20 feet, mean his company will have to submit new materials to the town.
According to Town Planner Ric Hartman, the changes town staff has discussed with Chiles are substantial enough to require a new site plan, which will go before the Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board, and, then, the Longboat Key Town Commission, for approval.
Chiles plans to hold off on the plans until next season to avoid construction during peak season.
“We do all projects during the fall,” Chiles said. “We start them in August after the kids go back to school and we get them finished up by Christmas time.”
Chiles’ basic plan is still the same:
He hopes to take 60 of the restaurant’s 70 seats and move them upstairs, making the area into the main dining room, with the bar and 10 barstools remaining downstairs.
Chiles was first inspired to create an upstairs dining area after he climbed onto the roof of the historic Longbeach Village restaurant, which dates back to 1912, and found himself in awe of the view of Sarasota Bay.
The commission approved the original site-plan amendment and special exception request in January 2011. Chiles initially planned to begin construction that summer but realized that the original schedule wasn’t possible and instead decided to pursue a two-phase approach involving minor updates.
The first phase was completed last summer and involved minor updates, such as replacement of existing restrooms and kitchen renovations. The second phase, consisted of second-floor construction, along with the addition of elevators.
