Longboat's Spanish Main looks for normalcy a year after the storms

While some Spanish Main residents sold their villas, many more opted to rebuild, and 16 months after Hurricane Helene ravaged the historic community, work continues with an end finally in sight.

By S.T. Cardinal
| 5:00 a.m. February 11, 2026

Spanish Main Yacht Club was one of the most impacted communities from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. All of the 212 condominium villas were impacted one way or another, and more than 16 months after Helene, the rebuild continues with some houses finished and residents moved in and others with cabinets in the front yard, work underway on the interior.

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The rebuild continues at Spanish Main Yacht Club, one of the hardest hit communities from the 2024 hurricanes.

Sixteen months after storm surge from Hurricane Helene flooded Longboat Key, contractors are still spotted routinely coming in and out of the community. The Old Florida single-family homes lining the narrow streets of the condominium villa subdivision are in varying states of repair — some with residents moved in and comfortable, others with construction saws buzzing, nail guns hissing, and drywall still absent from the bottom half of the interior walls.

“There’s still so many people working on their places,” new resident Amanda Boe said. “But it looks so much better than when I came a year ago.”

Anne Hasenfus, a full-time resident of the community for 11 years, experienced 14 inches of flooding from Hurricane Helene. She was displaced from her home for 11 months. Not knowing how long until her home was habitable once again, she had to hop around from short-term rental to the next.

“I rented for a few months right here on Longboat up the street, and then when the season started in January they rented it out, so I moved to another rental in Bradenton. But I was fortunate to be able to do that and stay here and oversee my rebuild,” Hasenfus said. “Spanish Main made the full-time residents the No. 1 priority, which I really appreciate. Everyone was on board with that. They realized this was my only home, so I wanted to get in as soon as possible.”

Spanish Main resident Anne Hasenfus can often be seen sitting on her front patio reading. Hasenfus, an 11-year full-time resident at Spanish Main, said the people who live in the community have a bond that she hasn’t seen anywhere else.

The rebuild began with Servpro, a Saginaw, Michigan-based remediation company coming into the community and removing soaked belongings from inside the houses.

“To be here and see all your belongings piled in your front yard was pretty devastating,” Hasenfus said. “The whole community looked like a war zone. It was hard to look at.”

Hasenfus is one of many who decided to rebuild. Those who rebuilt could take advantage of the dues they paid to the condominium owners association to handle the repairs or hire a contractor of their own. Town data shows that 207 building permits have been issued by the town in Spanish Main since Sept. 26, 2024 (the day Hurricane Helene made landfall in the big bend region) at an estimated cost of $19.3 million.

“My son and his friend flew down from Massachusetts and they packed up everything that we could salvage and we put it in storage,” she said. “I was really one of the lucky ones because a lot of the people were out of state and couldn’t get here, so their belongings sat for months before they were able to come down and take care of it. A lot of the older residents weren’t able to come back at all and had to rely on other people to clear out their villas and decide whether they wanted to stay.”

A lien released

A lot of uncertainty came in the months following the hurricane.

After the hurricane devastated every home in the Spanish Main Yacht Club, there were whispers that the entire community would be sold to developers. One resident, who later decided to cut his losses and sell his villa, brought in a developer who said they would pay market value plus 20% to each homeowner. That effort never gained traction (90% of homeowners would have had to vote in favor of the proposal).

And there was the lien placed on the community in January 2025 after a dispute regarding bills issued by Servpro, the company who performed the initial remediation work. Residents received bills in the mail that were higher than expected.

“They sent us all an individual bill,” Hasenfus said. “It was broken down. I think mine was like 49 pages long. Some people were very diligent and went through the whole itemization. I just looked at the bottom line and the figure, and I basically cast it aside thinking there’s no way the association is going to pay this bill.”

Altogether, it was $5 million higher than the Condominium Owners Association expected. A September contract found in court documents showed an initial $40,000 per-unit quote. Instead, Servpro billed the community $13.5 million, which would be $63,000 per unit. A dispute over the $13.5 million bill culminated in a lien placed on the community.

According to court documents, that case was settled in November 2025 and the lien was removed from the properties.

“Although the payment received by the undersigned represents a partial payment less than the full amount originally claimed, such payment has been accepted as full and final satisfaction of all obligations secured by said Claim of Lien,” the satisfaction of lien document reads.

The terms of the settlement have not been made public, with Servpro declining to comment. The Spanish Main COA Board did not return calls or emails from the Observer seeking comment.

Some rebuilt, but others left. Manatee County Property Appraiser data shows 30 of the 212 Spanish Main Villas were sold since Helene. Some villas that had sold for more than $500,000 just years ago resold at steep discounts after the storms due to the damage. Eleven units have sold for under $300,000 since the storm, and six are listed on Zillow as for sale right now, ranging from $295,000 for a unit without flooring but new drywall and a redone kitchen, to $375,000 for a move-in ready villa.

A “whiteboxed” villa was a perfect opportunity for some. Like Boe, who had visited Longboat Key from Connecticut for years and kept her eyes peeled for real estate listings on the island. Before the storm, she saw one house that had vaulted ceilings and an open floor plan that she loved. Months after the storm, she reached out to the homeowner directly and the two worked out a deal. It was simpler for the previous homeowner to sell and move than deal with the hassle of a rebuild, and Boe was able to get a house on Longboat Key.

“I got a great price because it was ripped apart. They gutted it down. They ripped out all the sheetrock, all the lower base cabinets, the island,” Boe said.

Not the worst set of circumstances for her. Boe has a real estate license and years of experience flipping, building and remodeling houses.

“I think it was a way to be on this gorgeous island in an affordable manner,” she said.

Amanda Boe and her dog Shipley recently moved into their Spanish Main villa. Boe, with years of experience in real estate, morphed the interior to her taste after buying the house in a gutted state with lower cabinets and drywall removed.

And she was sick of the northeast cold.

“I’m at an age where I want to be in Florida. I’m sick of the winters,” Boe said. “And the winter right now? Thank God I got out of there.”

Slowly, Spanish Main is returning to normal.

“My villa looks beautiful and I feel like I never missed a beat,” Hasenfus said. “I’m back and smiling and having happy hours and seeing my friends slowly come back every day. I feel like we’re blessed, and we’re stronger for it.”

author

S.T. Cardinal

S.T. "Tommy" Cardinal is the Longboat Key news reporter. The Sarasota native earned a degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a minor in environmental studies. In Central Florida, Cardinal worked for a monthly newspaper covering downtown Orlando and College Park. He then worked for a weekly newspaper in coastal South Carolina where he earned South Carolina Press Association awards for his local government news coverage and photography.