Harbor Square office building slated for demolition

The Harbor Square office building, built in 1984, looks to have an expiration date of 2026.

1905 Family of Restaurants — the group behind the Columbia Restaurant, Cha Cha Coconuts, Ulele and Casa Santo Stefano — is planning to demolish the office building as it prepares to build the company’s newest concept: the Buccaneer Restaurant. Vice President of Marketing Jeff Houck said paperwork for permits are being prepared for demolition of the building.

“We had explored repairs to keep the building and use it for project, but the structure had more needs than were possible to repair,” Houck said. “We started clearing the site of trees and shrubs in recent weeks. Our last tenant is out of the building.”

The one-story elevated office building alongside Sarasota Bay was purchased for $4 million in 2017. The office building has boat slips which could act as parking for prospective customers of the restaurant, which is being built at 4120 Gulf of Mexico Drive just to the south of the Harbor Square lot.

The 4120 Gulf of Mexico Drive parcel was previously home to Pattigeorge’s Restaurant, a popular spot for locals, that stayed in business for 43 years. The restaurant was bought by Murf and Tommy Klauber in 1997 from founders Patti and George Neofotis. The building was demolished in the summer of 2018.

The Buccaneer, however, will pay homage to another long-gone Longboat icon, the Buccaneer Inn, which was opened by Herb Field in 1957 and had an elaborate pirate theme, complete with dubloon-based pricing and a peg-legged pirate cosplayer greeting patrons. The Buccaneer Inn closed in 2001.

The resurrected Buccaneer is a project led by Richard Gonzmart, fourth-generation caretaker of the 1905 Family of Restaurants. He said in 2017 that the Buccaneer Inn was his parents’ favorite restaurant, besides the Columbia, and that he has fond memories of the restaurant growing up. He said he wanted the Buccaneer Restaurant to be “an architectural gem” that pays homage to the Buccaneer.

What that gem will look like is still in the works, Houck said.

“Still no architectural plans for the site yet,” he said. “Just getting it ready for whenever we do.”