Demolition on Pattigeorge's begins

The demolition of the Pattigeorge’s building has begun.

As of Wednesday morning, Jon F. Swift Construction began tearing down the restaurant at 4129 Gulf of Mexico Drive. The project is expected to take no more than two weeks.

A permit issued by the town of Longboat Key indicated that the demolition would cost $24,000. The building will be demolished down to the slabs.

Emmalee Legler, media relations for Swift, said the Columbia Restaurant Group, who will open a new restaurant at the site, wanted to move forward to make the property safe.

“It was becoming dilapidated and an unsafe structure,” Legler said.

Legler said the project is interesting because the property is moving from one family business to another. Columbia Restaurant Group plans to open The Buccaneer as an homage to the once popular Buccaneer Inn opened by Herb Field in 1957. Murf and Tommy Klauber purchased Pattigeorge’s in 1997. Pattigeorge’s closed in 2016 after 43 years on the island.

While an official opening date has not been set, the company is in the designing stages and expects to open the restaurant in 2019.