Stock Island booming with new projects

BY SEAN KINNEY

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

There are big changes afoot along Shrimp Road at Stock Island’s Safe Harbor anchored by the new 128-slip Stock Island Village Marina, which opened in October.

The development, headed by principal Matthew Strunk, emerged on the site of a failed $100 million, 500-room mega resort called Old Island Harbor.

Once that concept fell apart, Strunk and his team came in with the idea to redevelop with an emphasis on the area’s history as a working waterfront home to commercial shrimpers and lobstermen, along with commercial fish houses and ancillary industry like diesel engine repair.

The current development includes the large new floating dock system that can accommodate yachts up to 300 feet, plus marina offices, a dog park, community garden, bar/lounge, gym, laundry facilities and bathroom/shower facilities.

Stock Island Village Marina is just down Shrimp Road from the county’s Bernstein Park, which is slated for a $3.2 million renovation along with construction of a $1.7 million, 5,000 square-foot community center.

The next phase on the private side, slated for 2015, was presented as a conceptual development agreement and unanimously approved by the Monroe County Commission last Wednesday.

Commissioners Danny Kolhage and George Neugent were absent.

Based on the submitted plan, the new development will include:

  • A hotel with up to 100 rooms
  • A restaurant with up to 150 seats and 4,000 square feet of floor area
  • A 40,000 square-foot area containing a marine services and retail building, a rum distillery, a fish house retail and distribution building and an environmental resource building
  • A 10,000 square-foot area for a hotel lobby, gatehouse, offices, fitness center, bath house, maintenance and housekeeping space and watersports concession.

Commissioner David Rice eagerly moved for approval, lauding the confluence of public and private development that’s poised to revitalize that part of south Stock Island.

“It is, to me,” he said, “a real pleasure to watch what’s happening in that entire area. I’d really like to have some of the same minds working across the street put some attention to what we’re doing with Bernstein Park to meld them together in some conceptual way.”

He continued: “What we’ve done around that water…it is absolutely beautiful. I’m in awe of what’s happening with this project. It’s very special.”

Commissioner Heather Carruthers echoed that sentiment, lending a second ahead of the 3-0 vote.

Key West resident Judy Martinez was the only public speaker addressing the item.

“I’m very much in favor of this,” she said, pointing out the economic impact job creation associated with the development would have.

Monroe County’s comprehensive plan has policies designed to ensure that working waterfront is just that—working.

As applied to the proposed project, 35 percent of the upland development has to be dedicated for activities like boat building and repair, fish houses and markets and similar uses.

For the marina portion, 20 percent of existing slips are reserved for recreational and commercial fishing boats excluding liveaboards and 10 percent of new slips carry the same restrictions.

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