Dubbed the “Miracle Mile,” a stretch of Gulf Shore Boulevard North is set to see major changes in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
While a few notable projects were in the works before the hurricane hit, the storm has sped up redevelopment along this 1.3-mile section of roadway, running parallel to the Gulf of Mexico, in Naples.
It was one of the most hard-hit areas by Ian in the city.
More than a year after the storm, condo and co-op buildings flooded by its record storm surge still aren’t livable, their fates uncertain. In other buildings, some of the damaged units have been repaired, while others haven’t been touched.
“Some of these people are never going to come back. That’s the shame of it,” said Mary Hayes, who lives at Port Au Villa, a small co-op community in the area, overlooking Moorings Bay.
At her community, built in the mid-1960s, 24 of 56 condos were virtually destroyed by Ian, and some are still being rebuilt. With a third-floor unit, Hayes is one of the luckier ones, and feels fortunate to have moved back in five months after the storm.