After its old office building was abandoned and demolished after it suffered extensive storm damage in 2024, Grant’s Gardens is taking steps to build a new, raised building on the same lot.
On Tuesday, the town of Longboat Key’s Planning and Zoning Board discussed a proposal by the landscaping company to redevelop a parcel the company purchased for $570,000 in 2021. Town Planner Tate Taylor presented the plans for a raised, 756-square-foot building on the 0.4-acre lot at 524 Gulf Bay Road.
“The owners at this time would like to amend their site plan in order to construct a smaller, FEMA-compliant, elevated building to avoid future flood damage with associated parking and additional landscaping,” Taylor said, presenting a slideshow to the board that showed a rendering of the proposed structure.
Gulf Bay Road, surrounded to the north, south and east by Joan M. Durante Park, is narrow and short, with a handful of houses on either side and the Euphemia Haye restaurant at the front of the road intersecting Gulf of Mexico Drive. Grant’s Gardens, which does projects at many large condominium complexes and resorts on Longboat Key, currently operates on Gulf Bay Road out of a small two-bay garage at 525 Gulf Bay Road and the lot across the street that it is hoping to redevelop…