FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — On Monday, the Fort Myers Beach restaurant, La Ola, was working to open a second location at the Bell Tower shopping mall in Fort Myers.
“You know with everything going on down at the beach, we were in a temporary situation where we did know what the future holds, before relocating,” said La Ola's owner, Tom Houghton.
While other destroyed beach businesses, like the Zanzibar Greek restaurant, are being discussed as the front runners to lease a new space from the City of Fort Myers.
Back in December, Fox 4 reported that Fort Myers Beach expected about half of the businesses that were there before Hurricane Ian to return in some capacity.
On Monday, Jacki Liszak the Fort Myers Beach Chamber's Executive Director said they now expect more than half of the businesses before Ian to return to the beach. Before Ian, 60 restaurants called Fort Myers Beach home.
La Ola is just one of the 18 restaurants that Liszak said has returned since the storm.
“We are operating out of some shipping containers on a trailer and a food truck. It will be nice to have a brick and mortar here to fall back on,” said Houghton.
Houghton said the new location will increase his staff by 50% and provide a place for his beach employees to work in case of a future storm.
“It sure feels good to have a location that isn't so vulnerable and at risk, I have to be able to think of my staff and make sure that I can provide constant employment for them,” said Houghton.
Houghton says La Ola's Bell Tower location is set for a soft opening sometime next week.
“There most definitely is going to be a lot of construction going on at some point we are going to be able to work around that or maybe take a pause who knows the future is just a little uncertain in Fort Myers Beach,” said Houghton.
