Bayfront Center to be demolished

PUNTA GORDA — On Monday, the Bayfront Center will be demolished.

The sidewalk near the building at 750 W. Retta Esplande, will be temporarily closed and walkers should exercise caution near demolition workers, authorities noted.

There will be sidewalk detour signs posted for bicycle and foot traffic.

The building was heavily damaged two years ago during Hurricane Ian. The city will use insurance proceeds to tear it down.

The Punta Gorda City Council asked residents for ideas to replace the building. A committee met and determined there were other sites for the building. However, rebuilding it at the same location isn't realistic due to flood plain issues.

Currently, there's no funding set aside to rebuild the Bayfront Center or to open a center on an alternative site.

The building code would make rebuilding there "more intensive and costly to design," according to city planning staff.

Punta Gorda Principle Planner Mitchell Austin led meetings about the building. He said it was damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004. Austin said after Hurricane Charley hit, the Bayfront Center was restored. City Public Works and utilities staffers used the center from 2005 to 2012 because their offices were damaged.

It was a Scout House in 1956. The 9,500-square-foot building was expanded through the 1960s and 1970s.

The YMCA held summer camp, exercise classes and rented out the facility to the Boy Scouts of America, the Learn to Sail Program and the Punta Gorda and Charlotte Harbor Boaters Alliance.

Until Hurricane Ian, the YMCA had an after-school program there serving 80 students. The building sat vacant since the storm.