Last April, Erica and Zach Markham rounded up their five children, ages 5, 7, 9 (twins) and 10, and left Arizona for Sanibel Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The destination was the Anchor Inn & Cottages, the 1950s motel with two low-slung buildings and three A-frame cottages the family had recently purchased. The property was charming, historic and undeniably Sanibel. By 2024, it sat in disrepair, untouched for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hurricane Ian barreled through the 2-acre site in 2022, leaving a 6-foot floodline that was still visible on almost every wall throughout the property three years later. The pool had gone green. Trees lay uprooted. Ceilings had split open, exposing overhead ducts and wiring. \u201cWe had heard there were other people [planning to buy] it who would demo it or change it completely,\u201d Zach says. \u201cWe thought, \u2018You know what? We can return it back to what it was.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ten months before the move, the Markhams came across the Anchor Inn while browsing online listings for a humble beach hotel. Over 15 years of marriage, the couple had built Playa Bowls franchises, an insurance business and a portfolio of short-term rentals across multiple states. They wanted a new challenge. Zach had always talked about living on an island. Erica dreamed of owning a family hotel. When the Markhams found the Anchor Inn, the property hooked them with its long memory on Sanibel Island and latent potential.<\/p>\n
Built in 1959 by Marshall and Hazel Tabacchi as Villa Capri, the motel was known for its distinctive A-frame cottages, with their buttercream-yellow facades visible through the foliage along Periwinkle Way. The property changed hands several times over the decades, but its character held: one of those affordable, unhurried Old Florida locations with a long run of repeat visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The motel sat in storm-wrecked limbo until 2023, when the owner, in his 90s and not up for the rebuild, put it on the market. It wasn\u2019t an easy sell. Sanibel\u2019s development codes are strict, layered over conservation rules that govern nearly every decision on the barrier island. Any significant structural changes risked forfeiting the inn\u2019s grandfathered zoning for one-night stays, a valuable offering in a town where longer-term rentals are the norm.<\/p>\n
Their first visit in July 2024 revealed the extent of the challenge. \u201cEverything was covered in mold,\u201d Erica says. Cabinets and ceiling fans still sat where they had fallen. In some rooms, roots had pushed through window seams and water damage veined across the walls. The roofs were in tatters, and the entire 1950s pipe system needed to be replaced. But the structure held. \u201cWe knew the history and how important it was, so we saw [the rebuild] with these rose-colored glasses,\u201d Erica says.<\/p>\n
People thought they were crazy. The move would mean pulling five kids out of school and breaking from a dense family orbit in Arizona. \u201cThe kids left behind like 30 cousins,\u201d Erica says. But she and Zach are predisposed to such a feat. The couple fell in love over dates spent walking past empty storefronts and debating what they could become. The Anchor Inn presented an adventure, a chance to plant new roots. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, hurricanes Helene and Milton hit in September 2024, re-flooding Sanibel and reopening the question of what they were considering taking on. The storms had buried roads under feet of silt and set back months of post-Ian recovery efforts. Even as fatigue threatened to settle over the island, the Markhams saw how the work of rebuilding unfolded at the hands of family, friends, neighbors and business owners. Any lingering doubts vanished. \u201cWe wanted our kids to be part of something like that,\u201d Erica says. \u201cTo help rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n
They made an offer in September 2024 and relocated seven months later. Erica documented the process on Instagram and TikTok. Among messages from people reminiscing about family vacations and traditions, neighbors chimed in with offers to help with cleaning, pool maintenance and social media marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The community rallied around the Markhams. Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce president John Lai advised Zach on navigating building codes. Fort Myers-based Yellowtail Construction handled the build-out, hardening the site against future storms by installing impact windows and doors and elevating the air-conditioning and electrical units. Sanibel\u2019s EnviroMow Landscape Co. assisted with the grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The kids jumped in, cleaning, unboxing furniture and helping to decorate. Erica\u2014who chose every paint color, tile and furnishing\u2014polled social media followers for guidance on how to paint the cottages, ultimately keeping one in its iconic yellow and painting the other two in pastel pink and blue. Every decision from there was drawn from the inn and island history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
News-anchor-turned-artist Rachel Pierce transformed walls and doors with murals recalling Sanibel\u2019s history and timeless charms: Calusa tribes, the old lighthouse, flamingos, flowers and shells. In one, five birds symbolize the Markham children. In another, a wind-swept kiteboarder references Sanibel watersports center, Ace Performer. \u201cI just want everyone to know that Sanibel is thriving,\u201d Erica says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In January, the Markhams held a ribbon-cutting with the SanCap Chamber to mark the inn\u2019s reopening. Community businesses donated gift cards and goods for guest welcome baskets. People they had never met showed up to mark the moment. \u201cFamilies came up to me crying, saying their grandparents used to bring them here,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
This spring, one year after their cross-country move, Erica noticed her 9-year-old daughter, Olive, had signed her name next to Rachel\u2019s on one of the murals. She was part of the island\u2019s story now, too. \u201cOur kids know what it\u2019s like to travel and see beautiful places,\u201d Erica says. \u201cNow they\u2019ve gotten their hands dirty and built something.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last April, Erica and Zach Markham rounded up their five children, ages 5, 7, 9 (twins) and 10,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2405,209,211,210,124383,57432,123942,106,124382],"class_list":["post-295135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-attractions","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-danielle-james","tag-design-inspiration","tag-june-2026","tag-things-to-do","tag-where-to-stay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}