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Captiva Island Inn is welcoming guests back to five newly rebuilt suites nearly four years after Hurricane Ian destroyed its 10 historic cottages.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey
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Almost four years to the day after Hurricane Ian deluged and ruined the designated historic Captiva Island Inn\u2019s 10 cottages Sept. 28, 2022, five of the 10 units have been rebuilt and are ready for their first guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sandy Stilwell Youngquist said she spent about $6 million on the construction project to bring the 10 units back to life. She said she was still negotiating with insurance companies on getting reimbursed for the losses of the original cottages, but she remains hopeful of getting about half her investment back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first five rooms will open to guests Sept. 18, coinciding with the Island Hopper Songwriter Fest, which includes two adjacent Stilwell Youngquist-owned restaurants as venues, Keylime Bistro and RC Otter\u2019s Island Eats. She also owns Latte Da, Sunshine Seafood Cafe and Wine Bar and Cantina Captiva.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6aaac146de28e.image.jpg\")
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The rebuilt Captiva Island Inn at 11508 Andy Rosse Lane features elevated suites in the bright colors associated with the property\u2019s former cottages. The first five units are scheduled to welcome guests Sept. 18, nearly four years after Hurricane Ian.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long four years,\u201d Stilwell Youngquist said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gone are the 10 names of the original cottages, which were razed. Instead, there are two names: Jasmine Suites for the five units on the north side of 11508 Andy Rosse Lane and Hibiscus Suites for the five units on the south side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have color schemes of pink, yellow, light purple, light green and light blue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been something,\u201d Stilwell Youngquist said of bringing her inn back to life following the difficult decision to take down the preexisting wood-frame cottages. \u201cI have tears coming down my eyes. We\u2019ve been through it all. And with the anniversary, it\u2019s perfect timing to reopen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6aaac146e01bd.image.jpg\")
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Captiva Island Inn owner Sandy Stilwell Youngquist stands outside the rebuilt property on Captiva Island. She invested about $6 million in reconstructing the inn after Hurricane Ian destroyed its 10 cottages in September 2022.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it. It\u2019s so beautiful. It\u2019s so much more comfortable than the other ones were. You have larger kitchens, more luxurious bathrooms, etc., because the way they made cottages way back, 60-70 years ago, there were little tiny bathrooms. This is the kind of place I would want to stay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stevens Construction built the new rooms, elevating them 10 feet above ground level. The second half of the reconstruction project should be finished by the end of November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MHK Architecture designed it, making the first building L-shaped and the second U-shaped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the existing zoning, it was tough to replace what was there,\u201d said Mark McLean, national director for MHK Architecture. \u201cWe did it with one continuous building and changed the colors, just to give it that cottagey feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6aaac146e9d77.image.jpg\")
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Damage surrounds two of the original cottages at Captiva Island Inn following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The inn\u2019s 10 cottages were eventually razed and replaced as part of an approximately $6 million reconstruction.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
\u201cWe vaulted all the ceilings. We wanted the light to come in. So, we worked on vaulting the ceilings and giving those small units a much bigger feel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The open spaces in front of each of the two buildings will be left vacant to accommodate the below-ground septic tanks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cArchitecturally, we put five units in a single building,\u201d McLean said. \u201cThrough the development of the design and the color scheme, it still gives it from the distance the appearance of separate cottages. If you\u2019re across the street or coming up from the south end at the Green Flash, it doesn\u2019t necessarily loom over you as one unit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rates for the new units range from $240 to $284 per night in the offseason and up to $800 per night during peak tourist season, January through March, Stilwell Youngquist said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of the five new rooms are already booked,\u201d Stilwell Youngquist said of the first weekend. \u201cOut of all the bad, something good has come out of it. And I\u2019m really thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Captiva Island Inn is welcoming guests back to five newly rebuilt suites nearly four years after Hurricane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,159824,6027,3789,32353,159825],"class_list":["post-401803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-captiva-island-inn","tag-hurricane-ian","tag-reconstruction","tag-reopening","tag-sandy-stilwell-youngquist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401803","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=401803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}