{"id":439736,"date":"2026-10-27T20:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/439736\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T20:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:42:12","slug":"legacy-harbour-marina-restored-after-years-of-storm-damage-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/439736\/","title":{"rendered":"Legacy Harbour Marina restored after years of storm damage | Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Legacy<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Confetti flies during an Oct. 23 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the reopening of Legacy Harbour Marina at 2044 W. First St. in downtown Fort Myers. The marina officially reopened in September after a $15 million rebuild following Hurricane Ian and its former owner\u2019s bankruptcy. Pictured from left are Andy Wood, Eli Sank, John Lai, Tommy Fierro, Eric Ravenschlag, Fort Myers Mayor Kevin B. Anderson, Liston Bouchette, Norman Halverson and Kristina Metzrotch.<\/p>\n

Shane Antalick Photography<\/p>\n

A father and son who were Boston Red Sox catchers, a renowned Fort Myers architect and a celebrity ballet dancer combined forces in 1995 to develop a Fort Myers marina that was completed in 1998 and stood the test of time for more than two decades \u2014 until shortly after they sold it.<\/p>\n

In 2022, calamities both financial and meteorological destroyed Legacy Harbour Marina. But the marina at 2044 W. First St. has been reborn after four years of financial and rebuilding hurdles \u2014 namely Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Hurricane Ian.<\/p>\n

Marina director Eric Ravenschlag, who has worked under all three ownership groups, cut the ceremonial ribbon Oct. 23 in front of about 40 elected officials, Fort Myers economic development officials and well-wishers. The ceremony marked the grand opening of the marina, which officially reopened in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbelievable,\u201d said Ravenschlag, an employee at the marina for 26 years. \u201cI can\u2019t believe it. Very emotional. It\u2019s been a long journey the last four years. To get here and open with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony is overwhelming for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

AIRN Holdings, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, was created in 2023 out of AIRN Liquidation Trust, a year after National Realty Investment Advisors, or NRIA, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2022. AIRN is NRIA\u2019s letters spelled backward.<\/p>\n

NRIA\u2019s shadow CEO, Nicholas Salzano, is serving a 12-year federal prison sentence for his role in a $658 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 2,000 investors, along with a tax evasion conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Two of AIRN\u2019s six current employees were hired when it was NRIA, which had about 100 employees at the time, said Tommy Fierro, chief financial officer of AIRN.<\/p>\n

The marina cost about $15 million to rebuild, Fierro said. He added that less than $3 million of that amount came from insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very confident this was a wise investment,\u201d said Kevin Lynch, controller for AIRN. CEO Rick Budd did not attend and couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

The marina has 131 slips and has added two fuel pumps. It\u2019s next door to the former Joe\u2019s Crab Shack and Chart House restaurant building, also owned by AIRN, that is being refurbished by Fowler Construction to become Nellie\u2019s Boatyard<\/a> by early 2027. The new restaurant will be operated by Tyler and Len Lemmer\u2019s family restaurant group.<\/p>\n

\"Legacy<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Visitors walk along the docks at Legacy Harbour Marina in downtown Fort Myers, where boats have returned following a $15 million reconstruction. The 131-slip marina along the Caloosahatchee River was rebuilt with stronger pilings and upgraded infrastructure after Hurricane Ian devastated the property in 2022.<\/p>\n

Shane Antalick Photography<\/p>\n

Land in front of the marina<\/a> is zoned for up to 550 condominium, apartment and\/or hotel units, a project that has renderings but not yet the capital to proceed.<\/p>\n

Bellingham Marine served as the contractor to rebuild the marina<\/a> and did so with resiliency in mind<\/p>\n

\u201cCoastal resiliency was a big part of what we\u2019re trying to achieve with the new marina,\u201d Ravenschlag said. \u201cIt was re-engineered to be stronger. All the pilings are steel now as opposed to concrete. The tension wire pilings \u2014 they\u2019re 5 feet taller. They\u2019re 70 feet in total length. They\u2019re about 45 feet into the mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Legacy Harbour Marina director Eric Ravenschlag addresses attendees during the marina\u2019s Oct. 23 grand-opening celebration in downtown Fort Myers. Ravenschlag, who has worked at the marina for 26 years through three ownership groups, described the four-year rebuilding process following Hurricane Ian as emotional and challenging.<\/p>\n

Shane Antalick Photography<\/p>\n

The well-wishers on hand at the ribbon cutting included Marc Sullivan, who, like his father, Haywood Sullivan, played catcher for the Boston Red Sox. The father played from 1955 to 1960, and the son played from 1982 to 1987. In 1993, when the Red Sox relocated their spring training home from Winter Haven to Fort Myers, Haywood Sullivan had an ownership stake in the team. The elder Sullivan set about looking for other development projects. He and his son partnered with Fort Myers architect Edgar Wilson and dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, forming WBS, the marina\u2019s first ownership group.<\/p>\n

When it opened as Centennial Harbour Marina, a Steak \u2018n\u2019 Egg restaurant and Travelodge hotel were on the property. The hotel later rebranded, first to Winyah and later to Legacy Harbour.<\/p>\n

By 2021, Marc Sullivan wanted to sell the marina and surrounding properties<\/a>, having no idea Hurricane Ian would come the next year, destroying the hotel and marina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just time for somebody else to take it over,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWhether the economy was good or bad, boaters always came back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rebuilt<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Legacy Harbour Marina building stands at 2044 W. First St. along the Caloosahatchee River in downtown Fort Myers. The marina officially reopened in September 2026 following a $15 million reconstruction after Hurricane Ian, with an Oct. 23 ceremony marking its grand opening.<\/p>\n

David Dorsey<\/p>\n

Ravenschlag said he\u2019s hoping the same now that the marina has reopened. The slips can be leased daily, weekly, monthly and annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been extremely hard,\u201d Ravenschlag said of getting the marina rebuilt. \u201cLike I said, emotional. Challenging. A lot of hurdles. A lot of setbacks. A lot of accomplishments. The last three and a half years I\u2019ve worked on myself to get to this point with the help of my ownership in New Jersey. The Bellingham team came on about a year and a half ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future looks bright.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Confetti flies during an Oct. 23 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the reopening of Legacy Harbour Marina at 2044 W.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[53194,209,211,210,897,6027,162852,32353],"class_list":["post-439736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-bankruptcy","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-fort-myers","tag-hurricane-ian","tag-legacy-harbour-marina","tag-reopening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439736","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=439736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}