Brett's: demo and rebuild could cost $8 million

A full marina restoration with a pier pavilion and restaurant is estimated at $8 million

Taking down Brett's Waterway Cafe and rebuilding that section of the riverfront marina is going to be a very expensive project for the City of Fernandina Beach -- anywhere from a low of $4 million to as much as $8 million according to consultants.

Engineering firm Passero & Associates reported its findings Tuesday to the city commission on the costs of demolishing the restaurant and supporting substructure over the river, as well as various options of what to put in its place.

Brett's lease with the city ends at the end of December and the supporting substructure has been deemed unsafe and too expensive to repair.

Worst yet is that Passero's estimates are based on today's prices with the likelihood that costs will increase significantly seven months from now and new construction will rise once the commission finally determines what to build at the marina.

First there's the demolition of Brett's. Passero pegged those costs between $3.88 million and $5.2 million. The bulk of that expense - about $2 million - is the demolition and rebuild of the riverfront bulkhead underneath the restaurant. Passero officials said the existing bulkhead was built in 1938 and would fall into the river once the other demo work was completed.

Passero than addressed re-development options for city commissioners to consider. They included:

• A floating dock 'A' extension from the existing dock, priced at $300,000 to $365,000.

• A floating 'A' dock extension and a timber pier extension out over the river, priced at $870,000 to $1.35 million.

• A timber pier extension approximately the size of the footprint of Brett's costing between $1.325 million and $1.666 million.

• A floating dock 'A' extension with a 2,000 square foot restaurant on the vacant land priced at $1.3 million to $1.565 million. A landward restaurant, with a pier including a pavilion costing between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Passero told commissioner the project would be conducted in phases.

The demolition would require improvements to the south side boardwalk and timber deck followed by the relocation of utilities and fuel lines routed beneath the boardwalk to a new utility yard.

Brett's would then be demolished and a new bulkhead built.

Construction on the re-development option would then commence.

Commissioner Tim Poynter said the report would be considered by the city's new Waterfront Advisory Board for discussion and recommendations to the commission.

The city commission had previously agreed to hold a town hall for residents to give their opinions on what should be built in place of the Brett's building.

"No decisions are going to be made tonight," said Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue. "There will be plenty of opportunity for citizens to say we want the boardwalk, we want the pavilion, we want a restaurant there, so go out for RFP."

City Manager Sarah Campbell told commissioners that the city was now entering an 8-week window of public engagement.

"We're thinking Survey Monkey, mailers to residents' homes. We're having the town hall meeting here on June 24 to solicit feedback. This is a menu of choices that we wanted to get in hand first to see what they look like and then share that with everybody to get their input," she said.

What wasn't addressed by commissioners was how the city would pay for the demolition and re-development of that section of the marina. The city has been unable to fund completion of a flood prevention wall along the river or the renovation of historic downtown.

The city had said previously that it had put a $1 million placeholder in the 2025-26 budget to demolish the restaurant.