New Inn Bakery site still under discussion

Options are still being considered for the offsite bakery and coffee shop for The Gasparilla Inn.

Rumors that a new location might be at 411 Park Ave., the site of The Inn’s reservation office, are premature. The site might seem a natural for a new Inn bakery, as it is owned by The Inn and used for reservations and not as a retail location.

The location at 4th and Park Avenue was the site of the island’s Chevron.

Reached Wednesday, the office of Inn General Manager Jon Reecher, said that The Inn is “still considering options.” 

The Inn bakery was located at 384 E. Railroad Ave., next to Barnichol Hardware, and served breakfast and lunch. Winds from Hurricane Ian blew the island’s telecom tower into the eatery, and it was demolished last year.

The site will be rebuilt, but it was not owned by The Gasparilla Inn.

As a replacement for the bakery, The Inn opened The Picnic Basket on Feb. 8, 2023. It was a cute outdoor bakery food truck, painted like a basket. While it was in a commercial area just across the street from the side entrance to The Inn, it was apparently parked on undeveloped land. In October 2023, Lee County forced The Gasparilla Inn to close The Picnic Basket.

The property at 411 Park Ave. sold for $4.5 million to Gasparilla Inn Inc. in 2022, and is assessed at $2,448,927 with land value as $1,762,664, according to Lee County’s Assessors Office. The Inn purchased the property from Boca Grande Partners Inc.. The property was previously owned by Clyde M. Nabers and Carolyn P. Nabers, who sold it in 1999, and before that it was owned by Chevron USA.