Casey Key Starts the Season Mid-Renovation, From the Fish House to the North End

As of early October 2026, the three things that most define Casey Key are all unfinished. The Casey Key Fish House is under new owners who are partway through a refresh. North Casey Key Road is half rebuilt, and part of it has been moved west. Sea turtle season still has weeks to run, and Mote Marine Laboratory's count for the island is preliminary. None of this makes the island harder to enjoy. It does mean this season works best for anyone holding the right dates.

The Fish House is changing slowly, by design

The new ownership group bought Casey Key Fish House in May. Founder Jimmy Von Hubertz decided last winter that it was time to retire. "It took me a long time to find the right people," Von Hubertz told Siesta Sand. Scott Pohl, one of the new owners, described the place this way:

"It's a special place. We are committed to making sure the legacy is properly cared for generations to come."

The restaurant opened in 2000, and the plan is modest on purpose. Siesta Sand's August 1 report said the work already underway included better seating and a general refresh of the dining room. Trailer-mounted restrooms were replacing the portable toilet at the beachfront tiki bar, and the main women's restroom was getting air conditioning. "We won't overdo it," Pohl said. "We don't want to lose the Old Florida feel."

Longtime chef Cesar is still running the kitchen. The menu stays the same for now, with new daily specials, refinements and a more streamlined selection planned for the coming months. Pohl expected the first round of menu and dining-room updates to be done by October, just in time for season. That was a target set in August. No public report has confirmed that the work is finished. The restaurant's website lists daily opening at 11:30 a.m. under "Seasonal Hours."

Boaters should watch the water side most closely. The marina has 200 feet of dockage on the Intracoastal Waterway. The owners plan improvements to the docks and piers and are considering a new slip layout. An updated drink menu and a bigger apparel shop are also planned. Von Hubertz will stay on as an adviser for the first year. On a short list of things that could look different by spring, the slip layout is the change most likely to matter to anyone who arrives by boat.

The north end is a construction schedule, and it has a date

At the other end of the island, the change is much larger. Sarasota County's project sheet for North Casey Key Road is marked "Last updated: October 2026." It covers the 500 to 800 block of the north end. The road there is being rebuilt, and new shoreline protection is going in to support both the road and the shoreline. The contractor is de Moya CHC Joint Venture LP, on a construction contract of $44,590,755.48. The design consultant is Hardesty and Hanover. According to Your Observer, the stretch being repaired is 0.53 miles long, north of Blackburn Point Road. The plan includes a permanent seawall and a temporary road along the shoreline that will be removed when the work is done.

Here is where the work stands, according to the county's current status notes:

• Permanent repairs started in late summer 2025.
• On the north end, the road has been moved further west for now so crews can rebuild the permanent road.
• On the south end, the road is nearly finished. Stairs down to the water and the final layer of asphalt are still to come.
• Completion is scheduled for Spring 2027.

The most detailed lane notice so far, dated June 23, 2026, explains how traffic moves through the work zone. Northbound traffic stays on the existing road but is shifted toward the homes. Southbound traffic uses a new section between the top cap of the permanent wall and the temporary sheet-pile wall. The county still asks drivers to use caution in the work zone.

Two smaller items affect the south end and the beach. The county's road-closure page lists overnight overhead-cable work at Casey Key Road and Albee Road West from September 22 through October 18, 2026, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. At Nokomis Beach, parts of the parking lot south of the playground, on the east side of Casey Key Road, have been closed long-term for construction staging since April 2025. The 200 block of South Casey Key Road is closed to the public as well. The county's April 2025 notice expected that road closure to last through Fall 2027, which is later than its current Spring 2027 target for finishing construction. The notice gives no end date for the parking-lot closure. Until the county announces a reopening, both timelines are unconfirmed. On busy beach mornings, plan on fewer spaces on the south side of the lot.

The beach is still busy in a way most visitors never see

The part of Casey Key that stays unfinished the longest every year is the beach count. Mote Marine Laboratory monitors nesting from Longboat Key to Venice. Its preliminary 2026 total for Casey Key, through the September 20 to 26 reporting week, is 2,272 nests and 3,042 false crawls. The same summary lists yearly nest totals for the two previous seasons:

The 2026 count is still open, so it isn't a like-for-like match with the earlier yearly figures. As of late September it was 455 nests below the 2025 yearly figure and already 442 above the 2024 figure. The share is the more telling number. Casey Key's 2,272 nests are about 46 percent of Mote's 4,929 so far in 2026. Longboat Key is next with 1,305, and Venice has 645. Siesta Key has 557 and Lido Key has 150. In the 2025 yearly figures, Casey Key's share was close to 48 percent. One narrow island accounts for close to half of the local nesting count.

Mote says the season ends October 31. A final count will follow once the data is reviewed. For anyone walking the beach this month, the island's nesting season is not over yet.

What to put on the calendar while the work goes on

The fall schedule near the south end of the island is set, even though the road work is not. Here it is in date order:

1. Ongoing from October 1, 2026, through April 6, 2027. Free Beach Yoga with Katja at Nokomis Beach, on scheduled dates through the season.
2. October 7, 9 a.m. A history walk at Pocono Trail Preserve in Nokomis, meeting at 189 Pocono Trail.
3. October 16 to 18. Women's Sertoma's free Sun Fiesta at Centennial Park in downtown Venice, with music, vendors, food and a bed race.
4. October 18. The last scheduled night of the overnight cable work at Casey Key Road and Albee Road West.
5. October 25. Bill's Beer Run, a 5-mile event at North Jetty Park.
6. October 31. The official end of sea turtle nesting season in Mote's area.

There is also a new option on the mainland near Blackburn Point. Five Nine Grill & Tavern soft-opened August 10 at Blackburn Point Plaza in Osprey. It is the restaurant's first location in Sarasota County. "We're a classic cocktail, classic food kind of restaurant," owner Mike DeGrirolamo told the Herald-Tribune. The Herald-Tribune described the menu as burgers, brunch, cocktails and comfort food.

Taken together, the dates show the order things will finish. The overnight cable work wraps up on October 18 and nesting season on October 31. The Fish House changes will roll out through the coming months, and the north-end road is due in Spring 2027. The Nokomis Beach staging area is the one piece without a confirmed end date.

If you're keeping track of how the north-end road work, the Fish House changes or the Nokomis Beach closures affect your corner of the island this season, Chris Carpenter follows these project updates closely and is glad to talk through what he's seeing. Let's Connect.