Millers acquire Beach United Methodist Church

Dawn and Mike Miller, the owners of The Whale, have acquired the Beach United Methodist Church property on Bay Road.

The Millers, who also-co-founded the local business group What’s Up FMB, closed on the property on Wednesday for an undisclosed price that hasn’t yet been officially posted publicly by the Lee County Property Appraiser’s office.

The property, located across from Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, has been vacant since being hit hard by Hurricane Ian.

Mrs. Miller said the building will need to be gutted and requires a lot of work, including a new roof. The building is located behind the Fort Myers Beach Library and near where the Myerside hotel is planned for.

Mrs. Miller has reached out on her Facebook page for the public’s input on what they would like to see go there. “We are getting a lot of feedback,” she said.

Miller said she would ideally like to lease it out for medical offices and beauty salon space.

“We don’t intend to take the building down,” Miller said. “We want to keep the building the way it is, and restore it the best we can.”

Miller said the building looks like it took about 12 feet of water from Hurricane Ian, and said little work has been done since. “We need to assess the damage and figure all that out,” she said. “The plan is to try and keep the building and keep the look of it and just make it something cool for the community.”

Miller said there has been a lot of input from people on Facebook on what to do with the property. She has ruled out any alcohol-related uses, citing its location near the elementary school.

The Millers have been busy, having reopened The Whale late last year. They are also working on opening Sandy Bottom’s, which could potentially be ready by the end of the year. They also purchased the old fire station off Donora Boulevard, which they are still considering their options for.

Meanwhile, they have been busy with What’s Up FMB, successfully leading a fundraising effort to collect funds to put on a Fourth of July fireworks shows and parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. They also helped organize an ongoing Island Charm Crawl with local businesses, with new collectible bags expected in three weeks after the first 500 bags sold out. Miller said they are also planning a “mullet madness” event later this summer.

The loss of Beach United Methodist Church follows the 2024 dissolution of Chapel by the Sea, a Presbyterian Church congregation on Fort Myers Beach whose building was also struck hard by Hurricane Ian in 2022.