40 mph wind gusts delay demolition of Brett’s Waterway Café

FERNANDINA BEACH — Wind gusts reaching 40 mph forced the postponement of Monday morning's scheduled demolition of Brett’s Waterway Café, with city officials warning that high winds could send debris into the Amelia River and prevent contractors from containing construction sediment.

Deputy City Manager Glenn Akramoff said the city will decide by noon Monday whether conditions will allow demolition to begin Tuesday. If winds remain too strong, the decision will be made again the following day.

The demolition had been scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday, drawing attention to the removal of the landmark restaurant that operated for 41 years at the foot of Centre Street.

Akramoff said two concerns prompted the postponement: worker safety and environmental protection.

“If we start tearing into that, stuff's going to blow over,” Akramoff said during an interview Monday morning at the demolition site.

He said crews also have been unable to keep a turbidity barrier in place because of the strong winds. The barrier is intended to contain sediment and debris within the construction area and prevent them from spreading into surrounding waters.

“We can't keep our turbidity barrier in place because the wind keeps blowing it out of place,” Akramoff said. “They've been working on it all morning and can't keep it in there.”

The city must comply with environmental permit requirements that restrict impacts outside the designated work area.

Akramoff said wind gusts of 15 to 20 mph would be more manageable for the demolition crew.

“If it dies down and it's — I mean, we see gusts 15 to 20, we can do it,” he said.

The city plans to evaluate the forecast at noon each day to determine whether to mobilize demolition crews the following morning.

Unlike the recent demolition of Atlantic Seafood on the downtown waterfront, Brett's will be dismantled slowly, with contractors removing small sections of the building rather than bringing down large portions at once.

“It's going to take 20 to 30 days because we're going to go very slow,” Akramoff said.

The demolition will begin on the north side of the restaurant, closest to land, and proceed toward the portion extending over the Amelia River.

Contractors will use excavators to remove the structure piece by piece, working carefully to avoid an uncontrolled collapse into the water.

“We also don't know what's underneath, and we don't want it to collapse,” Akramoff said.

He described the planned demolition as a series of small, controlled removals.

“You'll see him (the equipment operator) taking just little pieces, little bites,” he said.

The work presents challenges not encountered during the demolition of Atlantic Seafood or other downtown buildings constructed entirely on land.

Brett's extends over the river on a deteriorating system of concrete and steel supports. The condition of those supports has been a source of controversy for years.

Akramoff said a recent video inspection beneath the restaurant revealed that some steel beams are no longer in place.

“You can see some of the steel beams are missing and have fallen,” he said.

Other beams remain, leaving contractors to determine how much structural support is intact as demolition progresses.

The inspection was conducted as part of an effort to document the building before its removal. Akramoff said the city's historian, identified as Bob Allison, had gone beneath the structure to record video of its condition.

The uncertain condition of the supports is one reason contractors intend to work from above rather than enter the water beneath the building.

Akramoff said excavator operators will proceed cautiously to avoid a collapse that could endanger workers or damage surrounding marina facilities.

The postponement adds another chapter to the prolonged effort to remove Brett's, which closed Oct. 4, 2025, after 41 years of waterfront dining.

The restaurant became the center of a dispute between the city and its operators after engineers identified serious deterioration in the concrete structure supporting the building.

In July 2021, the city declared the restaurant structurally unsafe, citing the active collapse of a concrete double-tee structural member beneath the building.

Engineering inspections identified deteriorating concrete, exposed prestressing strands and other deficiencies that raised concerns about the structure's ability to withstand severe weather.

The restaurant's operators challenged the city's actions, and the disagreement over repairs, responsibility and continued operation extended over several years.

The restaurant eventually closed in October 2025, leaving one of downtown Fernandina Beach's most recognizable waterfront buildings vacant.

The structural problems also complicated the city's plans for redevelopment of the waterfront.

During a July presentation on the marina reconstruction, Passero Associates CEO Andrew Holesko said concrete from an earlier waterfront structure had been left in place when Brett's was built.

“When the city demolished the teepee and built Brett's, it didn't take out the concrete structure ... that's actually what's been falling into the river for decades,” Holesko said.

Akramoff warned commissioners at the time that contractors could encounter unforeseen conditions beneath the building and along the deteriorating bulkhead.

“We are going to find things that we don't necessarily know about. Even though we told them (contractors) to plan, there are going to be some change orders,” he said.

The city included construction contingencies to address those unknown conditions, including a 15% contingency for high-risk seawall excavation and 10% for other portions of the project.

The demolition is part of the city's $12.58 million redevelopment of Fernandina Harbor Marina, the largest capital construction project in Fernandina Beach's history.

The City Commission approved the project July 21, awarding a roughly $9.66 million construction contract to Baker Design Build.

The redevelopment includes removal of Brett's and its deteriorating support structure, replacement of the aging bulkhead, expanded dredging, new marina facilities and construction of a public pier extending into the Amelia River.

More than 60 aging pilings are scheduled for removal, and the dredging area has expanded to nearly three times the size originally proposed.

The new public pier will be aligned more closely with Centre Street, opening views of the river and creating a direct pedestrian connection between downtown and the waterfront.

The project also includes new floating docks, gangways, fuel distribution facilities and improvements intended to strengthen the waterfront against tidal flooding and storm surge.

The marina is expected to remain operational during construction, although some boats and services will be relocated as work progresses.

The city's previously announced construction schedule called for completion by Dec. 3, 2027.

For now, the immediate obstacle is the weather.

Akramoff said the city does not want to repeatedly mobilize demolition crews only to have high winds force another shutdown.

“We'll make the call each day at the noon the day before,” he said.