“This is a great comeback story,” said Brian Smith, president of the Batiki West Condominium Association.

Like many other condo buildings on Fort Myers Beach, Batiki West was uninhabitable for more than a year after Hurricane Ian. It needed a new roof. It still needs a new elevator.

While many other buildings are still waiting to reopen though, Smith has been able to open Batiki West just in time for condo owners to get a taste of spring on Fort Myers Beach again. Island pastimes like enjoying Fort Myers Beach Lion’s Club Shrimp Festival were once again renewed at the Estero Boulevard property.

“It’s shocking we have gotten this far,” Smith said.

Of the 60 units in the building, 37 are now occupied again. Another 15 are expected to be reoccupied in the next couple of weeks. About 7,000 sheets of drywall have been installed.

The place has come a long way since the storm surge from Hurricane Ian flooded much of the first floor and caused a lot of damage, taking out the sidewalks and damaging the pool.

Despite the damage, the condo building withstood the onslaught from the Category 5 storm largely intact. Located across from the Lani Kai Island Resort, the property is largely shielded from view by landscaping and fencing on prime real estate near the heart of the downtown district. Smith thinks if residents had been allowed back on the island quicker, the roof damage could have been temporarily fixed in time to avoid further harm to condominiums inside.

That’s in the past though. Smith is looking to a bright future.

Smith and the Batiki West are condo owners are fortunate in that they settled with their insurance company on favorable terms – something eluding many Fort Myers Beach condo owners. “They took care of us,” Smith said. “I’m very satisfied.” Smith said their insurance carrier paid out 70% of the insurance funds early on, aiding in the association’s rebuild.

“I feel like I am the lone ranger out here,” Smith said. “I’m not fighting anybody. I’m not fighting the city, the owners, the insurance companies.”

The past 18 months was a stress test that required some heavy duty lifting on Smith’s part that involved him working with contractors and engineers to get the condo building repaired as quickly as possible.

He partnered early on with Belfour Restoration to oversee the general contracting. “We were very fortunate to get them the day after the hurricane,” he said. “If you didn’t start early, you got hung up on.”

At the time Hurricane Ian, most of the condo owners and inhabitants of the building had left though three residences had people staying there. They were all uninjured.

Mike Riccio, spends half the year in Pennsylvania and the other half on Fort Myers Beach in a condo in the building, said his 96-year-old dad’s condo in the building was left uninhabitable after Ian. “We lost everything,” Mr. Riccio said. That included his Chevy Blazer. “He loved that thing.”

Both Riccio’s have now moved back into their condos. The elder Riccio has owned a condo there since the building opened. “He lost a lot of personal stuff,” Riccio said. “We survived. We are lucky that this is just a second home. I feel bad for people who lost their homes and jobs, everything.”

The younger Riccio said he has been coming to Fort Myers Beach since the 1970’s. It’s where he and his wife honeymooned. Back then, there was not much to do, he said.

Vickie Nelson, the association’s vice president, bought a condo in the building after being a longtime vacation renter. She and her husband helped out with repairs at the condo building after Hurricane Ian, assisting in painting the halls and some demo work.

Nelson credited West with saving the building and getting it repaired.

“Not too many people could sacrifice (nearly) two years of their lives to take care of this,” Nelson said. Nelson said Smith’s phone doesn’t stop ringing as he continues to finish up work on the building.

In the early months after Hurricane Ian, Smith said he would average getting 60 calls a day.

Smith said a friendship with another Fort Myers Beach condo owner, Roger Hamilton, helped both see what was going right and what could go wrong by working together.

Smith thanked board members, renters and owners at Batiki West for a team effort to get the building back open.

“They helped me through this whole project, taking many trips down here and have spent endless hours helping,” Smith said. “It’s emotional.”

Like most places on Fort Myers Beach, Batiki West still needs an elevator for its seven floors. Residents are getting some good exercise in the meantime.

“We’re getting there,” Smith said.