After four and half years and a revolving-door of chefs and employees, owner Tommy Lee Cook has given up on The Hut.
“I’m planning to sell it,” Cook said. “I really want to find a right buyer for it.”
The Hut property is at 5150 Buckingham Road in east Lee County, served its last customers in early June. At first, Cook planned to take a summer break and reopen in the fall.
But as weeks passed, and Cook realized it was time to let go.
Cook bought The Hut in late 2011, embarking on an ambitious renovation project that resurrected this dilapidated, 8,200-square-foot building and its almost 4 acres of historic surrounding gardens. Cook and his crews built new boardwalks and decks, refurbished the pond and waterfall, and hired a local artist to create murals of Florida wildlife for the main dining room’s walls.
At The Hut’s peak, Cook had 40 employees and 250 seats.
The Hut’s history dates back to Thomas Edison’s day when German mariner Edwin Peace built the home. As legend goes, Peace created a series of tropical gardens around the then-20-plus-acre property in an attempt to please his Tahitian bride.
Currently the asking price is $2.3 million. “It’s a very unique rural property in close proximity to a lot of demographics,” said Gary Tasman, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Property Southwest Florida, and listing agent for the sale.
Peace’s home became a restaurant in 1973. It had its ups and downs, going from neighborhood hot spot to dive bar, closing and reopening and closing again. The building sat empty for two years before Cook came along, purchasing the property for $660,000 in November 2011 according to Lee County records.
Cook still sees potential in The Hut. “I think the right person can come in and do the right thing with it, weddings and parties and events. The right person can do really well here,” Cook said. “It’s just not me.”