Jolly Roger to be rebuilt by late spring

By Connie Leinbach

The Jolly Roger, located on Silver Lake Harbor, will have a new look and should be back in business by next season.

That’s according to John Van Coutren, who’s overseeing operations with his wife, Hanna, at the property that will now be called the Silver Lake Hotel.

White Design & Construction is the general contractor for the reconstruction of the waterfront restaurant and hotel buildings.

The new owner of the property, Rich Balot of the ABC Family LLC of Greenville, said they are following the redesign plans for the Jolly Roger drawn up by the prior owners.

“We’re using the same footprint to continue the process of getting it permitted,” Balot said in an interview.

Demolition of the old Jolly Roger building, heavily damaged in Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, was done but work continues to shore up the bulkheads and reconstruction will begin as soon as possible, Van Coutren said.

The dock will be renovated and upgraded, Balot said.

“Our goal is to start going up in the next 30 days,” Van Coutren said. April or May of next year is the target date for reopening.

The new Jolly Roger restaurant will be two stories and the quarterdeck will be rebuilt.

As for the hotel, all 22 rooms of the two-story section will be renovated, inside and out, by the time the Jolly Roger is completed.

The three-story building is a little trickier, Van Coutren said, as they are still working on design plans.

But they plan to refashion it into an interior-corridor hotel with an all-story elevator.

The goal is to have between 60 and 70 total rooms.

“We’re also going to add a pool, resurface the parking lot and re-landscape,” Balot added.

He said some of the cedar trees that were taken out were sick.

“There’s one live oak tree that has some issues that we might have to work on, but we’re going to keep the oaks and then add some things,” Balot said. “More of the natural (plants) that’s on the island is our goal.”

The hotel will close down Nov. 8 after which will be full-bore renovation time, he said, and reservations for next year should be available by the end of this year when the hotel’s new website is launched, Balot said.

“Our goal is to get the Jolly back to being an icon for the island like it was for many years,” Balot said. “To its former glory, if not even a little bit better.”

Logos will stay the same.

“We want to bring back the original Jolly spirit,” Van Coutren said. “So why change it?”

Van Coutren and his family are no strangers to the island, have vacationed here over the years and know some people on the island.

“We’re very excited about this and want to be part of the community,” he said.