ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — About seven years in the making, a sailing center in St. Augustine is one big step closer to being built.
Tuesday, demolition started of an old house on the land where the new center will soon be constructed.
"It will all be demolished," Roy Yeager said as he pointed to the demo equipment tearing away at the old house.
Yeager is a former Commodore of the St. Augustine Yacht Club. He said he's been working on creating a sailing center since 2015.
"It has a single focus," Yeager said, "and that is to teach kids the water and waterways and how to be safe on them."
For years, the St. Augustine Yacht Club has had sailing classes for youth, and they're not just for wealthy children.
"We have had kids in here who have said, ‘I never saw the water or the ocean before,'" Yeager noted.
Stanley Paris – founder of the University of St. Augustine and a man who attempted to sail around the world alone -- bought the land next to the St. Augustine Yacht Club near the lighthouse several years ago. He wanted it to be a sailing center for youth, and he wanted and the yacht club to run it.
However, some neighbors pushed back, concerned about extra traffic, parking on the dead end street, and noise if it was also used as an event venue.
After years of back and forth between the city, neighbors, and the yacht club, the city commission unanimously approved plans for the land to become a sailing center.
"It’s not going to be an event venue," Yeager made clear.
And there will be no liquor license. "That was one of the things the city commission was emphatic about," he said.
St. Augustine Yacht Club Commodore Justin Muller told First Coast News, "We’ll have two large classrooms in here. Bathing facilities, showers." He said there will also be a small garage in order to work on boats.
The new building will also be only one story, a concession the yacht club made.
"There will be a whole new dock built out here. You can see some of the old pilings from the original pier for that property," Yeager pointed to Salt Run.
And that dock is a big deal. It will provide direct access to the water. That's something the yacht club does not have right now. Currently, the students have to lug the boats across a parking lot to an often already-busy public boat ramp.
"That's just not ideal," Muller said.
Some neighbors are still not thrilled about the sailing center. However, Yeager said it will benefit the community while teaching children to be independent.
Yeager says the new sailing center is expected to be open by spring of 2024.
Looking at the demolition of the dilapidated house, he said, "It does my heart good to see this progress."