VILANO BEACH, Fla. — The infamous Blue House on Vilano Beach has survived numerous hurricanes and storms and is still standing. It used to have a garage and a driveway, but years of storms changed its structure. It's currently listed for sale on Zillow and the listing says the county is requiring it to be torn down.
St. Johns County Commissioner Henry Dean says the home is at risk.
"We have extreme erosion, extreme erosion down the whole coastal highway," Dean said. "We actually had two 500-year storms in a period of 11 months between Matthew and Irma so it's been a challenge for all of us to maintain our beaches in a healthy way."
According to Zillow, the home was listed for sale in March for $1,199,000. A few offers were made, but nothing seemed to stick. In May, the home's price dropped significantly to $575,000. With that, a note says 'Unfortunately the county is requiring the current home to be demolished.'
First Coast News reached out to St. Johns County Code Enforcement but did not hear back Tuesday. James Brown with St. Augustine Realty says the homeowner asked him not to speak about the details, but he did say the home's future was discussed at a county meeting months ago.
In February, St. Johns County code enforcement officials gave the owner two options: to repair the home and keep it up to code or demolish it. The homeowner chose to make the repairs, but allegedly they didn't happen. Dean says he didn't know anything about plans to demolish the home.
"It's entirely up to the homeowner to determine what it is to protect, to enforce or reinforce their foundations and their seawalls. If any house is at great risk, it's up to code enforcement to condemn that house and make sure nobody is occupying it for fear of danger," Dean said.
First Coast News also reached out to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. It says: 'The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has not received an application or any other support materials to demolish this structure.'