Annie Blanks @DestinLogAnnie

If you’re a restaurateur looking to claim a slice of the Destin harbor, now might be your chance.

Claude Perry, a local property owner, is building a two-story, 8,000-square-foot building smack dab on the harbor, in between Boathouse Oyster Bar & Grill and Duck Duck, that he plans to turn into a bar and restaurant. Perry said he isn’t going to run the restaurant, but is soliciting offers from restaurateurs to lease the coveted space.

“I do not have a tenant right now,” Perry said Wednesday as he toured the facility currently under construction. “I’m taking my time and looking for a qualified operator. I have lots of interest and lots of people calling me, but I’ve got to find the right person. … What I’m looking for is the correct fit, what I think it can do in the long term to provide good food and beverage and maintain the heritage of this property.”

The project has been a long time coming for Perry, who first submitted plans to the city in 2008. He finally broke ground in late 2016 and said he doesn’t have a deadline for completion now, but is taking his time making sure all the details of the building are just right.

Perry’s biggest concern, he said, is making sure the restaurant fits into the “festive marketplace” atmosphere of the Destin harbor, where he also owns properties on which the Red Door Saloon, the marina, Asiago’s Skillet and Landshark Pizza currently stand.

“This, in my opinion, is a wonderful asset to the festive marketplace and the city has invested a lot of money encouraging people to come here. … We hope to be one of those new businesses that will help generate more people coming to the harbor,” he said. “We are trying to build this so that it will accommodate the market that Destin is currently attracting, but will have the flexibility of growing with the changes that are surely to come.”

Perry envisions people sitting at the bar or at a restaurant table, enjoying sunsets and watching the fishing fleet boats drive by. The two-story property features a portion that juts out over the water, and offers boat slips on both sides for people to tie their boats to.

Kimberly Perry, Claude’s daughter, said her dad is passionate about making Destin a great place to live and visit, and the restaurant is his vision coming to fruition.

“He has such a love and a heart for Destin and its future,” Kimberly said. “He wants this to have its own feel. It is a very special place.”