Florida’s popular ‘Beer Can Island’ up for sale

After six months of tracking down the owner of a small island in Tampa Bay, Florida, Russell Loomis bought the marooned 9 acres for $63,500 in December 2017. Little did he know it was an infamous party destination.

“I had no idea how popular this place was with the boating community,” Loomis said. “Come early February, early March ... every weekend or every nice weather day, the island was completely surrounded by hundreds of boats and hundreds of people up on the island.” The spot goes by many names – Pine Key and Paradise Island, among them – but most popularly by “Beer Can Island.”

Loomis pooled money with some friends, including Cole Weaver, with the hopes of operating a floating tiki bar off its shores. But over the past six years, they’ve turned it into much more. But now, they’re closing in on a deal to pass the island and its visitors to the next owners.

“We’re all entrepreneurs, and we’ve done what we could do with the island,” Weaver said, rattling off the weddings, concerts and food and beverage services they brought to the island. “It’s just time for us to pass the torch to somebody who can come in and make the island bigger.” Weaver said when they first bought the island, he camped out there for 100 days straight helping out with the bar, socializing with the onslaught of visitors and growing a big “Cast Away” beard in the meantime. He remembers most fondly the variety of people the island attracted, including professional athletes, politicians and people whose families had been going there for up to seven generations.

Loomis said they set up a membership system to allow people to purchase liquor from their bar. The memberships range from $9 a month to $499 for three years, and Loomis said they ended up with approximately 4,500 members. They closed Beer Can Island to the public in February of this year and listed it for $14.2 million. Officials have raised concerns about emergency accessibility, local outlets reported, and a man drowned on the island in 2023. “Unfortunately, those things can happen anywhere,” Loomis said, adding that the island is safer with staff who were trained in providing aid than if it was left uninhabited with the flow of visitors.

USA TODAY

PROVIDED BY COLE WEAVER AND RUSSELL LOOMIS/BEER CAN ISLAND Boats float near an island in Tampa Bay, Fla., known as “Beer Can Island.” The land was listed for sale for $14.2 million in February.