INDIAN ROCKS BEACH — Monstah Lobstah IRB, the beachfront hangout that locals knew for decades as JD’s Restaurant & Lounge, closed Sept. 7 so its owners can tear down the storm-damaged building and replace it with a multistory restaurant topped by a rooftop bar.
The Loder family, which owns The Original Crabby Bill’s and several other bars and restaurants in the beach community, announced the closing in a Facebook post, saying it plans to rebuild the property from the ground up as “a multi-level restaurant designed specifically for our coastal environment and built with the future in mind.”
The family said repeated repairs were no longer a solution for a building that took heavy damage during the 2024 hurricane season.
“The reality is that we are operating an aging coastal building that continues to need significant repairs and remains vulnerable to flooding, future storms, and additional damage,” the post said. After consulting contractors and architects, the family wrote, it became clear that patching the existing structure “would keep us in a cycle of temporary fixes without addressing the bigger issue.”
The Loders, operating as Crabby Bill’s Family Brands, bought JD’s at 125 Gulf Blvd. for $3.2 million in February 2022 and reopened the indoor space as Monstah Lobstah, a New England-style seafood house built around Maine lobster. The outdoor bar kept the old name — JD’s Back Porch — along with its daily live music. The purchase had drawn pushback from longtime patrons of the quirky beach bar, known for the giant colorful octopus mounted on its roof and for a back patio piano bar, and the family pledged at the time to preserve the lounge’s character despite the name change and a new menu. The Loders also bought the Dunedin waterfront restaurant Bon Appetit in November 2022.
“This was not an easy decision,” the post said. “We understand the history of this property, the memories attached to it, and what change can mean to a community that cares deeply about the places that make Indian Rocks Beach special.”
The goal of the rebuild, the family wrote, “is not to erase that history.”
The top floor is slated to become JD’s Rooftop Bar, moving the Back Porch’s live music, dancing and piano nights upstairs. The building will get new staircases and an elevator. The rooftop will display historic photos and salvaged pieces of the original JD’s, the post said, with views of the Gulf and the Intracoastal Waterway.
“JD’s Rooftop will give us a chance to celebrate the past while continuing to create new memories for years to come,” the post said. “This is not goodbye to the history of this property. This is the next chapter.”
No reopening date has been announced. The owners said employees will be offered work at sister restaurants during construction, and that gift cards, bonus vouchers and other rewards will be honored at those locations, which include the Guilty Sea sports bar, VIP Mexican American Cuisine and Jake’s Coastal Cantina.
The post drew hundreds of comments, many of them wistful.
“Lots of great memories there!!!” Regina Novak Trego wrote. “It will never be the same but looking forward to hanging out at the rooftop bar when it’s done!!!”
For more information, visit crabbybillsfamilybrands.com.