It’s been nine long years in the making, with several false starts and an extended pause during the pandemic, but Tradewinds 41, a tiki bar-themed restaurant, seems finally about to open on Royal Palm Pointe.

Though a chain link construction fence is still in place, the restaurant and two-story tiki hut look finished from the outside, crisp and attractive.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally at the very end of it,” said businessman Tim Girard of the upscale-but-casual waterside eatery. “We’re confident we’ll get well over the finish line in August.”

Andrew Glowacki at the Indian River County Building Division confirmed that all inspections at the property are now completed and the project is fully permitted.

Girard named his restaurant Trade- winds 41 in homage to a popular eatery, simply called simply 41, that longtime Vero Beach residents will remember in that location. After that, the restaurant in that spot was called Ellie’s and then Dockside operated there from 2008 until shortly before Girard bought the building in April 2016 for $1.84 million.

Since then, he has constructed a two-story, 2,575-square-foot chickee hut tiki bar with authentic details on the water and performed major renovations inside.

The restaurant will seat up to 240 people, and the menu will feature a mixture of seafood, beef, pork and poultry dishes. A centerpiece of the kitchen is an Argentine Asador grill, which features open-fire cooking for a unique, flavorful style of grilling.

Many in Vero Beach will be familiar with Nick Schisler, the man Girard has tapped to serve as executive chef. Schisler worked just down the street as sous chef for Joe Faria at Quail Valley’s fine dining operation at The Pointe, from 2020 to 2022.

Schisler brings more than 20 years of experience in some of the country’s finest kitchens, working under top chefs like the late Charlie Trotter, who ran his eponymous restaurant in Chicago for 25 years.

Schisler said his menu for Trade-winds 41 will feature about 80 percent seafood, including grilled oysters and octopus, calamari and finfish. The rest will be beef steaks, some wagyu, fowl and pork. To start, the restaurant will serve five lunches and five dinners per week. Once the operation gets its legs under it, Schisler will expand that to seven dinners per week, six lunches from Monday through Saturday, and a Sunday brunch, he said.

The tiki bar also has outdoor seating for dining al fresco, and the dock on the canal has slips for up to 12 vessels, for guests who want to cruise over to dine.

“The water is deep there, too. At least 5 feet deep at low tide,” Girard said, so the dock can accommodate fairly large vessels.

Girard plans to provide full dinner service until 9 p.m., with a small bites menu after that. Some earlier grumblings from neighbors concerned about noise were quelled once Girard decided not to feature music in the tiki bar. “The focus is on the food and the waterfront atmosphere,” he said.