09/01/2026
To our incredible community,
For generations, this property has been a place where friends gather, families celebrate, visitors become regulars, and countless memories are made.
For many longtime locals and visitors, those memories are tied to JD’s Restaurant & Lounge. More recently, following the 2024 hurricane season, we reopened the property as Monstah Lobstah IRB and started a new chapter while continuing the history that has made this location so special.
Today, we want to share what comes next.
Beginning Monday, September 7th, Monstah Lobstah IRB will close as we prepare to rebuild the property from the ground up.
Like so many businesses along Florida’s Gulf Coast, our building sustained significant damage during the 2024 hurricane season. We worked hard to make the repairs needed to reopen and have continued investing in the property ever since.
The reality is that we are operating in an aging coastal building that continues to need significant repairs and remains vulnerable to flooding, future storms, and additional damage.
After a lot of evaluation and conversations with our contractor and architects, it became clear that continuing to repair and protect the existing structure would keep us in a cycle of temporary fixes without addressing the bigger issue.
We believe the best long-term decision is to rebuild.
This was not an easy decision. 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.
Our goal is not to erase that history. We want to carry the best parts of it forward while creating a stronger, safer building that can serve this community for generations to come.
We are excited to share a first look at what we have planned.
The new Monstah Lobstah IRB will be a multi-level restaurant designed specifically for our coastal environment and built with the future in mind. Built with stairs and an elevator.
We are also especially excited to bring an important part of this property’s history back in a new way.
The rooftop will become JD’s Rooftop Bar, a dedicated space that brings back some of what everyone loved about JD’s, including live music, dancing, and piano nights upstairs. With 360-degree views of the beach and Intracoastal waterways, the rooftop will also feature historic photos, preserved pieces from the original JD’s, and a few surprises to celebrate its history.
JD’s Rooftop will give us a chance to celebrate the past while continuing to create new memories for years to come.
Before we say goodbye to the current building, we want to celebrate everything that has happened inside these walls with all of you.
Please join us for our 4-Day Send-Off Celebration from Thursday, September 3rd through Sunday, September 6th, before we close our doors on Monday, September 7th.
During the celebration, guests will have the opportunity to leave memories, messages, and well wishes on one of the restaurant walls. That piece of the building will be carefully preserved and incorporated into the new restaurant as a permanent reminder of the people and community who have made this property what it is.
And while the building may be changing, our team is not going anywhere.
Our team members will have opportunities to continue working throughout our family of sister restaurants while construction is underway. We hope you will continue to visit and support them until we can welcome everyone back home.
We know one of the biggest questions will be how long the rebuild will take. Right now, we simply do not have an exact answer.
There are still permits and approvals that need to happen before construction can move forward, and those timelines are not entirely in our hands. As we know more, you will know more.
We will keep everyone updated through our social media pages as permits are approved, construction begins, and we get a better idea of when we will be able to reopen.
We know there will be mixed emotions when a familiar place changes, and we understand that. But this decision is ultimately about making sure this property has a future.
We will not sit by and allow another powerful storm to displace our team and guests or put this property at risk again. Instead, we are choosing to make a long-term investment in this location, our team, and the community we have been a part of for nearly 50 years and are proud to continue serving.
This is not goodbye to the history of this property.
It is the next chapter.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported JD’s, Monstah Lobstah IRB, and this property through the years. We cannot wait to celebrate what comes next with all of you.
Here’s to the memories already made and all the new ones still ahead.
If you currently have a Monstah Lobstah IRB gift card, bonus voucher, or rewards, don’t worry. It will still be good!
During construction, Monstah Lobstah IRB gift cards, bonus vouchers, and rewards will be honored at all of our sister restaurant locations. You can find our family of sister restaurants at www.crabbybillsfamilybrands.com.
You can also hold onto your gift cards and bonus vouchers and use them right here at Monstah Lobstah IRB when we reopen.
We appreciate your continued support and look forward to serving you throughout the rebuild and welcoming you back when our new doors open!
With gratitude,
The Monstah Lobstah IRB Team
