TAMPA BAY, Fla. – A party island in Tampa Bay was listed for sale last month at $14.2 million. Now, the owners want to re-open the island with a new concept, but they face the task of cleaning it up from rampant vandalism and trespassing in the six months it has been shut down. 

Pine Key Island, known by Tampa Bay locals as Beer Can Island, has been a popular party spot for decades. Co-owners Cole Weaver, Russell Loomis, James West and John Anthony Gadd first purchased the island in 2017 for $64,000 as a place to store their motorized tiki bar after it became a party venue for rent.

“Owning a private island, it’s everybody’s dream,” Loomis said. “But at the end of the day, logistics can be a little much, of course, being two miles offshore.”

But since they closed the island and no longer have staff, they say there have been hundreds of trespassers and all the storage sheds have been broken into, resulting in property damage, vandalism and the theft of tens of thousands of dollars of equipment, including speakers and generators.

Loomis told Fox News Digital that he and his friend didn’t know what they were getting into when they bought the property in 2017.  

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“We had no idea that it was such a popular boating destination and party destination,” he said. “Once we bought it, slowly we learned that, and it’s been a crazy ride ever since.”

After they purchased the island, many locals, who enjoyed unfettered access to it, were unhappy that the owners planned to upgrade it with toilets, alcohol sales, food service, security, recreational activities, camping grounds and VIP areas that required paid memberships during parties.

Now, they’re offering 1,500 people the opportunity to own a slice of Beer Can Island for $1,000 a share. The proceeds will go toward expenses like zoning, attorneys, architects, engineers, landscaping, breakwaters, sand replenishment and rebuilding the tiki bar. 

The iconic nine-acre manmade island, which has been a party spot for decades dating back to the 1940s, includes another 60 acres of surrounding submerged land in the middle of Tampa Bay between MacDill Air Force Base and Apollo Beach, according to a press release announcing the island was on the market.  

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“Even though the island is closed to the public, hundreds of boats visit the island every weekend, including dozens of trespassers who roam the island daily,” Loomis said. “Since people have been partying for decades, it’s impossible to keep people off the island without staff or police there.”

The property isn’t zoned even though it’s located in unincorporated Hillsborough County, which Loomis said has posed numerous problems. Since purchasing the island, the owners have engaged with local officials on how it should be zoned.

“We’re having to jump through a lot of hoops to actually get the property zoned the way that we want, and that’s something we’re working on as we speak,” he said. “What we want to do is get the community involved, and they can purchase shares from us.”

Weaver said he and his co-owners have a lot of work ahead, but they’ve been there before and are determined to clean it up.

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“Getting all of this back into place and being able to make it an enjoyable destination for the Tampa Bay would be kind of what we’re shooting for right now, to beautify the island, get the tiki hut back up and running and then keep the trash and the vandalism and that kind of stuff under control where we have security and that stuff going on,” he said. 

Fox News’ Ramiro Vargas contributed to this report. 

Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.

A 48-year-old Georgia man charged with murdering 23-year-old first-year law student Tara Louise Baker and setting fire to her apartment 23 years ago has been denied bond in Athens. 

Edrick Lamont Faust has been charged with murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, arson, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, tampering with evidence, and one count of aggravated sodomy, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). 

He was booked into the Athens-Clarke County Jail.

Baker was found dead in her apartment on Jan. 19, 2001, after first responders were called there because of a fire that was discovered to be arson. 

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In September, the GBI’s cold case unit partnered with Athens-Clarke County police to “conduct an in-depth review and analysis of the ongoing investigation into Baker’s death.”

Faust was arrested on Thursday. 

“Tara Louise Baker was a hardworking student with a bright future ahead of her,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said in a statement. “Tara’s life was stolen from her in a horrific act of violence. While this arrest does not bring her back to us, I pray that it helps bring closure to the Baker family as they continue their healing journey.”

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Baker, who would have celebrated her 24th birthday the day after she was found, graduated Cum Laude from Georgia College in Milledgeville in 1998 with two bachelor’s degrees, according to FOX 5. 

Edrick Lamont Faust has been charged with murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, arson, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, tampering with evidence, and one count of aggravated sodomy, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  (Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)

She was last seen alive by friends at the University of Georgia Law School Library on the evening of Jan. 18, and she later called a friend to make sure they had gotten home safely, the station reported. 

“For many years, I have hoped the Baker family would find justice for the loss of Tara,” Jerry Saulters, now Chief of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, said in a statement. “This is a case that has lived with me throughout my career at ACCPD. I remember being there during that horrific time. Seeing this case now full circle, I appreciate the hard work of the detectives, from then and now. Knowing that the evidence collected at that time contributed to the arrest today gives me tremendous pride in all the officers who worked this case over the years.”  

Faust in court this week.  (FOX 5)

Saulters had been an officer at the scene in 2001. 

Governor Brian Kemp praised the work of investigators in charging a suspect in the case this week. 

“Last year, I signed the Coleman-Baker Act so that we can bring closure and justice, far too long deferred, to families like this,” he wrote on X on Thursday after Faust’s arrest. “May Tara’s memory live on through the good work of this Unit.”

Anti-Israel demonstrators gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus on Saturday ahead of the commencement ceremony.

A protest was held at the campus’ Peace and Justice Plaza, where the campus chapter for Students for Justice in Palestine celebrated suspended seniors who participated in the protest at UNC, according to ABC 11.

“We know the movement for the liberation of Palestine is guided by sacrifice and deep love for the people,” Students for Justice in Palestine at UNC said in an Instagram post. “Amnesty for our students is tied to the steadfast struggle against the genocide in Palestine, and we invite you to join us in taking the university back together. BRING YOU KUFFIYEHS. BRING YOUR JOY. BRING YOUR VOICE.”

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After the celebration, the group marched through the campus, carrying picket signs and tents, to the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower near Kenan Memorial Stadium, hours before the 7 p.m. graduation ceremony.

Protesters marched over to the South Building, which houses the Chancellor’s office, where some chanted and others threw red paint on the stairs and placed red handprints on the pillars. Some protesters also wrote on the building using chalk.

A group of several dozen protesters were on the lawn circling the Old Well, where they began chanting as students and families took graduation photos. The demonstrators then held a 15-minute moment of silence in honor of the thousands who have been killed in Gaza since October, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, leading to military retaliation from Israeli forces.

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SEE PHOTOS: Vandalism on campus

“There are a lot of students who are brutalized and arrested and are not able to graduate today,” student protester Samuel Scarborough said at the demonstration. “Students that have been banned from campus. And so the response has been no business as usual, no justice, no peace.”

UNC graduate Alicia Buckminster said: “As a UNC graduate, we were taking our 2020 graduation away from us in high school. So, I just hope and pray that tonight we’ll be able to graduate as a class and celebrate it the correct way.”

Police later moved protesters away from the area.

SEE PHOTOS: Commencement continues

SEE PHOTOS: Clean-up operation

The protest comes after a recent demonstration sparked a clash between anti-Israel protesters and law enforcement at an encampment that was set up in Polk Place. The university said 36 protesters were detained after failing to follow orders to disperse. 

Six of the protesters detained at Polk Place were arrested and charged with trespassing and were later released on a written promise to appear. Three of the protesters arrested are UNC students, while the other three are not affiliated with the university.