FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Fort Myers City Council has approved a nearly $12 million deal to develop the old News-Press site and Fire Station 1.
The plan includes housing, office space, stores, parking garages and more.
“I would like to move forward with the motion as written for the purchase and sale agreement for the $11.5 million to Catalyst,” said Darla Bonk, Fort Myers City Councilmember for Ward 6.
Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo talked to the developer about the impact this project could have on downtown Fort Myers:
Monday, the city council approved the purchase and sale agreement as well as the development agreement to pay Catalyst Community Development $11.5 million for a mixed-use redevelopment project at 2442 and 2404 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
“Hopefully it’s the beginning of what can be 10-15 years of redevelopment of downtown,” said Catalyst Community Development President Joe Bonora.
The project will include at least 580 residential units, up to 50,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel, a 24,000 square foot grocery store, two parking garages, a public gathering space and up to 150,000 square feet of office space.
“There’s been no new office buildings built in downtown Fort Myers in I can’t tell you when, because I don’t remember,” Bonora explained. “It’s been more than 30 years.”
Bonora said they will also be setting aside 56 units for workforce housing.
“Bring in a diverse mix of people that work down here that can also live here, spend money here,” he said.
While plenty of citizens at the meeting applauded the move, others, like Dr. Aaron Howard, who owns property next to the development site, asked for a 60-day extension on the decision to help find a project even more community-centered. Ward 3 Councilmember Terolyn Watson was in support of the pause.
“I think it would be a disservice to the tax payers not to try and get the best offer and the best project that we can,” she said.
But her fellow councilmembers decided otherwise.
Bonora said they want to begin the planing and design phase in the next six months with a goal of breaking ground in 2027 at the earliest.
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