PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Punta Gorda’s downtown City Marketplace property is on the market again, with a new plan to bring shops, apartments and a hotel to the vacant property.
The property has sat empty since Hurricane Charley in 2004, and attempts to develop the property since then have failed. The latest was in 2022, when the city’s planning commission voted down a plan and it was withdrawn by the property owner.
Now, the property is back on the market for $12M, and it comes with a revised development design in the works that would bring 270 residential units, more than 17,000 square feet of retail space, a 60-room hotel and a parking garage to the property.
“If you look at all of Southwest Florida, you would be hard pressed to find a better piece of property in the middle of a downtown core that is undeveloped,” said Ashley Bloom, whose firm SVN Commercial Partners is marketing the property.
Bloom said the new plan meets the city’s building requirements and new land development regulations that were passed in last year.
“The site plan as we have it designed, we believe it should meet those zoning criterias and those other issues that the folks at the city wanted,” Bloom explained.
Alina Cosman owns Hipnotique Boutique across Marion Ave. from the property. The view from her store looks directly at the unused land.
“I think it would be lovely to have something there and bring a little bit more life to the city rather than just have this dead space in the middle of town,” Cosman told Fox 4. “I think the more the merrier, and more businesses, more people it will just give us some new life.”
While the plan is exciting, not everyone is sold on the blueprint. Gary Skillicorn cast the dissenting vote on the planning commission in 2022, and said he would like to see more green space incorporated into the site plan.
“My concern is that this, which is really the heart of downtown Punta Gorda, might be turned into wall to wall concrete,” Skillicorn told Fox 4.
Skillicorn said the property could have commerce, while still leaving room for greenspace, potentially even a music venue.
“My recommendation for whoever chooses to develop it is to look for more opportunities to compromise, get something for the people to enjoy,” said Skillicorn. “Make this a destination, leave the green but provide things for the enjoyment of the people, and for the benefit of the neighborhood too."
According to the Interim City Manager Melissa Reichert, the plan is being reviewed for sufficiency by city staff. If the criteria is met, the plan will move to the Development Review Committee.
“We certainly understand some people are opposed to development, but if you really look at the plan I think we could agree that it was done in a very tasteful manner considering how it will fit into the downtown core,” said Bloom.
