Pink Shell Beach Resort delivers big plans
Seven-story condo or hotel room tower with public parking garage and 109 rooms part of Fort Myers Beach resort's proposal to town
The owners of the Pink Shell Beach Resort have large ideas for Fort Myers Beach – ambitions its management says are a win-win situation that could help alleviate the town’s longstanding parking issues while benefitting the resort with more rooms for either condos or as hotel guest suites.
The resort has forwarded plans to Town of Fort Myers Beach planning staff to review a seven-story, 109-room proposal that includes three stories for a 200-space public parking garage.
Parking on the Beach was a constant problem during season before Hurricane Ian.
“We have the solution,” Pink Shell Beach Resort General Manager Bill Waichulis said.
The resort’s plans were originally formed before Hurricane Ian though they have recently been sent over to town staff for review. The plans would need to be reviewed by the Local Planning Agency and would require a variance for the added density to the site. The existing Pink Shell Beach Resort is 10 stories high, Waichulis said.
“We started having these conversations with the town manager and council (before Ian),” Waichulis said.
Waichulis said the need for the parking garage is greater now with the development of the Margaritaville project having replaced the large public parking lot that was located downtown at Helmerich Plaza. He said that has led to further traffic past Pink Shell Beach Resort as folks look for a place to park. “When you had Helmerich Plaza you had about 150 parking spots that were down there,” Waichulis said.
The loss of that parking “caused people to drive up and down the Beach to find a parking spot, down to Bowditch (Point Park),” Waichulis said. Those who look to park at Lynn Hall Memorial Park and find it full often will turn down Estero Blvd. towards Bowditch Point Park, which is past the Pink Shell Beach Resort and has less than 20 public parking spaces. Some were also turning into the Pink Shell’s parking lot, Waichulis said.
“We had to hire security guards to guard our parking lot,” Waichulis said.
The cost to construct the parking garage amounts to about $40,000 per space, Waichulis said. That is why the 109, two-bedroom units are needed to generate revenue, he said. Waichulis said those rooms could be condos or hotel guest suites. The hotel and garage would go up on about two acres of property across the street from the Pink Shell Beach Resort’s main building at 275 Estero Blvd.
The hotel currently has 140 parking spaces for its guests at its lot across the street. The new parking garage would be in addition to that lot.
In addition, the Pink Shell Beach Resort is planning to replace four cottages that were destroyed by Hurricane Ian with workforce housing for its employees. Previously, 16 of its employees lived at three of the cottages.
“Workforce housing is essential to the community,” Waichulis said.
The resort’s marina was hard-hit by Hurricane Ian. Waichulis said they are currently putting in pilings for the docks and said the new plans would also make part of the docks open to the public, including a fishing dock.
The plans also include space for a Lee County Sheriff’s Office satellite office and an area where the town could store vehicles during a hurricane evacuation, Waichulis said. There would also be parking for electrical vehicles and charging stations.
Waichulis said if the town doesn’t want the parking garage and opposes the plans, “we will move on with life. We have a parking problem.”
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said he would “reserve comment until I see something that has been submitted to town staff.”
The announcement by Pink Shell Beach Resort follows others big resort plans down the road at Moss Marina to develop the property into three hotels known as Arches Bayfront redevelopment. Margaritaville is expected to open in November and has requested from the town a change to its Comprehensive Development Plan to be released from restrictions to developing its property further than the original 2018 agreement allowed.