Outrigger hotel and condo plans raise questions
A crowd of about 100 people gathered at the DiamondHead Beach Resort to hear from London Bay Development partner Mark Wilson on his company’s $200 million plans for The Outrigger – one of the cornerstone resorts Fort Myers Beach lost to Hurricane Ian.
The plans call for 100 hotel rooms and 50 hotel/condo rooms in a nine-story high building on top of two stories above parking and 46 condo units in a 15-story building along with restaurants, a public linear park, beach bar and a rooftop bar.
While Wilson’s presentation earned some applause, the project also raised questions from the public about the height, traffic, use of canals and the status of the former Charley’s Boat House parcel across the street from The Outrigger.
Wilson and London Bay Development purchased The Outrigger and Charley’s Boat House and Grille for $38.2 million last year and subsequently demolished the buildings. The company also built The Grandview at Bay Beach, a condo tower near Santini Plaza. The Outrigger dates back to the 1960’s.
While the developers are limited under town code to two stories above parking, Wilson plans to pursue a Commercial Planned Development process and ask for up to 15 stories. “We are asking for a large deviation,” Wilson said. “Nobody is going to take this parcel and do a two-story building over parking. It would be a travesty for the land.”
A number of residents who live along the canals near Charley’s Boat House are worried the property’s new owners may want to use the narrow canal for water taxis. It’s an idea that Wilson said the developers were considering. Wilson said a dock could be placed at the former Charley’s Boat House & Grille though he wouldn’t want to allow room for more than one boat there. Residents have also been concerned about a proposed dock down the road at the Beach Theater.
Dennis Alfieri, who lives on Flamingo St., said he was concerned about the possibility of water taxis down the canals that run near his home. Alfieri asked Wilson “How do you propose to access your property with water taxis?”
Wilson said “we have to think this through” and said he wanted to meet to discuss the subject. “One of the opportunities is bringing water access down the canal and having it at the end where there is a dock,” he said. “Clearly if I am one of the people living on the street (along the canals) I am concerned about noise and I am concerned about interruption and I want to make sure it won’t disrupt my lifestyle.” Wilson said he lives on the water and some boaters who pass by are “respectful and some aren’t.” Sometimes, Wilson said, the water traffic near his home is “annoying as hell.”
Bahia Via resident Terrance Murphy said most of the canals are meant to be for residential use and are “a challenge at times even before the storm.” Murphy, a boat owner, said boat traffic on the canal near Charley’s would be a safety issue. He said traffic on Fort Myers Beach roads were just as bad if not worse now than before Ian.
“Traffic has always been an issue on Fort Myers Beach,” Wilson said. Traffic is “probably more of an issue now,” he said. Over the last month, traffic has regularly backed up daily to Publix by the afternoon on Estero Boulevard heading north towards the Matanzas Pass Bridge. “Not any one developer is going to solve this,” Wilson said.
To alleviate traffic concerns, Wilson suggested the encouragement of “bay shuttles” and said the use of the town’s canals could be an answer though he said he understood the community’s concerns. He estimated about 300 parking spaces at the property “plus or minus.” Wilson also talked up a concept that Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt raised at a town council meeting – offering a credit to those who travel to the hotel without their own car.
Wilson said a hotel operator would need to be selected by the company and so the hotel may have a different name than the Outrigger though the developers desire to keep the Outrigger name in some capacity.
How much will it cost to buy a condo? Wilson said the current going rate is about $1,000 a square foot and that condos would range in size from 1,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet. Some of the condo units would be allowed to be used as vacation rentals.
The incorporation of the town in the 1990’s limited the construction of high-rise buildings on Fort Myers Beach though there have been exceptions through the allowance of deviations at sites like Margaritaville and through a development agreement at the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Marina.
Town resident John Koss asked Wilson if he would be willing to do something “low density” with the Charlie’s property “that would be helpful to the community.”
Koss asked if Wilson would be open to a park or a public use with shade. A lot of the town’s landscape and vegetation was lost to Hurricane Ian, he said. “Do I think we are going to create a park? No,” Wilson said. “The land is very valuable.”
Koss said he understood the land is valuable but said Wilson is also “asking for way above and beyond what we are used to giving anybody.”
After the meeting, Koss said “This town literally formed in an effort to fight over-development. I was a little taken back with the immediate dismissal of the presenter in doing something low impact with the Charley’s site if they are granted more height than our current comp plan allows. I am hoping that this developer as well as others understand that allowing the public to use their bathrooms and access the beach through their property to a beach bar they will profit from is not enough of a benefit to our community for what they are asking.”
Wilson said the company doesn’t have an answer yet for exactly what they want to do at the Charley’s site. “Market will demand what we do on Charley’s,” Wilson said. Wilson said he wanted to see how the town bounces back first. “We want to make sure we don’t get too far in front of our skis,” he said.
One place on the property Wilson vowed not to disturb is the wide, expansive white sand in front of The Outrigger. “It’s one of the deepest parts of the beach,” Wilson said.
In order to be resilient enough to withstand a major hurricane, Wilson said the height of the first floor will be above 21 feet. “New buildings like ours will be designed to withstand severe storms,” Wilson said. Wilson said the newest Federal Emergency Management Agency standards worked in Hurricane Ian for the developers. Their Grandview at Bay Beach tower “withstood the storm remarkably well,” Wilson said.
Other aspects of the plans include a café, meeting space, beach showers and restrooms. London Bay is based in Naples and has developed properties throughout Southwest Florida. One resident called the showers a “stellar” addition on mid-island and south, providing needed amenities for that section of town.
Wilson said the public will have “lot of opportunities for input as we go through this process.”
Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce President Jacki Liszak supports the project. Liszak said there was a need for the developer to build higher than the current code.
“They need to go through the process just like everybody else,” Liszak said. “They are going to need extra height because of what we’ve gone through. We need our restaurants back. We need our Outrigger back. We need places to go, especially on the south end of the island.”
Liszak said the company had a good track record. “This is a solid company with a proven history of responsible, aesthetically pleasing projects,” she said.