Fort Myers Beach LPA unanimously approves Silver Sands hotel project
The Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency voted today to unanimously to recommend approval of a 60-unit hotel on a .74 acre lot at the former Silver Sands resort property on Estero Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach. TPI-FMB Suites LLC is seeking 11 deviations from the town’s Land Development Code, including a rezoning as part of a Comprehensive Planned Development. The property is owned by TPI, the developers of Margaritaville Beach Resort, and sits across the street from the Margaritaville Beach Resort. The project still needs approval from the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council.
Tom Torgerson, who helped build Margaritaville, said the new 60-room hotel will be separate from Margaritaville though guests will have access to all of the facilities at Margaritaville, including the pool. Torgerson, who is working with John Dammermann of TPI to build the project, said the hotel would act quasi-independently of Margaritaville, though guests would have access to all of the amenities at Margaritaville and could put charges at Margaritaville on their Silver Sands Resort room bill.
TPI acquired the Silver Sands property on Estero Boulevard in 2023 for $7.1 million, months after the cottages on site were destroyed by Hurricane Ian. There were 22 cottages and a pool at Silver Sands before Hurricane Ian, with the property dating back to the 1920’s.
TPI initially announced plans to build a resort on the lot but a year after purchasing the .74 acre lot at 1207 Estero Boulevard, TPI-FMB put the land up for sale, asking $9.9 million.
“Guests will have access to every amenity at Margaritaville, the gym and wellness classes, the beach club, the chairs on the beach, the spa, all restaurants and bars, be able to make all Margaritaville charges to their Silver Sands room, etc.,” Torgerson said in an email.
Torgerson’s plan is to build a 5 1/2 story building, which would need a deviation from town code, which limits the height to four stories (three stories over one floor of parking). According to renderings, the pool would be on the roof of the hotel overlooking Estero Boulevard.
The rooms would be larger than Margaritaville, with square footage between 600 to 900 square feet. The rooms at Margaritaville are approximately 350 square feet, Torgerson said.
The first floor would be for parking. Renderings also show retail space on the first floor. Torgerson said TPI would lease out space for a retail shop. He said there would be no bars or restaurants at the hotel.
The Silver Sands property is currently being used as an office for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, as well as for parking for employees of Margaritaville Beach Resort.
Under the plans related by Torgerson, there would be 46 parking spaces on site, which would also require a deviation from parking requirements in the town’s land development code. Parking has been a constant issue downtown.
The property is located at the busy intersection of Estero Boulevard and Primo Drive. On the other side of Primo Drive facing Estero Boulevard, is The Whale. When the Whale rebuild was approved, town council waived parking requirements under the town code.
The project has raised objections from neighbors along Primo Drive, a narrow street that runs between where the Silver Sands would go and The Whale.
Former Fort Myers Beach Mayor Tracey Gore, who has lived on Primo Drive for approximately 30 years, wrote a letter to the Local Planning Agency, detailing a number of criticisms to the plans.
Gore said that “60 units in a six-story building where there used to be quaint cottages on less that 3/4 of an acre that use to be home to cozy cottages holding 20-22 units is way out of scale for this neighborhood. The height would be taller than Margaritaville, which was not supposed to set a precedent, yet the planner uses it as a precedent.”
In her letter, Gore wrote “We all live somewhere on this island, and as you are well aware, we are all trying to protect the street we live on,” Gore wrote. ” Many of my voting resident neighbors are at their summer homes. Anita is aware of who they are and how tired they are of constantly having to fight to protect our neighborhood.”
Gore sent photos to the LPA of cars blocking Primo Drive currently and fears the situation will grow worse with the limited parking planned for Margaritaville. The Fort Myers Beach Council previously granted deviations from parking for The Whale, where there is limited parking as well.
Gore objected to the plans for deviation from town code for parking. The hotel is seeking just 46 parking spaces on the property.
Gore said the planning consultant said vehicles used to back out on Primo Drive from the pre-Ian Siver Sands cottages and that this new plan will be better. “He is wrong… they were little cottages with driveways, and I think there were four, maybe five on Primo side. About 20 rental units in all, not 60 and not six stories tall. This request, as is, is too dense and too intense for this little street.”
The project was better received by the Local Planning Agency (LPA) than London Bay’s Outrigger Beach Resort project, which was rejected by the LPA last month. That project is also seeking deviations from town code and requires Town Council approval.
Rather than the rigorous two-meeting review that the Outrigger project received, as well as another project at the former Wyndham Garden Hotel went through earlier in the meeting that lasted more than three hours, the Silver Sands Hotel was approved after approximately one hour of a presentation and discussion by the LPA.
This story will be updated.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com