Developement Oasis

Developement Oasis

Downtown Fort Myersi left-behind status is yielding new waterfront condominium developments with great vigor o $1 billion worth.

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

What is Jorge Perez doing in Fort Myers? As usual, heis creating a residential development that attracts a lot of attention.

The 55-year-old owner of Miami-based The Related Group of Florida is just off an announced team-up with Donald Trump to build three 45-story condominium towers in Sunny Isles Beach, a community near Miami. The Buenos Aires native runs the nationis third largest Hispanic business, with $1.25 billion in gross annual revenue in 2003 and a real estate portfolio of more than $6 billion. With 400 plus communities to his credit, the developer has so far built sparsely on the West Coast, focusing on Tampa, New Port Richey, Bonita Springs and Naples.

And now Fort Myers?

Absolutely, Perez says. The mostly ignored city offers great opportunity for new development. The Related Group is there to build the $450-million Oasis o five 32-story condominium towers along the waterfront.

But Oasis, formerly called the Yacht Club of Fort Myers, is hardly alone. Downtown Fort Myers is in the middle of a resurgence, at least seven condominium projects will precede the Oasis and there are more on the way.

The importance of this is not lost on Don Paight, executive director of the Fort Myers Downtown Redevelopment Agency. iThe last 18 to 24 months have been incredible,i Paight says. iIt used to be that, outside of city projects, if we were doing $5 million to $7 million a year we were doing pretty good. Now we have about $1 billion worth of projects under construction or in for permitting.i

There are many parallels between Fort Myers and Sarasota to its north 70 miles.

Both have waterfront-based downtowns with similar populations (about 52,000) and are in the midst a condominium resurgence. Both cities also have Andres Duany-drafted downtown master plans focused on new urbanism. In bold strokes, the plans allow greater densities in exchange for developer-provided public amenities.

Fort Myers was much farther behind its sister city in new retail and residential development. Until the 124-unit Beau Rivage started in late 2001, there hadnit been a new large-scale development in the downtown for at least 16 years.

iThis didnit happen overnight,i Paight says.

The turnaround, he says, really started with the infrastructure and planning of the mid-i80s, and he points to the e96-i97 era as the beginning of private investment in downtown. During that time, investors acquired several historic buildings, such as the Kress building The Dean, Patio de Leon and the Collier Arcade.

iWe started seeing people buying older buildings and doing historic rehabilitation,i Paight says. iBut the real turning point came together in late 2001.i

Thatis when work started on a revised downtown masterplan with Duany. But it wasnit really the master plan that kick-started the development; it wasnit even approved until last year.

eiIt was a combination of a having lots of pieces in place and the vision,i Paight says. iPart of that was the name and following that Duany has. But a lot of it was timing.i

Another likely impetus for the extra attention on Fort Myers was the collapse of the stock market in 2000, which led to an increased investment focus on real estate. That trend has led to much of Floridais recent growth.

In 2001, Homes for America Holdings ocurrently Fort Myersi most productive condominium developer to date o announced plans to build Beau Rivage, a 280-foot high, 124-unit condominium. The property was said to be in the wrong location: an area in one of the last downtown regions to see investment during an economic high time and at the end of a one-way road. The city eventually provided incentives for the project by contributing a $3 million tax increment rebate over 12 years requiring the project to be built by a set time.

That project was followed closely by Cypress Club, High Point Place, St. Raphael, St. Tropez and The Vuei.

The Fort Myersi development market entered a new phase in September when Cameratta Properties broke ground on the tallest building in the Gulf Coast region south of Tampa, the 32-story two-building High Point Place.

Eighteen stories, though, is the cityis goal for downtown buildings. To go higher, a project must meet a nine-point criteria, which requires contributions to public improvements and other community benefits. Building heights are also generally limited by a mixture of density limits and building code requirements, including recesses and height limits along sidewalks.

Thirty-two levels iis probably the upper limit though,i says Tammy Hall, a Lee County commissioner and former city councilmember. And she says height is also limited by the Federal Aviation Administration for air traffic safety.

While Newleaf LLC and BAP Development plan to build another 32-story condo development, called Cypress Club, the single largest project planned in the downtown is The Related Groupis Oasis.

Perezis project, a mere block from the official 540-acre downtown redevelopment district, will feature 1,079 condominiums, 5,000 square feet of retail space, a dry dock and a marina. The 16-acre project has received approval from the Fort Myers City Council and now faces four to six months of permitting approvals before construction starts.

One big plus for residents is that the boat storage and marina will remain public along with a new picnic area.

iWe had been looking in downtown Fort Myers for a while and always felt that it was a larger city that in many ways had been bypassed by luxury development,i Perez says. iFort Myers has the basic infrastructure of what can be a really attractive downtown. Itis got beautiful historic building. Itis got street patterns that work. Enough business that you can see that within a short period o a five-year horizon o that there is going to be a redevelopment of the downtown into an area were people can live, work and play.i

Thatis what new urbanism is all about.

The lack of development in downtown Fort Myers ultimately led the city to possess two things that tend to make developers drool: relatively low land prices and available waterfront property.

With a masteris degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan, Perez, who was the head of community development for the city of Miami in the late i70s, knows about new urbanism. Perez says the cityis Duany masterplan is a nice indication of where the city council is leaning, but it was not the dealmaker. What was more important for Perez was finding the right land, getting the proper approvals and being in the market while Fort Myers was still open and relatively inexpensive.

iRight now even though you see some shops and restaurants, (the downtown) is still definitely in its infancy,i Perez says. iIt is not a place where you can go and say, eIive got 20 great restaurants to choose from.i Downtown Naples, even though smaller, will have a greater amount of retail, and its downtown will have a lot of beautiful redevelopment dollars going into it. And thatis what I think you are going to be seeing here over the next few years.i

Paight agrees.

iWe still have a long way to go to fill out the retail,i he says. iWe still need more people living and working here. But that was really what Duany gave us. He made us realize what we had. A lot of times you canit see the forest for the trees. He came in here and painted a picture of what we can do. We donit have to beg for developers to come in. We just need to let it happen.i

Now that The Related Group is in the Fort Myers market, Perez expects the company to develop in other areas of the city.

iWe are looking at some sites where we can build some affordable housing,i he says. iAs a matter of fact, one of our requirements for approval of our development is that we provide a certain number of affordable housing (units), and we want to build those ourselves and provide those ... off-site. So we are looking for sites for your traditional garden apartments, and we are looking for more infill development that doesnit have to be on the water. Cities need to provide housing for everybody, and we like to think of ourselves as the company that does that.i

Perez says the 32-story height will give the property the necessary breathing room, additional foliage and open space the company plans to cultivate.

iTo me the ugliest developments we have seen in Florida ... have been those squatty 10-, 12- or 18-story buildings that cover all the site,i he says.iI have always preferred to see sites that are taller, that have much greater open space. We could have easily achieved this density or greater density with 14-story buildings for example, but the site would have been covered.i

Paight says that rationale was also mirrored by the city council and played a significant part in the cityis approval of some of the taller projects.

Next up on the cityis agenda is the encouragement of more commercial projects in downtown, including a new hotel and a full-service grocery.

iI think we have the deal worked out for that (grocery store),i Paight says.

Hall expects additional commercial interest to follow soon. iYou just have to create the synergy,i she says.

Luxury High-rise Developments proposed in Downtown Fort Myers

NameDeveloperStreetTop storyTotal units

Alta MarTarragon Realty InvestmentsPalm Beach Boulevard7131

Cypress ClubNewleaf LLC and BAP DevelopmentFirst Street32292

First River CondominiumsB.S.R. Engineering & DevelopmentFirst Street32451

High Point PlaceCameratta PropertiesFirst Street32273

Hotel MonacoHomes for America HoldingsFirst Street27220

Legacy HarbourSullivan Florida GroupFirst Street25384

OasisThe Related Group of FloridaRiverside Drive/Palm Beach Boulevard321,079

Ramada Inn RedevelopmentGates McVeyEdwards Drive24488

St. RaphaelHomes for America HoldingsFirst Street27150

St. TropezHomes for America HoldingsFirst Street27150

The VueiThrogmartinCarson Street27189