Town To Purchase 7-11 Property

Everything appears to be falling into place for the new town hall building at 6231 Estero Boulevard. The latest good news is that 7-11 has accepted the town’s offer to purchase the .37 acre piece of property located right next to the new town hall building.

7 Eleven has accepted the town’s offer to purchase the property at 6221 Estero Boulevard for $1.7 million. The original asking price was $2.5 million. The appraisal the town received on the property was $2.08 million. The town originally offered 7-11 $1.5 million. They countered with $1.8 million, and the town countered again with $1.7 million which 7-11 accepted. The town is now in its due diligence phase with an anticipated closing of September.

The 7-11 lot will be used for employee and resident parking for the new town hall building next door. Mayor Dan Allers says there’s an additional use for the property that he’ll explain on his show Sunday at Wahoo Willie’s.

In April the Fort Myers Beach Town Council took steps to purchase the big green building at 6231 Estero Boulevard for $7 million. The town then had to wait for the Governor to approve the state budget which included $8 million from the State Legislature to help pay for the new town hall building. Governor DeSantis signed the budget in June, with the allocation included, and the town expects to close on that building purchase this month. The town does have some insurance money that will help make up the difference.

The building is almost turnkey ready. The 3-floor 24,000 square foot building sits at the corner of Estero Boulevard and Bahia Via. It’s a storm-hardened structure, having survived the two most recent hurricanes, including Ian. The building would need only minor alterations before the town could move in, hopefully by January 2025. That’s a minor miracle when you hear long it takes to design and build new structures on Fort Myers Beach not to mention how many more millions of dollars it would have cost.

The finished product would include Town Council chambers on one floor with offices on another floor. The purchase is contingent on the owner of the building repairing the elevator, which many people on the beach know has been a major issue.