Royal Beach Club Will Not Be Rebuilt

Earlier this week the membership of the Royal Beach Club located at 800 Estero Boulevard on the north end of the island, voted not to rebuild their 3 buildings. The reason: too costly. The members originally voted to rebuild back in 2023.

Board President George Andrew said, “Based on the overall cost to rebuild, increased insurance & property taxes alone, the annual HOA fee would be much higher than what it has been and didn’t make sense. It all came down to dollars and cents and what the wiser choice was.”

In the Summer of 2023 the wheels were in motion to rebuild RBC after the membership voted in favor. Then the reality of how much it would cost set in and it was finally decided this week that it just couldn’t be done. 2023 estimates came in at just under $16 million. As many developers have pointed out, as time goes on, construction costs never come down so it’s likely the rebuild cost would be much more today.

Royal Beach Club sits on 1.7 acres of property just north of Lynn Hall Park. There were 3 structures pre-Ian, two buildings with a total of 11 condo units and one building with 16 timeshare units. There were about 460 timeshare owners.

Melinda Griffith is from Georgia. She said it was a sad day hearing Royal Beach Club would not be rebuilt. “My husband and I have been timeshare owners at RBC for 42 years if I remember correctly. In all those years we only missed coming down to FMB twice to use our weeks. One year was when our only child was born and the other year was when she was married. My daughter and her husband loved it so much that they even bought weeks. We met so many friends over the years there and are saddened it is gone.”

Unfortunately the way the bylaws were written ownership cannot be separated out so, for example, the condo buildings could be rebuilt. Everyone in the ownership group had an equal say and it just became too much money for those on the timeshare side.

The association had a chance to revise their bylaws 7 years ago which would have separated the two sides out and saved them from this very event if the condo owners wanted to rebuild. However, they chose not to change them and now, after ____ years on Fort Myers Beach, Royal Beach Club will not return.

The buildings were taken down and the lot cleared shortly after Ian. At some point the Royal Beach Club board will hire a real estate broker and the property will go up for sale.