Lighthouse Upgrades Approved By Town Council

The Fort Myers Beach Town Council has unanimously approved renovations, upgrades and a new building planned for the Lighthouse Resort. The Lighthouse, located at the base of the Matanzas Pass Bridge, has been owned by the Kolar family for over 60 years.

The resort will go from the current 75 units to 130 when completed. An additional building adjacent to the Matanzas Pass Bridge will include a new pool and restaurant that is open to the public.

The Kolar family will also modernize the look of the current buildings on the property today and convert a pebbled walkway between their property and the bridge into a mini lighted park that’s much safer for people to navigate their way from the bridge to Old San Carlos. 

The Kolar family is now in its 4th generation of ownership of The Lighthouse. Each generation has improved the property for the next generation. The Kolar’s also own Yucatan which was part of the property before the Matanzas Pass Bridge was built. In fact some of the property the Kolar’s owned was eminent domained in the late 70’s to build the bridge which now cuts through the property they once owned.

The upgrades and improvements also include reducing the retail space on the property from 5,000 square feet to 500 square feet. 

There is one more public hearing on June 16th before the process can move forward, however there were very few questions from the Town Council this week, the LPA voted 7-0 to approve this month and there has been nothing but support from the community for the project.

You could hear a little of excitement about the project leave the room when Kolar said that this plan was two years in the making and it’s unlikely he would be able to break ground on the new building for at least three years.