The next big redevelopment project on Fort Myers Beach keeps getting delayed. At the last few Local Planning Agency meetings, town staff seem to indicate that London Bay’s Outrigger property proposal will be on the next monthly agenda. And then, it isn’t. Why?
This project has been years in the making. London Bay came out with its big redevelopment project for The Outrigger property in January of 2024. CEO Mark Wilson went out presenting the plans to residents on the south end looking for support.
He was poised to pitch the plans to LPA in August of 2024 before yanking them from the agenda after a lot of negative written feedback from town staff. A group of residents had also met the night before at Nervous Nellie’s in opposition of the project.
London Bay CEO Mark Wilson circulated this statement: “London Bay has requested an indefinite continuance to their application for 6200 Estero Boulevard, the former location of the Outrigger Beach Resort. This decision allows the team adequate time to address comments in the staff report.”
Wilson and his team went back to the drawing board and revised the original 17-story structure on the property down to 15 and included these public benefits:
– Wave Mitigation Wall
– Public Beach Access and Linear Park with View Corridor
– Publicly Accessible Amenities
– Traffic Mitigation Measures
– Landscaping Improvements
– Beachfront Public Restrooms
– Outrigger Beach Bar
One of the biggest complaints from the vocal opposition has been the height of the buildings and traffic.
The political climate has certainly changed since Wilson started pitching his original plan. There was a successful recall election over Seagate’s plan to redevelop the Red Coconut property. The recall took out Karen Woodson, who voted yes for the project and nearly took out John King, who also voted yes. The third yes vote was Jim Atterholt, who resigned from the Council at the end of last year. That seat will be filled on February 17th.
While they have never publicly stated why they keep delaying their pitch to the LPA, it could be that Wilson is waiting to see how the politics play out.
In the Summer of 2023, London Bay paid $38.2 million for about 10 acres of land including both The Outrigger property and the Charley’s Boathouse property on the other side of Estero Boulevard. London Bay has never revealed any plans for Charley’s, although they did rile up the neighborhood when word leaked out that they might be using a canal to boat people over to any future development they build there.
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