The owner of Kilwins Chocolates will go before the Local Planning Agency Tuesday with a plan to rebuild his location in Times Square. Kilwins was located on .03 acres of property next to Bella Mozzarella before it was swallowed like a grape by Hurricane Ian.
Not a single new project has come before the LPA for consideration in the three years since Ian. Owner Carlos Chavez is requesting a Development Agreement to redevelop the property as a mixed-use with retail at ground level and residential above.
The Neighborhood Company will pitch the building, which was designed by Studio AD Architect, to the LPA. They will be asking for approval for a 3-story mixed-use building with an open ground floor for mobile ice cream vending with the second and third floors used for one bedroom residence. The entire property is only 1,119 square feet.
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A lot size of .03 acres is 1308 square feet of land. After all the building regulations required good luck building anything the owner, town and the public like or approve.
I see a lot of b*tching and moaning in the comments about lodging included in new Times Square redevelopment. It will NEVER be as it was as these owners now have the very restrictive 2025 building codes to adhere to. Utilizing the upper floors with lodging helps with construction costs and cash flow during the non-season.
It sounds like it’s only one 1br residence. If the entire building is only 1119 sq. ft. I can’t imagine that it would be more. Maybe the owners want it for themselves.
More residential? C’mon people like is this really necessary! We need businesses down there and we need restaurants and bars and Santini Plaza Santini used to have five or six restaurants across the street you had Pinchers then you had the tiki bar out there’s nothing on this end but condos and now you want to add residential to the Times Square area to bring in more congestion and traffic. I just don’t get it.
There has always been residences there. You just didn’t know it. Ask me how I know…..
Here we go again. People with zero investment trying to tell the owners what they can and can not build. Maybe the property owners want the residence portion for themselves.
Maybe, and maybe if owners would start thinking about what would benefit Fort Myers Beach residents as well as themselves, more proposals would be embraced. Most of the people who oppose these proposals DO have investment.
This is great. It’s a start, and he isn’t asking for anything outrageous. It’s just a great first step. It’s a little step, but it’s a step. My two cents:)
More condos. We would love to have business back. An open floor movil ice cream is nothing like Kilwins was. This whole building is condos. What a waste.
“The whole building is condos.”
I guess that’s technically true — but it’s a single 1BR unit. To characterize it as a “whole building of condos” is a bit absurd.
Why does every owner of property in Times Square who is looking to rebuild want to put residential or lodging in their plans? This is the PRIME commercial area for the town that draws the most tourists and local visitors. Shops and restaurants on upper levels (as well as mobile offerings on the ground level) would be a huge draw for people in the area. I’m pretty confident most people don’t want residential and lodging versus commercial development in Times Square.
IMO, It’s simple , the new retail businesses can’t offset the investment in the new structure in any reasonable time period – the 4 units upstairs (500 sq ft studios) would more than offset the cost of the rebuild and within 1 yr .