What appeared to be minutes after the agenda for London Bay’s special Tuesday Town Council meeting was posted, CEO Mark Wilson canceled the meeting. Wilson came to the conclusion the Town Council would not vote favorably for his condo/hotel project on the old Outrigger property and now says he’s going with the Live Local Act.
Not long after he pulled the plug on his original plan, Wilson filed a Development Order to move forward wih a plan that includes affordable housing. Based on Florida’s Live Local Act.
The project includes a mixed-use development consisting of 255 multi-family units (153 condominiums and 102 workforce apartments), a hotel (104 rooms), approximately 3,600 square feet of retail space, a 16,230-square-foot beach club, hotel restaurants, and amenity areas. In this drawing, the tallest building is 166 feet.
This project would not need LPA or City Council approval due to the state’s Live Local Act.
Florida’s Live Local Act lets developers bypass local restrictions on density, height and usage for residential projects. In exchange, they must rent 40 percent of their units to households earning no more than 120 percent of the area’s median income and they must maintain the units as rentals for 30 years. The Live Local Act allows administrative approval of multi-family and mixed-use residential development by developers of affordable housing.
London Bay CEO Mark Wilson said back on May 29th: “While the Live Local Act could allow the property to move forward with a more predictable approval path, the result would likely become primarily residential in nature, consisting of for-sale condominiums, affordable rental units and a members-only private beach club; no public access. The public-facing amenities and gathering spaces that defined our original vision would no longer be part of the project, and we believe that would be a real loss to the South end of the island. Once gone, a hotel with these types of public spaces will likely never come back to this location.”
The result of these changes, as of now, no public benefit and no 800 square foot Outrigger Tiki bar, which was in London Bay’s original plan.
Here’s the letter Wilson sent to the Town Council shortly after the meeting was canceled on Wednesday:
Dear Mayor and Town Council Members:
“We are, by this letter, requesting cancellation of the public hearings scheduled for August 5, 2026, for the above referenced Case numbers. Earlier today, we submitted an application for a Development Order under the Live Local Act for the former Outrigger property, and at this time, that is the path we intend to pursue.
We have given much thought to the development of this property, and in doing so, have spent significant amounts of time, resources, and money in creating a plan that we felt not only would be a legacy project for the Town, but would aid significantly in restoring the economic health of Fort Myers Beach.
Over the past 2.5 years, we have met with stakeholders, held public meetings, talked with individual LPA and Council Members, talked with other developers on the island, and worked and reworked the development plan based on feedback received. In April and May of this year, we appeared before the LPA and presented our plan.
We were asked by the LPA to modify the plan to address height, F.A.R., and density concerns. We made the exact modifications that were asked for and reappeared before the LPA. We were also asked to present all by right options for developing the property, including the Live local Act option. Despite making all requested modifications and after presenting the by right development options, the LPA voted 5-2 to deny our application.
Since that time, we have reviewed the current entitlements on the property and what is permitted as a matter of right. It has become clear to us that the current entitlement review process no longer aligns with the project’s economics, and under current conditions, we do not see a path to getting an economically feasible project approved through that process. Given that reality, we have decided to pursue development of the property under the Live Local Act, which allows us to move forward within our existing legal entitlements while avoiding further delay to a project the Town needs.
We appreciate the time each of you has given to this process and look forward to the next chapter for Fort Myers Beach.”
Mark Wilson
CEO
London Bay
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The Town Council has approved every large development that how’s come before it, not with standing any denial of recommendation by the LPA or objection by the residence. It is not the fault of the Town Council that these developments have not moved forward. Why don’t all you keyboard critics focus your vitriol on the developers who have refused to move forward with their approved projects.
City is worried about tax revenue, yet they keep jerking around developers and lose a lot of the tax base when the developers get fed up.
As far as us on the south end this is just another loss for us, more traffic with this plan. The new building is going to be as tall and much worse looking with no public spaces!
FAAFO!
Exactly
What a bunch of idiots you folks are. You just blew another good project-and my guess is the last one that will come to the island for a while. Wake up!
Geez, why can’t they just make the building smaller? If you have affordable housing you’re going to make the same amount of $$ as losing rooms. Also, what happens if they are presenting falsehoods to the State?
If they get approved and then don’t do the things they promised, will they have them tear down? Looking for answers.
Really bad decision, LB. You have a chance to build something amazing, which has the backing of the island population and shows your respect for the island’s vision…and you’re absolutely squandering the opportunity. You can do better, but your design team definitely seems to have failed you… and you even have the other side of the street to work with. Oh well…Build a box. It’s your reputation. Your grand opening would be so much better if there is something to be proud of, and something someone might actually want to invest in. Avarice is not a good building block. It just doesn’t make sense…Unless, this is just another bluff like the fake numbers you tried to sell us on? Why would you want to build something that you can’t be proud of?
And I’m curious. Workforce housing is wonderful, but I’m curious as to how it works if they aren’t rented out? How does that affect an Association’s budget and fees? Is workforce housing permitted to be rented as hotel rooms if not rented otherwise?
All town/cities in Florida have a comprehensive plan. How did it make sense to buy a property where the only path forward financially, requires a massive violation of the comp plan??
Sounds like yet another developer sick of dealing with the town’s politics! Affordable housing units and Food Truck Parks … wow! where is this town heading??
Don’t forget all the crybaby residents, who want FMB built back like it was before Ian. Something that’s not possible due to modern building codes. Keep crying about not having a shed that sells biscuits and cinnamon buns. Old Florida FMB is dead. Get over it or get out.
Curious if you are a full-time Fort Myers Beach resident, as you seem to enjoy spewing hate toward the full-time residents.
Bad investment decision by LB when they overpaid. As they say themselves “we do not see a path to getting an economically feasible project”….go bankrupt, sell the property for an economically feasible price based on a 5 to 6 story complex…
Continually adhering to the demands of the Council only to have additional demands added on is the reason for “not being financially feasible”! They told the Council this was an option, the Council didn’t listen, they implemented
new demands and now the developer is changing course and circumventing the Council with the Live Local Act. LB will rent 40% of the units for @ 30yrs and then sell them off as condo units – at a profit. Future developers will follow this example and if FMB Council doesn’t work cooperatively with developers there will be more developments like this. The Island has/ will change which is sad but FMB council needs to work with developers.
Pretty straightforward – I’m thrilled to see the London bay monstrosity that doesn’t come close to conforming to towns comp plan come to an end . Affordable housing is what people have been asking for , if it’s within the scope of the Comp plan – bring it on .
And yes I’m a FT resident that lives 100 yards from Outrigger sight .
Personal preference would be a hotel or a Senior living complex – most anything that complies with Comp plan is fine as is the open space .
What we need are more food truck parks on the south end of FMB; certainly nothing cheesy about that idea.
Pole barns attached to massive parking lots, does nothing for the tax base. A giant nuisance to the residents close to it who the town wants to extract more property tax from. A What are we doing here?
Congrats to all of the haters of the original project; you just opened the door for many more of these projects! Nice work!
yep. idiots
Totally agree. FMB Council has lost, future developers will only cooperate so much before doing what LB did. Best
affordable housing on the beach? Can’t wait to see the price of that
Workforce housing is determined by a percentage of an area’s AMI.
LeeCo rates for 2026 are (for a 1-person household) a max income of $100k/yr and a rent cap of $2,751/mo. Detail on other household sizes is on LeeCo’s website.
I still think LB is bluffing. LB still has to sell “x” number of pre-construction units to even break ground here. No one is buying luxury condos, any condos, (especially in a complex that ugly) right now. LB still has two condos in Grandview to sell and Gulfside 12 still has 5 to sell. No one is going to buy a luxury condo next to affordable housing, in that complex. LB is hoping the Town comes back and begs them to build the pretty complex they originally planned instead of Live Local rendering. That’s probably why the Town took their announcement off their website. Also, the residents to the north still need to investigate because they will never see sunshine with 15 stories to the south of them. All the properties off the Flamingo Beach Access will be in constant shade. Who wants to buy a multi-million dollar beach home next to that?!
PS….there was never going to be an Outrigger Bar! London Bay designed that bar directly on the Coastal Construction Line, knowing that FEMA would never approve it. LB doesn’t want a cheesy locals bar on their luxury property! Nice neighbor!
I’m with you on all the above, Carol!
Outrigger Tiki Bar – 100% Dangling carrot.
Excellent idea by London Bay group
Could be a bluff. Definitely a form of blackmail.
London Bay needs an economically feasible project…. how’s the profits on Grandview going? Maybe they should figure that nightmare first!