The Neighborhood Company has officially submitted an application for a new Shuckers/Cottage Bar at 1250 Estero Boulevard on behalf of Paul Shamo of Right Choice Investments of Michigan. The application includes 5 variance requests.
If this current version of the popular restaurant and bar is to be built the town will need to approve the variances. The previous building was totally destroyed by Hurricane Ian and the 1978 Coastal Construction Control Line prevents it from being built where it was out on the sand previous to Ian.New structures must be built behind the CCCL.
The Cottage Bar and Shuckers were iconic establishments on Fort Myers Beach. They had a long history dating back to 1921.
Prior to the storm the property totaled approximately 10,900 SF. The structures were older, non-conforming and encroached over the 1978 CCCL. The proposed new 3-story building will be about 12,000 square feet. It includes a proposal for a beach bar at the ground level. The second floor would be Shuckers Restaurant, casual fine dining, and the third floor would be The Cottage Bar/Restaurant, which will offer a bar and food with live entertainment and a dance floor.
One of the variance requests is for a slightly higher building. Code allows for 40 feet in that area. The variance request is to go to 43 feet.
The overall structure proposed is approximately 10% larger than the historic building in order to accommodate modern construction methods, and meet today’s standards associated with kitchens, bathrooms and mechanicals.
As with many new proposals in the downtown district, parking will be an issue. The current code requires this location as proposed with a bar and restaurant to have a total of 114 parking spaces. The variance request will be to reduce the needed parking to 16 spaces plus 6 spaces as credit for providing 6 bike racks. That is a request to reduce the parking by 80%.
Here’s the problem. FMB told Margaritaville, “sure you can build here but we have new parking space requirements”. Margaritaville paid a fortune to install the car lifts in the new garage to provide the necessary parking spaces.
FMB legal team and city officials know they will have one hell of a battle on their hands with Margaritaville if Shuckers is allowed to reduce parking spaces as requested.
This seems to be a really nice plan! Good luck!!!
They got my vote!!
75% of the time the traffic is foot traffic
Can’t wait for the beach bread to come back and hear Soapy Tuna at the Cottage in FMB Baby😎🌴
Hmmm, 114 parking spaces?? Just doing some quick math it seems that in order to have that many spaces on the property the footprint of the building would have to be about around 30×33 and 12 stories high to achieve the requested 12,000 sq ft. The parking formula is ridiculous.
The imposed parking requirements, by FMB on these businesses, are simply idiotic. There’s no space unless your desire a beachfront parking lot! Such an unreasonable barrier to hamper the ACTUALLY-DESIRED businesses to come back. Need a much more comprehensive long-range plan to encourage dedicated off-island parking.
Our current Town Council is responsible for Parking being a priority in the redevelopment .
Obviously this needs to be revisited in the downtown business district –
Seems to me getting answers on Lynn Hall park are absolutely critical to all Times Sq and Downtown FMB development (parking) issues .
Great to see some reasonable local projects vs cash grabs and stupid stuff .
It seems each week we are getting an “old” property a new look… Absolutely love this!! It was so great to see all the building and work going on last week when we visited… And to see how much had changed from our last visit in November was eye-opening! Bravo to all involved… Especially the town for what seems to be a quicker approach on approving these new plans. Now, let’s talk about the Pier😏
Walkable area. Walk up from the beach. Plentiful parking lots nearby. Looks great. A nod to the heights requirement.
YES. Another proposal with only a slight need for variances. Not an increase of 30-50% or more like some of the more over the top projects we have seen lately.
Happy to see they are coming back!