While Seagate Development has not yet shared any plans for the Red Coconut property, which it recently purchased for $52 million, those that incorporated Fort Myers Beach knew a day would come when those 10 acres would be redeveloped. And, here’s what they were thinking back then.
Nobody knows what Seagate plans to propose to the town on the Red Coconut property. We do know it will never again be an RV park again. The new FEMA rules, strict hurricane codes for rebuilding, and a $52 million price tag should put that thought to rest.
As part of the $52 million deal, Seagate did agree to one restrictive covenant. It calls for the placement of a “memorial marker” on one of the properties incorporating the Red Coconut sign. And, they have to name either an internal street or a facility on one of the properties after either the Red Coconut or the Myers Family.
The Red Coconut property is zoned “Village.” When the town’s Comprehensive Plan was written back in the mid 90’s, it was written with the foresight to know that eventually the land might be redeveloped. And here we are.
The vision back then was for a complete neighborhood with an “internal circulation system making it possible to walk or ride bikes to school, recreation areas, and shopping without using Estero Boulevard.” That might include single family homes and townhouses, a walkable community that includes commercial. An area that might be its own little village. Think Celebration outside of Disney.
An ideal plan, according to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, would “retain the psychological connection and views in both directions to the preserve and the beach, and offer a variety of housing types and opportunity for mixed uses including some continued commercial uses on the Bay side of Estero Boulevard.”
Of course, Seagate may decide they want to try to put a hotel on that property and go through the planned development process with the town for that. They have not shared any details on their plans yet. Another question might be, if they had roughly 200 units (slabs for RV’s) in the park, could they build 200 multi-million homes and scrunch them together?
The Comprehensive Plan stated that any new neighborhood redevelopment at Red Coconut should “not be dominated by garages and feature porches on the front, walkable narrow streets with shade trees that double as view corridors to the preserve and beach, and quiet internal street connections to the north and south.”
Don’t forget Gulf View Colony, also an RV Park, was right next door, and is also gone. We understand GVC is also in the process of being sold. Would the two communities connect to create an even larger little neighborhood? These are certainly the 2 most unique properties on Fort Myers Beach and everyone will be watching to see what becomes of a plot of land that holds so many memories for so many people.
In our Tuesday newsletter we’ll have a story highlighting the many memories visitors of the park have had over the years.
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