The owners of the Wyndham have started the process to knock down the 3 resort buildings on Estero Boulevard that had not been touched since Hurricane Ian over 2 years ago. Watco Construction is doing the demo work. They are expected to hammer the buildings down in about 20 days after they receive an asbestos report.
The town gave the property owner 30 days to start the demo work back on December 16th or the town would have knocked the buildings down and charged the property owner for the work.
In a perfect world, and depending on Estero Boulevard traffic, once the buildings get an all-clear on the asbestos report, demolishing the three buildings and cleaning up the lot should take about 6-8 weeks.
The future of the property is unknown. It will most likely be sold. The Wyndham property is not owned by a big corporation. It is owned by Burt Pohlmann. His son-in-law John Callis is now overseeing the property.
The town red-tagged the building over 3 months ago and nothing had been done to clean up the property. After much cajoling, nearly 2 years after Hurricane Ian the owners finally put a fence around the buildings. The Wyndham has been one of the most talked about untouched properties on Fort Myers Beach, along with Terry Persaud’s property in Times Square and the Junkanoo building on Estero Boulevard.
Work started on the building last week. Items in each of the hotel rooms were being pulled out of those rooms and separated in the parking lot by the contractor. When a building is being demolished certain items must be separated and taken to different landfills.
On Sunday the Mayor asked residents in the area to not use the Wyndham parking lot as a beach access as they would be walking through an active construction area.
Watco Construction received a demo permit for The Wyndham back on November 25th to remove the 3 buildings and the pool. On December 16th, at a Town Council meeting, Operations and Compliance Manager Frankie Kropcaek said the owner had 30 days to clean up the property or the town will take care of it for them. “If they don’t act within 30 days, the town will.”
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A little backwards don’t you think? Asbestos report should be the FIRST thing done. Long overdue. Watco workers beware. Happy to see progress but would like it to be done correctly.
No demolition is being done. Just cleanup. The procedures are being followed to the T.
“Waiting for asbestos report” is a little unnerving. After all this time we don’t know if these dilapidated buildings have asbestos or are releasing asbestos into the atmosphere??
If we the taxpayers have to pay for the demo and clean up how and when will us the taxpayers be reimbursed by you who work for us and when. Fyi.. all .most on the board of fmb are thieves liers and don’t give a damn about there fellow islanders or there feelings or the Islad. All keep an eye on them family friends realitives etc etc. for any unusual purchases or gifts for them and any person involved with them I’m just saying something ain’t right!!!
The town isn’t doing the demolition. The owner is… Try to keep up.
And you better have proof of your claims. Defamation is an expensive road.
Whether the site demo and clearing has begun or not, if it’s not COMPLETELY CLEARED by the deadline in 16 days, 100% FINE them every day until it’s done. Doubling every day. Get the cost back in full plus interest. As an island tax payer, I do not want to foot the bill until the owner decides to do something with the property. It could be years or decades to recoup the money. He has deep pockets to not give a sh$t about the piece of valuable property. That is interest and monies out of our coffers. Don’t want another Perssaud fine forgiveness down the road like it was in Time Square.
One of the biggest post-Ian stories has gone largely unspoken – the town’s culpable negligence – in allowing the rubble and health hazards to infest neighborhoods for two years.
The culpability was joined by an un-informed council.
At least twice in the past year Mayor Allers addressrd the food trailers FEMA ordered moved from flood zones by claiming the town could not tresspass on private property to remove them.
He repeated that claim again at the council’s October meeting, where, finally, he was quickly corrected by the Town Attorney, who told him the town had the power to abate it all.
In other words, the town could have moved those trailers and cleaned up the wrecked homes, the Neptune,Terry Persaud’s property and the Wyndham at any time over those two years and recovered the costs by adding them on their tax bills.
The question is, if Allers and the town didn’t know they could do that, why didn’t they? Where were the town attorneys and town manager?
The fact is the council and it’s attorney’s and town manager were as much to blame as the errant property owners for the blight that has festered in so many neighborhoods, exposing residents to dangerous mold spores, rodents and to children roaming thru it all.
Holding power to account is important, no matter who it is.
Doesn’t matter what the name is, it is an eye sore,needs to be demolished
They have started the demo. They are stripping and separating everything from the concrete. This will take a while. At least at the pace they are currently at. You can see the debris piled up in front and on the sides.
We own Remove It Pros Inc. this is the same way we would do it.
Dave, Thanks for the input from someone in the profession. While waiting for the asbestos testing which has a little bit of a wait time they are separating the junk inside while they wait for that so that they will be ready to drop that sucker once those inspections are complete.
Plus – simply starting any work puts a hold on anything the town can do. Very smart!
Sad that a “man of the cloth” thinks manipulating the system is “very smart”.
Sorry – sarcasm is hard to communicate thru online forums, but it’s all we got!
It’s become crystal clear this Council DOES NOT care about its residents –
Too caught up with their own agenda.
Well said!
Well said, are city government does not care about its residents. It’s taken over 2 years to remove this eye sore & health risk. How about several other properties on this Island abandened and boarded up when are those going to be torn down? Maybe the officials just need to drive around a little bit more. To see and experience what the average resident see and goes through daily.
So sad that our town council can’t try to save $400 K for the island tax payersby amending the bidders on the windham property. Our government at it’s best again.
The extra $400,k is not going yo cost the taxpayers because if they word the red tag properly and the charges to be paid at front with taxpayers money should get fines & interest paid before any work or sale happens on the property.
So what if it sits there for another fives years, not fir sale?
The town can start the foreclosure process on any property is taxes are too far overdue.
Why isn’t Neptune on the list of must be torn down? Oooooooo wait I think I know…..
So you know it is supposed to be down by the end of March then.
Great news!! Once all the town employees have to drive past the Junkanoo every day, it’ll be down fast. On the other hand, they’ll love their gulf view so much London Bay may take a while.
Why doesn’t the town use Watco for 200k?
Will be interesting to see what happens. Does the town say what they mean and mean what they say?
Probably??????
They didn’t submit a bid on it though the town…
What about Junkanoos?
They didn’t own that building. It was actually leased/rented by Junkanoo.
I don’t know why you all say Junkanoo’s- That’s gone. It’s Fresh Catch. It’s Presaud property, right?
It’s neither restaurant. It is the building owner at fault. Like the Wyndham; it’s a private, decades-long owner.
It neither Junk or Fresh Catch because those businesses only rented the space. It’s Persaud. Let’s give blame where blame is due. I’m sure the owner of Junkanoo and Fresh Catch is sick and tired of being associated with a blighted dilapidated building they never owned.
About time they get this eyesore down!