In the Know: Cape Coral bank, car wash to be demolished to make way for Downtown Village Square – News-Press

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A massive, upscale office, six-story parking garage, multi-family condominium complex and commercial development to encompass an entire city block is finally seeing movement off Cape Coral Parkway.

By midday Tuesday of last week, all but the vault of what had been a Fifth Third Bank off Cape Coral Parkway had been demolished to make way for the new project.

By the end of this week, the vault and the car wash next door should be gone as well.

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A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.
Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.

Replay

  • A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 1 of 8
  • A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 2 of 8
  • Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 3 of 8
  • A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.4 of 8
  • A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral.5 of 8
  • A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 6 of 8
  • Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 7 of 8
  • Renderings from the developer. A look at Downtown Village Square, which has been talked about since 2006. Buildings are finally being demolished to make way for the commercial/residential development encompassing a city block, off Cape Coral Parkway in south Cape Coral. 8 of 8

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Downtown Village Square, a development with Mediterranean-style architecture first proposed by Cape Coral resident Robbie Lee in 2006, finally will start to take shape in 2020 with the construction of the first of four phases.

“We’re on track to meet all the deadlines,” Lee said. “The city has been excellent to work with. It’s an unbelievable opportunity for the city and the development team to bring such a project to the city of Cape Coral. The city needs it. It will be outrageous for the downtown area. It will only mushroom.”

The 16-year delay resulted from the Great Recession and from a failed attempt to finance portions of the project through a federal government program.

Lee and his co-investors tried financing through the EB-5 program, in which foreigners receive temporary residential status in the U.S. and green cards in return for investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the projects. Financing from the prospective foreigners from China was not accepted, Lee said, which hit him and his investors with a speed bump.

“It cost us about $450,000,” Lee said. “We potentially sold all the EB-5’s, and then we couldn’t bring the money in. Our government wouldn’t allow the money to come in from China. We did alternate financing.”

Qualified to raise the first $66.5 million of what is expected to be at least a $130 million project, Lee said 2020 will be a critical year with construction set to begin.

The village will encompass an entire city block, sandwiched between Cape Coral Parkway to the south and 47th Terrace to the north. It will border Southeast 8th Court to the west and Southeast 9th Place to the east.

Downtown Village Square LLC has a timetable it must meet to increase its tax increment financing percentage from 50 to 90-95 percent.

Deadlines it must meet:

  • Dec. 31: Demolition of the bank and car wash.
  • March 31: Full set of plans for Phase One, a 58,000-square-foot office building.
  • April 30: The building housing Sidecar Treats at 851 Cape Coral Parkway and the next-door insurance office off Southeast 8th Place must be demolished.
  • July 1: Break ground on the office building.
  • June 30, 2021: Complete the office building.

Last week, the demolition company was waiting for the bank to retrieve the vault door before it could finish tearing down the last piece of the bank that was built in 1987.

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By the end of this week, the vault and the rest of what had been the adjacent 10-Minute Oil Change and All Hand Car Wash at 877 Cape Coral Parkway should be destroyed, said Will Lopez, owner of Will Do It Demolition. The car wash had been there since 1996.

Cape Coral real estate broker Annette Barbaccia has been assisting Lee. She’s trying to land tenants for what will be 251,546 total square feet of space.

“When they first went after it, it was actually pre-recession,” Barbaccia said. “By the time they got that initial approval, the recession had already hit. All said and done, they couldn’t get an application in until 2010. The market just wasn’t back yet. They’re finally at a point where the market’s strong enough to where they can do it.

“There’s been a lot of interest. I don’t think they’ll have any trouble filling the spaces.”

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Phase one will be the 58,000-square-foot office building.

Phase two will be a six-story parking garage with 938 spaces that will rise off 47th Terrace, which underwent a $15 million makeover by the city to become more pedestrian friendly.

Phase three will consist of 152 condo units.

Phase four will be retail.

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The property demolitions have Cape Coral economic development director Ricardo Noguera excited about the future.

“We need office space,” Noguera said. “There’s very little office space in the South Cape. I want to make this happen. I drive people through the south Cape, and they ask, why is a whole city block undeveloped? The lack of activity on that site created a hindrance.

“Now, it’s going to serve to foster more private development activity.”

LONG JOHN TO OIL CHANGE

The vacant lot that used to be a long-vacant and decaying Long John Silver in Fort Myers off U.S. 41 has a new owner and purpose.

“I’m going to put a vacation home there,” said Paul Gasner, owner of Gasner and Wallace LLC. “Just kidding.”

Take 5 Oil Change, a growing chain founded in 1984 in Metairie, Louisiana, has almost 100 locations in Florida but none in Southwest Florida. That will change when the company sets up shop at 3747 Cleveland Ave., the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and Collier Avenue.

Gasner, the franchisee for Bradenton, Sarasota and now Fort Myers, purchased the corner lot, 0.4 of an acre, two weeks ago for $610,000.

Read: Southwest Florida saw tremendous growth and plenty of development in 2019

Most oil changes require five quarts of oil, hence the name.

“We do have a goal of getting it done in five minutes, but our time is usually about eight minutes long,” Gasner said. “Our big forte is customer service. We try to be the Chick-Fil-A of oil changes.”

If only Chick-Fil-A would establish a location closer to downtown Fort Myers.

Take 5 Oil Change should break ground in January and open by early April, Gasner said. It should provide jobs for about 10 employees.

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