Signs for properties for development or sale may be found along both side of Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers. Here, a pair of offerings at Merchants Crossing at Cleveland Avenue. Valarie Harring

In North Fort Myers, there are three main drags that are ripe for development: New 41; Bayshore and Old 41.

And all three are taking different paths to make that happen.

One has several new businesses popping up and a few major projects that could help foster future development; another is going the residential route to help spur economic growth on that road, and a third is getting the kind of development those who promote “highest and best use,”don’t necessarily consider to be optimal.

Two have prime waterfront parcels that could result in something special if a buyer would come forward and do it. A third has a lot of real estate for sale that would make for prime commercial or residential development — if existing property owners really want that.

Of course, there are many things that could influence what happens in this area in the future, such as Paradise Isles and a renovation to the Hancock Bridge Square Shopping Plaza. But there are some great new and opening businesses that are setting up one of the last undeveloped bastions in Lee County.

The reason for this is the increase in rooftops in and around North Fort Myers. It will be the residential development that will bring the commercial opportunities. Build homes and the businesses will come.

It’s what happened in Bonita Springs with Bonita Bay. Before long, thousands were buying homes at premium prices and the premium retail came in.

Paradise Isle could be that linchpin that brings this area to that level, along with several other developments throughout North Fort Myers like Brightwater and several others.

“I think North Fort Myers is experiencing a renaissance as developers get priced out of the market in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Land in North Fort Myers is still reasonably priced,” said Bruce Micciche of LandQwest Commercial Real Estate.

New 41

North Cleveland Avenue is seeing most of the preferred businesses opening up, with several of them either opened or close to that at different areas of the high-traffic road.

The place to start is at the Merchants Crossing Shopping Center at U.S. 41 and Pine Island Road, where at least two big projects are in the process of development.

The first is the proposed mixed-use development where the former Sears and Senior Friendship Center formerly stood. Plans are to begin construction this year, with completion sometime in 2024.

The development will have 278 residential units in four buildings and 6,000 square feet of retail space.

Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman said the idea of that development is to create jobs and the “live, work and play” environment people love. It’s something that has been talked about regarding Hancock Bridge Square for years.

“We tried to incentivize it through creating a mixed-use overlay,” Hamman said. “Government tries to provide the right infrastructure and the right environment for new development and investment.”

Also headed to the plaza is a new Starbucks that will feature a 10-stack drive-thru. All the permits are approved for the building, so construction should begin soon. Also, another restaurant could be developed on one of the outparcels, though the identity is as yet unknown.

Heading toward the river, you will find a new collision facility where the old skating rink used to be, and Kirkwood Electric will soon be setting up shop across the street. Ground will hopefully be broken by the end of the year.

Melodie Schroth, chief operating officer with Kirkwood, said the location makes sense in relation to its customer base.

“Geographically, if we work in Lee and Charlotte counties, North Fort Myers makes the most sense,” Schroth said. “We can have a larger footprint at the new location, and with all the bridges and tolls, there’s something to be said for that.”

That relocation of that decades-old industry leader is a coup for North Fort Myers, according to North Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Wendy Murray.

“Kirkwood Electric is a fifth-generation business that has been in business for 105 years and are moving their whole facility from Cape Coral,” Murray said.

Also, a new Fyzikal rehabilitation facility has opened where the old Bianca’s Restaurant was, making the plaza look completely different after a head-to-toe renovation.

Another Standard restaurant has just opened at Sabal Springs, while a car wash is expected to be constructed next to the shopping plaza down the street.

At the Shell Factory & Nature Park, a long-time “New 41” anchor, there are new things to draw people in. The Player’s Circle Theater has been bringing in people from as far north as Port Charlotte for performances. There’s also Tommy’s Tiki Bar, which opened last year, and the new Southern Grill.

The Players Circle has been especially beneficial as it has brought in a different clientele of people willing to travel.

“I would say at least half our ticket sales have come from North Fort Myers and Charlotte County. Punta Gorda is only 20 minutes from here and they don’t have a lot of arts up there,” said Robert Cacioppo, artistic director.

The key to getting more commercial is, again, to get more rooftops, industry leaders agree.

With all the 55+ communities on U.S. 41, and with high-end housing such as Sabal Springs, Entrada, Magnolia Landing and Herons Glen, it could, for example, spark a comeback for the plaza where a Publix was before it moved to the new plaza on the corner of Del Prado Boulevard.

“Publix had been at the other location for some time, but the site plan was not optimal. They moved the entire store two miles and were closer to where the income is,” Stan Stouder of CRE Consultants said. “More dollars, more sales.”

There could be some other desirable nibbles that could be coming to New 41. Hamman said he was not at liberty to discuss them at this time.

However, there are also parcels that will be used for storage-type facilities, which Micciche said there may be too many of, fostering, sometimes, a perception that North Fort Myers is the place where people in Cape Coral dump their stuff.

“Everybody wants to jump on the money bandwagon and storage right now is hot. I get calls weekly for storage and I tell them I’d be happy to send you information and ask if they realize how much storage is coming to the area,” Micciche said. “It’s low maintenance; retirees are looking at it as a place to park money.”

Randy Krise, of Krise Commercial Group, has bought four acres on U.S. 41 just past Pondella Road where the psychic reader is to go along with the car lot nearby.

Krise said he is thinking about using it for parking-type storage.

“I’m thinking RV and truck storage since I have trucks there now and 1,050 feet of road frontage on 41. That’s a nice amount,” Krise said.

Bayshore/Pine Island Road 

This area has been one of the last submarkets to grow compared to Bonita Springs and Estero. One of the challenges it has had is the lack of the type of rooftops,which must precede commercial for commercial to succeed.

“The more rooftops, even at a lower median income, the more magnetized commercial becomes to the area. North Fort Myers has always been the last to get that boost,” said Stouder said.

There are some serious questions about what might be coming next at two of this corridor’s most attractive plots. The area near the interstate, where right now only Love’s service station exists, and the southwest corner of the Bayshore/Old 41 intersection.

Besides that, things are going well on that road. Foxmoor Shopping Center is beginning to fill up with the Winn Dixie fully established there. Shoreline Shoppes has also nearly completely filled.

Tractor Supply, along with the local family-owned businesses that have been here for years have continued to make Bayshore Road one of the last rural main drags in the county.

Where Bayshore Road could see an opening is with the increased development of Babcock Ranch that has bloomed into other markets, including North Fort Myers, at least for now.

While old-time residents of Bayshore rue the idea of commercial development east of I-75 as more homes mean more congestion, the time will soon come where there will be more than Hogbody’s and Lawhon’s.

John Gardner, president of the North Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Horizon Council, said that once a developer swoops in and buys property, they can do as they feel, from cutting acreage up into smaller pieces or something else, impacting the community, especially if tax dollars are at stake.

“They have designed their community for large-acreage tracts and as a rural area and they’re getting blown out of the water right now,” Gardner said. “When you’re the last Lee County area with large tracts and the price of real estate is through the roof, those tracts tend to sell to developers who make quarter-acre lots out of them.”

Bayshore does seem to be going more down the residential road. It has the land throughout much of that stretch, and with it the commercial will come.

Del Webb is building Oak Creek which will have 235 single-family homes and 184 multi-family apartment units.

There also is Enclaves at Eagle Landing, which is being built by Centex and is planned to have 100,000 square feet of commercial space and 200 single-family residences across the street from the Pritchett Real Estate property and its world-famous eagle nest.

“I see the outparcels at Publix to fill out and I expect the Bayshore I-75 interchange to explode because it’s wide open except for Love’s,” Gardner said. “There’s a vacant cow pasture beside Love’s where someone is considering a motorcoach resort.”

People who own businesses on Bayshore love the developments going on in and around their area. Charlie Porter, owner of Bayshore Truck & Auto Service and a longtime resident of the area, said the coming years should be great for everyone.

“It’s going to be crazy here in a short period of time. There are 2,400 homes being built within three miles of us. North Fort Myers is quickly developing into what it is across the river,” Porter said. “As a business owner, I’m glad to see it, naturally.”

Porter added it is bittersweet because his little country area, where most people own five to 10 acres, is “becoming a metropolitan area.”

Old 41

Of the three, Old 41 presents the greatest challenges, industry leaders say.

There have been some plans in the past, most recently with a proposed steak restaurant at the location of an appliance store and Price Cutter and improvements to the marina, which has been put on hold as it is determined whether the river’s floor is actually part of Fort Myers.

One of the biggest issues with Old 41 is that from the river to the North Fort Myers Recreation Center, there isn’t much raw land available much of it is home to decades-old motels and mobile home parks.

Two sides of Pondella Road are part of that already developed, older area.

Stouder had an idea where those motels would be repurposed for alternative uses. A study is now being done to see if there is an opportunity for someone to buy them and repurpose their use.

“They can become a recovery services housing facility for those with addictions, who need controlled housing,” Stouder said. “It would be a creative way to use those hotels that are beyond their useful life for lodging travelers.”

He also said the riverfront on both sides could be turned into a mixed- use waterfront development, as it is a gorgeous property and things tend to grow from the water out, Stouder said.

“You have to get people over the stigma of paying $350,000 for a two-bed, two-bath condo in Estero,” Stouder said.

Land that is available for business is currently being used for RV and boat storage, including the site where the bowling alley used to be and the drive-in theater.

“People take out their RVs and can’t find a place to put it back. It is a need, but I don’t know why we have to have them on the Trail,” Murray said.

There are eight RV storage facilities under proposal in North Fort Myers. Thousands of RV parking spots will be available, including 88 at the old drive-in.

Those looking more for high traffic type of development say this is not exactly what those in the commercial sector, and government planning offices, call “the highest and best use.”

Gardner sees a venue at the drive-in where people could go and do things. Molly Hatchet once played there years ago. It would make quite an alternative to the Lee Civic Center on Bayshore where the county-owned complex also is aging.

There are some limited opportunities if a developer wants to get creative and daring.

According to the Lee County Economic Development Office, Weaver’s Corner, which has been diminished by the closing of the old Winn Dixie and Fitness 1440, could “provide limited opportunity for vertical mixed-use if additional development occurs that supports more pedestrian and bicycle uses, as well as building effective transitions to adjoining neighborhoods such as Cabana City.”

Gardner said there is plenty that can be done on Old 41. The question is whether and when someone is willing to come in and do it. After the road was widened in the 1990s, it limited what could be done.

While they got an overlay district and some setbacks were eliminated because of all the frontage lost that resulted in lots too small to do anything, it hasn’t done much.

“I fear it will become an industrial zone considering the history of Tamiami Trail and it’s turning into truck parking lots and pallet storing facilities,” Gardner said.

Hamman said that the government can’t tell people what they can and cannot put on their properties, and sometimes the result is another storage unit, arcade or dollar store.

“We don’t have the ability to control specifically the businesses people put on their property. We can outline the uses that are compatible, but most of the uses are already allowed under the zoning code,” Hamman said. “When you try to take away uses, you have financially damaged that property owner and taken away some of their rights. We need to create the environment for the right kind of business.”

Overall

Though the first sparks of life are starting to rise, new high-end business is not going to come overnight. It follows the same math problem. More rooftops mean more commercial.

“Not one thing is going to make things turn the corner. I think the county has a hospitable development process. Commissioner Hamman is a real advocate for that area,” Stouder said. “I think North Fort Myers has a long runway but a smooth takeoff.”

“I see things are going to start booming here quickly. I believe there’s movement going on near Betmar that Lee Health owns. There’s movement on the property where the convenience store was on Pine Island and U.S. 41,” Krise said. “Everything is sold, which means someone is going to do something with it.”

Hamman said the real estate market is reaching the point where owners are ready to sell and buyers are willing to pay, if they haven’t already. With new homes, it’s creating a snowball effect.

“You’re already seeing the effect of the new rooftops. You’re going to see more people move in and homes being built, you have built a customer base that can support a commercial corridor and the businesses we want to move in,” Hamman said.