Ask anyone responsible for the success of one of downtown Fort Myers' many night spots why a club survives while so many others have fallen by the wayside, and the answers will invariably be the same -- variety, reputation, atmosphere.

Many of the businesses claim they're unique. But as much as these bars and nightclubs try to distinguish themselves from their competitors, there is a common thread running through every success story, and each has learned the necessity and the profitability of learning to adapt.

Entertainment Options

From hip-hop to swing, cold beer to cognac, a relaxing dinner to a night of heavy metal mayhem, there's not too much you can't find within walking distance in the city's fledgling entertainment district. About a half dozen different nightclubs, twice as many restaurants and a theater are all draws for local patrons, many of whom decide to make a night of it and walk from establishment to establishment.

Peter's La Cuisine on Bay Street has achieved an almost icon status in its more than 10 years in Fort Myers. Manager Bill Mims says the stability of the restaurant-nightclub hybrid has played an important role in the downtown resurrection. "I do think that Peter's had something to do with it," he says. "It has served as an attraction and given people a reason to come downtown."

Serving it up at the Skybar: manager Bill Mims

Mims says the name that Peter's La Cuisine has made for itself over the past decade has helped build and maintain a loyal customer base. "One of the most important things we offer is consistency. We're open seven nights a week, and there's always someone here. People know they can always come here and have a good time."

Peter's has also grown as Lee County has grown. An upstairs blues and martini club has been added. And just last February the rooftop Skybar, toted as the "highest place to party," opened for business. The Skybar has become especially popular for its innovative happy hour drink specials, for example the "Flip Night," where customers flip a quarter with the bartender for each drink. Call the right side, and the drink is free. The night has become so popular, Mims says, that it has been extended to several nights.

About 40 percent of Peter's dinnertime crowd travels upstairs to spend an appreciable amount of time. "Some more will usually at least go and take a look around after dinner," Mims says. But for every customer who comes for dinner and then decides to move upstairs, there's one that skips dinner altogether and heads straight for the Skybar's dancing and drinks -- making the contemporary rooftop club one of the city's fastest growing in popularity. "Really though, it just makes sense. Young people go to clubs, and there are a lot more young people who come here and who stay here in Lee County than ever before," Mims says.

Like Peter's, other downtown hot spots have learned to target young adults with ever-changing tastes and moods, often making nightly format changes. The more savvy businessmen stagger the nights so as not to compete with a larger venue, a practice that often helps one club cash in on the success of another through shared foot traffic.

The Indigo Room, credited by some club hoppers as a spark to the downtown revival, provides a mix of live local music and a neighborhood bar feeling with exposed brick walls, pool tables and local bands. Owner Raimond Aulen says he saw the potential for a nightclub when looking around downtown a few years ago. He saw the buildings were relatively inexpensive but still had "a lot of charm". He also knew about the success of renovated districts like Church Street in Orlando and Coconut Grove in Miami.

Brett Symons and Raimond Aulen of the Indigo Room

Aulen says he initially sought to rent a space but decided to buy a building with a group of investors, opening a pub to pay off the mortgage. He says he believes the investors have now about doubled their money from the club. And as evidenced by plenty of building going on downtown, there are likely more clubs -- and more opportunities -- coming to the area. Business has been good, especially on weekends.

But operating a bar isn't exactly an easy job, especially in a city that is going through growing pains of its own. "The hardest [thing] is trying to stay on top of what the city's doing," Aulen says. "You have to constantly be watching them and go to city hall [for meetings]."

For example, Aulen worries about the district's growing residential areas. Because his bar features live music, he is concerned that a sudden noise ordinance change could severely curtail business. And other ordinances that the city may explore to attract new business may end up hurting existing businesses. "It's like the dust hasn't settled yet," he says of the city's attempt to keep the redevelopment momentum going. "It's pretty stressful."

Parking Woes

And then there's the parking meter situation -- meters that only take quarters and meter enforcement attendants who pay strict attention to who's paid and who hasn't. According to locals, the enforcers are dogmatic, merciless. Aulen says his clients will rarely stop by before evening for fear of being ticketed. "We don't even have a happy hour anymore," he laments.

Fort Myers Mayor Bruce Grady agrees the meters may be cumbersome, but they're also necessary to ward off daytime city and county employees from taking all the choice spots. "If you didn't have meters then you'd have employees parking there," he claims.

Grady also says the city has bumped up meter end times from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m., making an extra free hour for evening entertainment seekers. And the meters now have slots for debit cards, available for purchase at city parking garages, that can be used in lieu of quarters.

The city's two parking garages themselves are also an underutilized parking place, Grady says, with a peak occupancy rate of only about 80 percent. The city, which pays out about $600,000-700,000 yearly in debt service on the garages, only takes in about half that amount from the meters. "The city still subsidizes downtown parking," he says.

Parking was also the main reason for a squabble between Grady and downtown developer Tom Cronin over the proposed Pleasure Pier riverside dining and entertainment complex. Cronin was team up with Hooter's franchise owner Dave Lageschulte to build the two-story, 45,000 square-foot complex on the site of the Fort Myers Exhibition Hall. But there was one sticking point -- there was no city promise for 1200 parking spots for customers and employees. "We'd be more than happy to build the Pleasure Pier," Cronin says, "but we need to have parking."

Grady maintains that the city's two existing garages are underutilized, and the city can'