Urban Legend

For years, efforts to revitalize downtown had failed to catch fire, says Hall. The first step toward real change was when entrepreneur Dominik Goertz arrived in town and started buying and redeveloping downtown buildings, she says. Within a few years, Homes for America Holdings arrived on the scene with plans for a new residential high-rise. But the downtown plan still needed updating, so Duany's firm was hired.

"When we were first retained, Fort Myers wanted to be like Naples, and I think we convinced them not to. Naples is Naples and Fort Myers had its own personality. There's definitely a difference; it's a much edgier place," says Duany. The Naples focus is arts and culture, but Fort Myers had its own hook: "Bikers," he says. "There was a biker theme-perfectly harmless old bikers; you know how they are now. I thought it was very cool; it should be preserved."

As with Naples, the plan for Fort Myers encouraged pedestrian interaction with buildings through retail and restaurants on the ground floor, offices and homes upstairs.

Unlike Naples, where the project was one street of six blocks, the Fort Myers plan encompassed the entire downtown area.

"We were able to get a consensus that people wanted the waterfront to be more active, and businesses where people can come and sit and enjoy. People realized the only way to get that would be to get retail" in the central area, says Hall.

Duany proposed more intense residential development, high-rises, to the east and west of the heart of downtown, roughly the area between the Edison and Caloosahatchee bridges abutting the river. Along the sidewalks by the high-rises would be liner buildings housing pedestrian-friendly views-townhouses, shops or other features to hide parking garages under the structures.

Pedestrian pods would develop in several areas. Duany discussed building a new parking garage closer to walking areas, moving businesses such as muffler shops to streets adjacent to the pedestrian areas, encouraging a trolley or other transit system, and developing a cultural campus. A simplified street-scape plan also emerged, designed to focus attention on storefronts and buildings.

In addition, Duany advised the city to capitalize on its own waterfront properties, where opportunities for public/private partnerships existed. One of those properties is the site now of a proposed residential high-rise, the Vué. Its plan incorporates commercial space and extensive public uses, including a riverwalk, plazas and a home for a longstanding sailing center. The city is also looking at proposals by developers for a second riverfront site, which includes the City Pier and Exhibition Hall.

"Downtown needed major infrastructure improvements," Hall adds, "so the city committed to placing water and sewer lines," which is in process along with necessary zoning changes. Plans for another phase, around the public library and Southwest Florida Historical Museum, south of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, also are taking shape, says Elly Soto McKuen, a principal planner for the city.

Furthermore, about a dozen waterfront high-rise projects are in the construction or planning phase.

"We adopted the plan a year and a half ago," says Hall. "To date, we have almost half a billion dollars of private investment. I think we've done great."

While high-rise units are selling at a jaw-dropping clip, commercial progress is still slow.

"In order to attract business, we need residential rooftops, and we haven't had that," says McKuen.

But it's starting to happen, says Bob Pekol, a realtor with Grubb & Ellis|VIP who specializes in commercial properties downtown. "The few remaining buildings that haven't been renovated are pretty much all under renovation now. I've seen a lot more interest in retail from bigger, national-type retailers," he says. "They're basically positioning themselves for the future. Because there's only so [many] retail storefronts down there, I think they do it in the expectations of having it slow the first couple years and they'll be in a good position later when it all fills in."

Eye on the Future

Ultimately, Duany says, the key is making sure that the present doesn't obstruct future success.

"When you need a planner is in order to achieve a future vision, so when somebody says, 'That fellow there will never sell,' I'll say, 'How old is that fellow?' They say 56. I say, 'That's fine. This is a 20-year plan. He won't be here; he'll be retired somewhere else," Duany says. "Planning is about the future; therefore, it's important that plans have a 20-year vision, although they may be executed in five."

But trying to plan beyond 20 years is not realistic. "Twenty years is a generation," a span from birth to voting age, Duany points out. "But you really do need to take things out of the hands of the present. Present is usually averse to any kind of change. So you say this is not for you, this is for your children."