Flaherty & Collins and the city of Cape Coral celebrated the groundbreaking Wednesday of what both parties said would be a transformational multifamily and commercial project to be built between Cape Coral Parkway and 47th Terrace at Southeast 8th Court.
The Cove at 47th will be a $103 million construction project.
David Flaherty, the CEO of the Indianapolis-based development group with about 450 employees, said inflation and supply-chain issues drove up the budget by about $20 million, putting it in danger.
“Usually, that means the project dies,” Flaherty said. “But we doubled down, because we are big believers in Cape Coral.”
There will be 327 apartment units that will be labeled “luxury” and leased at what the market dictates in late summer 2024, the projected completion date.
Flaherty & Collins purchased the 4 acres in December 2021 for about $6.5 million, about $1.6 million per acre and $37.85 per square foot.
As for the financing, Cape Corals Community Redevelopment Agency fronted the project with $10.3 million.
“Typically, a TIF (tax-incremental financing) gets refunded over time,” said Cape Coral City Manager Rob Hernandez, who has been on the job since August 2020. “For this particular project, it wouldn’t work that way. They needed the money for construction up front. It will be awarded on a draw schedule during construction. Once they meet certain milestones, they will get a draw.”
Cape Coral had multiple incentives to help, including the project providing the public with 125 of the 585 parking spaces.
About 75% of the project was funded through loans, and the rest was fronted by Flaherty & Collins, which tends to hang on to its finished products as investors, rather than flip them to other companies.
“We’re long-term developers and people,” Flaherty said, “so we don’t use outside money as much as other people. We like to use our own money, build it, build it to last a long time, and then hang on to our properties to kind of create a long-term investment.”
DeAngelis Diamond will manage construction. About a year from now, it will hit peak construction with 250 to 350 construction workers on the site, said Reggie Morgan, principal owner of the construction company.
“It’s great to reach this milestone,” Morgan said of breaking ground. “We get to reshape Cape Coral, and we’re excited to be a part of it. Cape Coral is doing a lot to enhance this area.”
There will be 19,000 square feet of retail and office space as well as a 7,000-square-foot restaurant, a collaboration between Blu Sushi, which has two Fort Myers locations, and the Kearns Restaurant Group.
“We’re competitors in downtown Fort Myers,” said Emrah Sevinch, regional manager for Blu Sushi. “But we’re partners in the Cape. A lot of our customers come from Cape Coral. We’re looking forward to giving them an option in the Cape.”
