The largest land deal on Fort Myers Beach since Hurricane Ian just closed. 

London Bay Homes, which has been developing luxury projects in Southwest Florida for 33 years, paid $38.2 million for about 10 acres of land that had been the 144-room Outrigger Beach Resort and Charley’s Boathouse Grill restaurant. Both were destroyed Sept. 28 by Hurricane Ian.  

About 3.6 acres of the beachside land will be redeveloped at 6200 Estero Blvd., as well as the other acre across the street that had been the restaurant.  

Mark Wilson, founder and president of London Bay Homes, said his company jumped at the opportunity to buy it, but it wasn’t easy.  

“It’s a special piece of land,” said Wilson, whose other beach project, the 10-story Grandview at Bay Beach condominium tower, will open to residents in September. Those units range from $1.4 million to $3 million.  

Wilson wasn’t sure yet exactly what his company would build, but he envisioned rebuilding a restaurant and perhaps a hotel/condominium combination project.  

“Charley’s restaurant was very much loved on the south end of the island,” Wilson said. “They would be very supportive of having another restaurant on the south end of the island.  

“Whether there is a hotel or condos for sale or a combination thereof, I think it’s too early to say. But it will have first-class architectural design and planning. We have one of the largest market research companies working with us to see what would go there with regard to what’s good for Fort Myers Beach.  

“I’m not comfortable saying what the height would be until we know what the different components would be. Activation of the beach allows the residents to influence this. We’d love to have a beach bar. We’d love to have restaurants. We think a hotel is a good idea.”  

Acquiring the Outrigger property got competitive.  

“There was a lot of interest in the site,” Wilson said. “It was actually originally under contract to another developer. We had been interested before them. Then it went back to a competitive bid again. We locked it in under contract. This was all after the hurricane. We were looking for further opportunities after Grandview. That’s the first tower that has been built on the beach in the last 15 years.”  

Colorado Southern Inc. had owned the Outrigger since 1968. The last time it sold, the price was $218,800. Colorado Southern paid $45,000 for Charley’s Boat House in 1973.  

The deal closed Monday, and the transaction was recorded Thursday morning. Real estate agent Paige Rausch alerted Gulfshore Business to the deal.  

It’s the biggest land deal on Fort Myers Beach since the 71-room Neptune Resort sold in September 2021 for $27 million, a fact pulled by Nelson Taylor of LSI Companies.  

Justin Thibaut, the CEO of LSI Companies, was not involved in the transaction, but he called it a game changer for the beach, a signal that more land deals could follow.  

“I can tell you that this is the first very large transaction to occur following the hurricane,” Thibaut said. “From our perspective, it’s exciting that there’s movement in the redevelopment on the beach. I think the pricing is in line with what we expected with the prime beachfront property on Estero Boulevard to sell for. It’s one of the best and largest properties that became available as a result of the hurricane.”  

Discussions about how the redevelopment would impact traffic were important, Wilson said.  

“Everyone is concerned about traffic,” he said. “I think everybody working on the beach needs to think about what can be done with regard to mitigation of traffic issues. More biking uses, golf cart use is good for the community. We’re really in the early days. We won’t have anything in the next week. This will take months and years to develop. We’re going to keep the community informed and business and council leaders.”  

New building codes mean no more “rickety wood staircases” and other features that gave Fort Myers Beach its character, Wilson acknowledged. However, he plans to retain the beach charm on these new projects, which he said would be different in scale and feel to his company’s Saltleaf and The Ritz-Carlton Residences projects on Estero Bay.  

“We know how people feel about Fort Myers Beach,” Wilson said. “We’re looking for more opportunities to help the community move forward. I do think it’s very important to have companies come in and help Fort Myers Beach rebuild again. It’s a little early to say what we want. We have met with council members doing due diligence. A couple of things that came out of that.”  

Keeping the charm of the beach intact also was important, he said.  

“We’re not trying to transport a different location to Fort Myers Beach,” Wilson said. “As we go through the design, we’ll be keeping that in mind to make sure we’re in context with Fort Myers Beach. I think it’s important to keep the same character.”