A new Hampton Inn & Suites is being planned for the Bell Tower area of south Fort Myers.
Cooper Hotels, which already owns the Crowne Plaza at the Bell Tower and the adjacent Homewood Suites by Hilton, has since 1996 owned a vacant lot on the tucked-in corner of where Christiana Way and Crystalyn Drive intersect, behind the buildings that include Outback Steakhouse and Citrus Salon off U.S. 41.
All these years, the Memphis, Tennessee-based Cooper Hotels has been sitting on that land, for which it paid $1 million. Now, plans are finally in the works to build a third hotel at Bell Tower Shops on the lot adjacent to Homewood Suites.
The new hotel will rise six stories and will have 131 rooms, of which 53 will be suites. There will be meeting space on the ground floor and an outdoor pool and bar on the second floor overlooking the hotel entrance.
Rezoning of the land already has been approved by Lee County. Now, Hilton is reviewing plans for the hotel.
Groundbreaking is slated for early 2023 with an opening by the end of 2024. Bounds & Gillespie Architects of Memphis is designing the hotel, with Haley Ward Inc., doing the engineering and Cooper Hotels doing the interior design.
A four-story, 118-room Hampton Inn developed by HOS Management also is being constructed in downtown Fort Myers and is expected to be completed in the fall at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and McGregor Boulevard.
