Royal Palm Square overhaul moves ahead with fewer apartments

Developers are moving forward with a mixed-use overhaul of Royal Palm Square in Fort Myers, but with fewer residential units. 

Council members on Aug. 17 approved Royal Palms Square LLC’s amended plan for the 14-acre property at 1380 Colonial Blvd. 

The amended plan expands the project’s size and scope, including the number of apartments it could accommodate. Yet project representatives said they no longer need the more than 90 additional residential units that City Council approved on top of 400 units approved in 2024. 

Compared with the 2024 plan, developers will still increase commercial space and parking while decreasing the number of hotel rooms. 

“We are telling you now the residential part, we don’t need that,” Fort Myers attorney Sawyer Smith told Council. “The commercial and retail, that’s a good thing.” 

Smith represents developer Michael Alessio. After the meeting, they declined to comment on the change in plans or other aspects of the development. Recent reports show a glut in area multifamily housing, with rental prices sliding. 

The aging 1980s shopping plaza sits along one of the area’s busiest corridors, near the intersection of Colonial and McGregor boulevards just before the Midpoint Bridge. It is home to the popular Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre and several other existing businesses, including a gym and salon. The site has a taxable value of $11.4 million. 

The dinner theater is set to remain under its existing lease, but much of the existing property is slated for demolition. The new development includes retail shops, along with a healthcare facility and childhood education center, among other plans. 

“It’ll be an asset to have that up and running as a legitimate (business) concern,” said Fort Myers Councilman Fred Burson, whose Ward 5 includes Royal Palm. 

The Royal Palm development has been expanded from 12.64 acres to 14.09 acres. The extra acreage would have allowed an increase in one-bedroom apartments from 160 to 197 units and two-bedroom apartments from 240 to 296 units, which Smith said is no longer needed. 

Alessio told council members during a presentation of the building plans that the first phase of development would include 30 residential units set above retail shops. 

The amended plan also increases commercial space from 250,000 to 288,000 square feet and parking from 1,437 to 1,616 spaces, while reducing the hotel component from 175 to 150 rooms. 

The additional acreage includes undeveloped townhome parcels, allowing the project to remain consistent with its approved density of 35 dwelling units per acre and the maximum building height of 200 feet for multifamily, commercial and office uses. 

“The goal is to promote ingenuity, innovation and imagination in the planning, design and redevelopment of the Royal Palm Square area,” according to a letter from EnSite Inc. requesting the PUD amendment on behalf of developer Alessio Companies. 

The Fort Myers Planning Board voted 4-2 on July 1 to recommend that City Council deny the request, citing concerns that additional residential units would worsen traffic and conflict with the city’s comprehensive plan. 

City staff recommended approval, concluding that the additional acreage adequately supports the proposed changes, including a reduction in parking requirements.