Foxtail Coffee opens at Latimer Crossing

Foxtail Coffee exemplifies the type of high-quality, high-foot traffic business desired at Latimer Crossing, a new, mixed-income housing apartment complex that opened in 2025 in Fort Myers, said the real estate broker who helped put it together.

Southwest Florida’s Foxtail Coffee franchisee Diana Willis cut the ribbon Aug. 27 on the 1,745-square-foot coffee shop at 3605 Cleveland Ave. The site previously had been a long-abandoned used car lot until being redeveloped by the Fort Myers Housing Authority.

Willis made history in that she was the first business owner to partner with the housing authority.

“It’s really important for us to be a part of this community,” Willis said in a short speech to about 50 people who had gathered for the ceremony. “This is exactly the kind of space where people want to gather with their friends. What’s really sentimental to me is to be in a place like Latimer. It’s a big deal.”

In addition to coffee, Foxtail also has a selection of Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream. Foxtail was founded in 2016 in Winter Park. All the coffee is roasted in Orlando. Kelly Seidl started the ice cream business in her kitchen. She operated Kelly’s Ice Cream out of a food truck in 2013 and opened her first brick-and-mortar location in 2015. Foxtail and Kelly’s have separate ownership but a strategic partnership.

Willis attended Latimer’s grand opening ceremony in November 2025 while scouting the location — and decided then and there to open her next shop there, she said of the fourth Foxtail Coffee shop in the region. The others are in North Naples, Estero and Cape Coral. Willis also owns four Jason’s Deli locations.

“I love it,” Willis said of the new spot, which is on the way to downtown Fort Myers for morning, northbound traffic off U.S. 41. “I like the wideness of it. It gives a welcoming feel to it. I like the way it’s situated.

“We’re just on the outskirts of downtown.”

Foxtail does not have a drive-thru window. But Willis wanted the foot traffic inside the shop.

“There’s a place for drive-thru locations, and there’s a place for a community spot,” she said. “It contributes to what we wanted to do and how it feels for the residents here.”

Latimer Crossing has 92 units, a mix of market-rate, workforce and affordable housing units. It is fully leased other than the last couple of market-rate units, said Marcia Davis, executive director of the Fort Myers Housing Authority.

“This is a prime example of mixed-use and mixed-income housing,” Davis said. Legacy Point, under construction now on what used to be Southward Village, also will incorporate mixed-use real estate, beginning with a 10,000-square-foot grocery store in development.

Dan O’Berski, managing partner and broker with Trinity Commercial Group, is working on both projects. He has two, 1,600-square-foot spaces to fill adjacent to Foxtail.

“We want to find a tenant that sets a tone that’s different,” O’Berski said. “This allows for full economic diversity.”

A pizza place or a taco shop would do well there, O’Berski said.

“We’d love something that builds in the afternoon and brings value in the evening,” O’Berski said — meaning he wants something that supplements Foxtail and doesn’t compete with it. “Any food category would work well here or something in the beauty, yoga or boutique fitness spaces.”