The square tiles are all that remain of Plaka on the Beach, a Greek-themed restaurant that had been in Times Square on Fort Myers Beach since 1981.
Just one of those square tiles, about a square foot in size, was deemed worth $1,100, when factoring the size and price of the 3,318-square-foot lot at 1001 Estero Blvd.
1001 FMB LLC purchased the lot for $3.65 million July 24. The company, owned by Shlomo Melloul and Levi Maimon, intends to build retail space on the first floor and a restaurant on the second. It hired MHK Architecture to design it, but renderings are not yet available.
The new landowners could not be reached for comment, but real estate broker Joe Pavich Jr. said he’s excited about the future of Times Square.
“This is it,” Pavich said. “This is the prime spot of Fort Myers Beach. It’s the bookend. The Fort Myers Beach—the old Fort Myers Beach that we remember, we’re trying to bring that back in this new building.”
The Maillakakis family listed the land, which measures 0.744 acres, for $4,295,000 in July 2023.
Pavich said determining the true value of prime beach real estate proved to be difficult. The land eventually sold a year later at 15% less than the original asking price. Yet the eventual asking price still set a price–per–square–foot record on Fort Myers Beach.
“When you’re running numbers for a property like this, you’re looking at a couple of different factors,” Pavich said. “Obviously, people always look at price per square foot. But price per square foot here and price per square foot there is not the same.
“There hasn’t really been a whole lot of sales on beach property for something like this. So, we look at a combination of what price per square foot on land would cost. Also, replacement cost to put a building here. And then look at what that business might be worth. That’s how we put a value on this property.
“You have to start somewhere by identifying what this might look like and what that might be worth. Also, too, what the lease space might cost. What the value is. That’s how I arrived at that number.”
The exact timetable to build on the site has yet to be determined, and the theme of the new restaurant has yet to be announced.
“I think the intention will be to start construction in 2025,” Pavich said. “We’re pretty excited.”
