Fort Myers City Council Approves Final Version of Midtown Vision Plan

On January 7, 2019 the Fort Myers City Council received and approved the Midtown Vision Plan. Midtown is an area immediately south of downtown Ft. Myers and sits between Cleveland Avenue to the west, Evans Avenue to the east, Edison Avenue to the south and Dr. MLK Blvd. to the north. According to a consultant with the University of South Florida there are currently fewer than 100 residents in the area.

The Plan calls for approximately 4,000 new residential units of affordable and work-force housing and close to 600,000 square feet of office and commercial space. Public and civic spaces are also included in the Plan. Under the Plan the City of Palms Park would be demolished and replaced with a town center.

The first phase of development could occur within the next four to six years and would include the town center, some housing and transportation improvements. The final phase of the Plan is scheduled in the next six to seven years.

In conjunction with the revitalization of downtown, the larger city of Ft. Myers has the potential to become a draw for new business, year-round visitors and conventions.

The Ft. Myers of the past was considered by many to be merely a stopping off place for those headed to the white, sandy, shelling beaches of Sanibel Island or elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon Ft. Myers could become the destination itself.

As we begin 2019 this may bode well for someone hoping to buy a condominium along the Fort Myer’s waterfront, a single family home along McGregor Boulevard or find affordable housing in Midtown. As the old real estate adage says, “The best time to buy real estate is today and ten years ago.”

Sanibel Island and the Algiers

   Courtesy of Betty Anholt

The Algiers was originally a car ferry operating on the Mississippi River. After 25 years of service it was sold at auction in 1958 to Helen and Lathrop Brown. The Browns were a wealthy couple from the east; Lathrop Brown was a former congressman from New York, Franklin Roosevelt’s college roommate and best man at his wedding. Helen Brown was a shipping heiress.

In 1959 the Browns brought the Algiers to a 25-acre plot of Sanibel beach-front property they had purchased. To reach the property they had workers cut a channel through the island’s interior which was filled in after the 150-foot ferry passed through. With a huge paddle wheel, feathered smoke stacks, thirteen rooms, five baths, pool, restaurant-quality kitchen and gold bath fixtures the Algiers was a whimsical marvel.

Before moving to their new home the Browns wanted to sell an existing home in Ft. Lauderdale. Helen sent Lathrop back to the east coast to sell the house but while there he contracted an illness and died. Helen left Sanibel and never returned. In 1981 she sold the beach-front property to the newly incorporated city of Sanibel for $550,000. 

The Algiers sat neglected and decaying on its Gulf-front property for 23 years until 1982 when it was finally stripped of anything salvageable that could be auctioned. Three pieces of the ferry, the captain’s wheel, the anchor and the bell are on display at the Sanibel Historical Village.

Today the 25-acre plot of beach-front property is home to Gulfside Park and what was once vacant land, directly on the beach is now a prime spot for beach-front condominiums.

Now, as then, Sanibel Island is a special place for special people.