Downtown

Downtown Fort Myers’ brick-lined streets lead up from a picturesque waterfront newly energized with charming restaurants, shops, art galleries, and performance spaces. The Downtown redevelopment district, also known as the River District, is the city’s historic and cultural core. It’s a dynamic mix of homes, work, and play, in which people of all kinds are confidently invested. The River District combines commercial and residential in a walkable neighborhood that preserves the style of the past while pointing to the wave of the future when it comes to convenience and saving our precious natural resources.

The Downtown district today is vastly different from the desolate urban wasteland it was in the 1970s and early 1980s. Much of the progress is the result of redevelopment district created in 1984 as a 540-acre area stretching from the Caloosahatchee River to Victoria Avenue and from West First Street to Billy’s Creek. Over the decades, this area has evolved through three redevelopment plans, growing and progressing as projects are completed, priorities change, and new directions are charted.

The current 2010 Downtown Plan integrates the existing historic area with a strategy to develop the neighboring, largely vacant riverfront with new projects such as a crescent-shaped water detention basin lined by unique retail shops, restaurants, and a convention hotel; an enlarged marina; the addition of two new parking structures; and the creation of a cultural destination through improved parks and outdoor public spaces.

With much of the redevelopment in the original Downtown core completed, focus is also shifting to the east in Gardner’s Park, to the south in Midtown, and to the west in West First Street.

The Downtown redevelopment area is positioned along the northern City Limits and contains the City’s core. It is located south of Caloosahatchee River and north of Market Street.

LOCATION

The Downtown redevelopment area is positioned along the northern City Limits and contains the City’s core. It is located south of Caloosahatchee River and north of Market Street.

Explore Interactive Redevelopment Areas Map

Please note that all of the redevelopment areas have irregular borders; the boundaries stated below extend to the outermost limit of the redevelopment area.

Its boundaries are as follows:

  • Northern Boundary: Northern City Limits at the Caloosahatchee River
  • Southern Boundary: Market Street
  • Eastern Boundary: Just east of Seaboard Street
  • Western Boundary: Just west of West First Street

TOTAL ACREAGE

+/- 540 Acres

REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

EXTERNAL LINKS

HISTORY AND FEATURES

The Downtown district has come a long way from the desolate urban wasteland of the 1970s and early 1980s. It was created in 1984 as a 540-acre area stretching from the Caloosahatchee River to Victoria Avenue and from West First Street to Billy’s Creek. Over the decades, this area has had three redevelopment plans because when projects were completed or priorities changed, a new direction was needed.

The current 2010 Downtown Plan has been updated in recent years—with the most recent update in 2018—to incorporate these neighborhood-specific plans:

Waterfront Plan
A plan specifically addressing the Waterfront integrates the existing historic area with a strategy to develop the neighboring, largely vacant riverfront. Some of the new projects for the riverfront area include a crescent-shaped water detention basin lined by unique retail shops, restaurants, and a convention hotel; making the marina bigger; increasing downtown parking by adding two new parking structures, and creating a cultural destination through improved parks and outdoor public spaces.

Gardner’s Park Plan
Gardner’s Park, currently a mainly-residential area to the east of the Downtown core, is slated to become a high-quality, mixed-use urban realm that still maintains its unique historic character. The Gardner’s Park Redevelopment Plan envisions a community of unique identity, where public activities and gathering spaces and places bring vibrancy to the neighborhood. Art and music events, signature street lighting, farmers markets, street events and artisan studios and displays are all envisioned as activities that will create economic stability and a destination for a variety of entertainment and cultural opportunities.

An additional neighborhood plan that combines the southern portion of the Downtown redevelopment area with the entire Central Fort Myers redevelopment area is the Midtown Vision Plan. It is an integrated redevelopment strategy for the area of Fort Myers just south of the Downtown core.

The Midtown Vision Plan is intended to serve as a shared community vision for transforming this part of the city into a vibrant, new, diverse, mixed-use destination. Priorities for Midtown are as follows:

  • Maximize the potential for mixed-use development in Midtown
  • Plan for a range of new housing options
  • Create opportunities for sustained commercial viability
  • Create street conditions that are safe for bicyclists and walkable for pedestrians
  • Introduce a range of new public realm and open space fea­tures
  • Plan for “smart infrastructure”
  • Incorporate sustainable and resilient measures where possible
  • Create a discernible sense of place that will appeal to all city residents and visitors alike

As part of the new Midtown vision, Collaboratory opened in 2018 as the catalyst for revitalizing the Midtown section of Fort Myers’ Downtown redevelopment area. As southwest Florida’s first public sphere, Collaboratory is where people from different backgrounds, interests and areas of expertise come together to exchange ideas—whether meeting locally in person, or virtually worldwide through the ultra-high-speed Florida Lambda Rail network. Partnering with SWFL Community Foundation and the City, the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency suggested transforming the former 1924 Atlantic Coast Line Railway depot into the cornerstone of Collaboratory’s campus, along with a modern addition and sustainable, high-tech footprint, to propel Midtown into the 21st Century.

Brick-lined streetscaping has also begun in the Midtown section of the Downtown redevelopment area along portions of Cottage and Jackson streets.

Finally, the West First Street section of the Downtown redevelopment area is beginning to take shape with hotel and mixed-use residential apartment buildings in the works.

    MIDTOWN VISION PLAN

    Visit the Midtown Project website.

    The Midtown Vision Plan: Downtown Fort Myers Integrated Redevelopment Strategy was a multi-year effort to engage the community in crafting a vision for the City, its Downtown and the new Midtown. The 243-acre Midtown area was the intense focus of the City’s planning and visioning efforts. The City explored in depth how the new proposed Midtown area will accommodate smart growth, more housing options, and enhanced economic opportunities for the City and its citizens.

    Midtown Vision Plan