FORT MYERS, Florida – The Fort Myers City Council is discussing what to do with the old, new press facility that has been vacant for years.
Old News Press Site proposal is updated at City of Fort Myers workshop
Fox 4 attended a workshop on Monday and saw the proposal to convert nine acres into multi-use facilities.
Catalyst CD developers are offering the city $8.5 million for about nine acres of land in Midtown.
The city said it purchased the approximately 11-acre property for $9.1 million.
The president of the development company says they are offering nine acres for the land, two acres less than the area purchased from the city.
The former newspaper and press site on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard could soon be home to a mixed-use development with hotels, residential units, office space, retail stores and even a grocery store.
The idea is to clear about nine hectares to build these mid-rise buildings, as you can see in this graphic.
Fox 4
Catalyst CD President Joseph Bonora said one of the goals in creating this site was to make it more pedestrian-friendly and reduce the impact on traffic when the project is completed.
“Everything from banks to dry cleaners will be there, restaurants, shops, grocery stores,” Bonora says. “I mean, there are just all these things in the area that don’t exist, so there will be all the things that the public wants to use.”
During the workshop, the city council decided that the city manager should continue negotiations with the company.
