CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) — The future of the Cape Coral Yacht Club will be up for discussion again on Wednesday.
WINK News has been following this story for nearly four years after Hurricane Ian destroyed the property. Crews tore down the ballroom at the yacht club in April 2024.
The yacht club site is at the southern end of Cape Coral off Driftwood Parkway and along the Caloosahatchee River. Two very different proposals are on the table right now.
One is focused more on the marina, while the other would bring in a hotel, retail and other businesses. The Yacht Club Development Group’s proposal would have a marina with more than 120 wet slips, fuel, boat storage, a tiki bar and even townhomes and a resort-style hotel.
There would also be retail and other public amenities. The other proposal is from KMB Marine.
It would also have a marina with 130 wet slips, 35 lift slips, floating docks, a fuel station, a hotel and a boardwalk. While the other proposal includes townhomes, this one plans for a convention and community space, plus a restaurant and resort amenities.
Another big difference is this proposal would include a 685-space parking garage. While the city weighs which proposal to move forward with, some neighbors say they don’t want to lose the feel of the park they knew before Ian.
Others see this as an opportunity to bring something big back to Cape Coral. Al Sparrow, a Cape Coral neighbor, said he likes both proposals.
“I definitely like both of them. I definitely hope it goes more towards the community and families, like it used to before,” Sparrow said. “We got a lot of resorts and a lot of slips and a lot of boats, but it’s just nice to get out here with the family and do family things.”
Another neighbor expressed concerns about the scale of development.
“I think it’s more than what this park can handle, and I just don’t see, don’t understand why we would need a hotel or motels and that type stuff here in what’s supposed to be a park, not a business,” the neighbor said.
“And I can understand the Boat House, and but because it was here before all this stuff happened, and I’d like to see the boathouse back and the pier back and the rest of it back to what it was prior.”
City leaders are expected to review both proposals at the Committee of the Whole meeting and eventually decide which direction they want to take.
WINK News will be inside that meeting to bring the latest for the future of this property.