CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—Cape Coral will vote to approve an economic development incentive agreement for a Costco at 600 Chiquita Boulevard South on Monday, advancing a project city leaders said faces expensive site work.
The city says the Costco will be 165,000 square feet with eye care, a hearing clinic and a gas station. Cape Coral City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said residents had asked for a Costco more than any other company during the last five to six years.
“It’s a great partnership, both from turning a site that would otherwise be a dead site in Cape Coral into one that could be productive for our citizens,” Ilczyszyn said.
The City has offered Costco an incentives package that includes up to $8 million through an enhanced property value recapture grant, up to $1.8 million in impact fee reimbursement and deferral of up to $200,000 in utility impact fees.
The site includes a lake that used to be a borrow pit, and the Cape Coral city manager said the ground can not support a building in its current condition. He said the site would require compaction work that adds major development costs.
“Even though it looks like there’s land there, it’s not native and it’s not natural. It’s unnatural, and so we need to come in and help them make that soil to a position that can sustain a building,” Ilczyszyn said.
City records said the impact fee reimbursement would come after a certificate of occupancy, which the city anticipated in fiscal year 2028. The enhanced property value recapture grant could run through a 25-year performance period, with estimated payments beginning in fiscal year 2029 or fiscal year 2030.
The city said the incentive funding would come from taxes Costco generates and pays. The council action approved the agreement tied to the proposed Cape Coral store.
Residents welcomed the planned store, explaining they’ve been waiting years for more shopping options.
“Costco has things that we need and we don’t have, so yeah, it is great,” Rafael T. Hernandez, a southwest Cape Coral neighbor, said.
But Hernandez questioned whether nearby roads could handle more traffic as other retail development moved into the area.
“I don’t think we can get bigger places like Walmart because we don’t have the infrastructure for that,” Hernandez said. “I think that they need to widen the roads so we can get the traffic flowing.”
Ilczyszyn called the project a “win-win” because Costco would improve Chiquita Boulevard South as part of the project by adding turn lanes and a traffic signal.
“It helps us not have to have the administrative burden of collecting and administering the fees, and then hiring contractors, designing the work,” said the city manager.
Ilczyszyn said the city offered the incentive package in part so Costco could build those transportation improvements during construction.
“They’re going to do it all for us, and we’re going to let them deal with it as they do construction,” Ilczyszyn said.
City records show Cape Coral’s Economic and Business Development Office began outreach to Costco in 2024 after strong public interest in bringing the retailer to the city.
The city said Costco projected roughly 150 to 175 jobs in the community with the average wage being $27.85.
Ilczyszyn said the company still needed a Water Management District permit and city permits for site construction and the building.