An aerial rendering shows the proposed $500 million Bimini East development in Cape Coral. The 34-acre project calls for up to 900 residences, a hotel, commercial space and waterfront amenities.
Cape Coral government
Cape Coral City Council members have great expectations for Bimini East, a $500 million mixed-use community set to be built in the South Cape downtown entertainment district.
At the project’s final public hearing Oct. 21, City Council voted 6-1 to approve a development agreement involving project owner Bimini Basin Redevelopment Company LLC and North Dakota-based developer Crown Development Inc. for the planned 34-acre project south of Cape Coral Parkway East near Four Freedoms Park.
It includes up to 900 townhomes and apartments, hotel rooms, retail, entertainment, medical space, a public-access marina and other features.
“I think this is a transformational and monumental project that will change the downtown area,” Mayor John Gunter said, adding that developing the Bimini Basin waterfront area was one of his goals when he was elected a council member in 2017.
“For me it’s a promise I made back then that I would do what I could to get this project to fruition. I’m glad I was able to see that almost after my 11th hour and 59 minutes.”
Gunter is set to step down as mayor in November after losing the seat in the August primary election.
The decade-long Bimini East construction project alone is expected to generate $750.9 million in economic output, city staff said, while redeveloping a blighted area, expanding the tax base, attracting new businesses and boosting area real estate values.
Councilor Rachel Kaduk said Bimini East will “change the entire footprint of the downtown area of Cape Coral.”
Councilor Bill Steinke echoed those remarks, calling the project “transformational.”
But he added that “change is scary.”
Cape Coral residents at the Oct. 21 meeting continued to voice concerns about whether the development agreement, which includes more than $62 million in incentives for Crown, is in the city’s best financial interest and how the massive development will affect area traffic patterns.
Speakers also criticized part of the agreement that leases Four Freedoms Park to the developer for 99 years at $1 per year. That allows the city to retain ownership of the property while Crown takes over responsibility for utilities, taxes and maintenance.
Four Freedoms Park in Cape Coral would undergo changes under the approved Bimini East development agreement. Plans call for relocating the existing preschool and playground, adding a bandshell and using part of the waterfront for a marina.
Evan Williams
But to fulfill its vision for Bimini East, Crown is also planning major changes to Four Freedoms, a park beloved by many residents since it opened in the 1960s. It was the city’s first park, city staff said, created by Cape Coral founders Jack and Leonard Rosen.
Crown and the city plan to eventually relocate an existing preschool and playground at Four Freedoms, add a bandshell and utilize part of the waterfront for Bimini East’s marina, among other potential changes.
Crown President Larry Nygard addressed the changes to Four Freedoms at the hearing, arguing that they are needed to fulfill the company’s and city’s commercial goals for Bimini.
Crown Development Inc. President Larry Nygard addresses Cape Coral City Council about the proposed Bimini East development. Nygard defended planned changes to Four Freedoms Park as necessary to attract businesses and activate the waterfront.
Evan Williams
“The use that we’re hoping to generate there, to activate the waterfront with the basin and a bandshell, are kind of contradictory to having young kids there that are going to school,” he said. “They’re just not really compatible.
“For example, we won’t get a hotel down there unless we can demonstrate the marina and other activity like that…
“If you start cherry picking things and removing them, all of a sudden we diminish the attractiveness for some of the commercial businesses that may have an interest in locating there.”
Nygard said the changes will expand the park’s public uses.
“So, the notion that the park is going to be diminished is absolutely wrong,” he said. “It’s going to be expanded. It just won’t be exactly as it is today.”
The Bimini East project sits south of Cape Coral Parkway East, west of Coronado Parkway and north of Victoria Drive. It is also directly east of Bimini Square, Crown Development’s smaller sister project, which opened in February.
A rendering illustrates the proposed Bimini East waterfront, including a marina, public gathering space and surrounding residential and commercial buildings. Cape Coral City Council approved the $500 million development agreement Oct. 21.
Cape Coral government
In addition to residential units, plans for Bimini East call for 250 hotel rooms, 150,000 to 200,000 square feet of medical space, a minimum of 120,000 square feet of commercial space, a 4,000-square-foot police substation, a marina with 50 boat slips and up to four parking garages with 2,000 total spaces.
As part of the city’s incentive package, the Cape Coral Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to give the developer $45.75 million in tax increment rebates. The CRA is also funding $11 million in property acquisitions at the site. And the city agreed to give Crown $5 million in impact fee credits and help pay to demolish existing structures needed to complete Bimini East.
City staff also estimate that Bimini East will add $418.8 million to the city’s gross domestic product.
The project is expected to support an estimated 2,218 direct jobs on-site, 591 indirect supplier and support jobs and 592 induced jobs from spending, with total worker earnings of $246.8 million.