\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCrews are making swift progress tearing down the former bank building that became an eyesore \u2014 and an iguana-infested nuisance \u2014 after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida in 2022.Piles of debris now cover the parking lot just a block behind Cape Coral Parkway, where heavy machinery has been chipping away at the long-abandoned structure. The demolition is expected to wrap up Monday.For many residents, the building\u2019s removal is long overdue.\u201cI\u2019m just happy to see it go,\u201d said Karen West, who walks her dog past the site every day. \u201cThis is a huge demolition. It\u2019s not like a little house or something. I mean, it\u2019s huge.\u201dThe vacant property had drawn attention not only for storm damage left unrepaired in the years since Ian, but also for reports of squatters and a growing iguana population that took over the deteriorating structure.Throughout the day, curious onlookers stopped to watch the demolition unfold.\u201cI was watching Gulf Coast News this morning very early, and I saw the story about the bank coming down,\u201d said Cape Coral resident Geoff Torno, who came out to see the progress for himself.Now that the structure is coming down, attention has turned to what will replace it.\u201cWell, it\u2019s got to be something big, and it\u2019s going to be something more like retail,\u201d said Armando Gambino, expressing optimism about the site\u2019s future.Others hope for something different.\u201cYeah, no more retail. Something nice \u2014 unless it\u2019s a Chick-fil-A,\u201d West said, jokingly. Despite uncertainty about redevelopment plans, many agree that the demolition marks an important step forward.\u201cFuture is really bright for this piece of property,\u201d Gambino said.The building\u2019s removal clears the way for potential redevelopment in a growing part of Cape Coral, signaling what residents hope is a fresh start for a property that has stood damaged and vacant for years.DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Crews are making swift progress tearing down the former bank building that became an eyesore \u2014 and an iguana-infested nuisance \u2014 after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida in 2022.<\/p>\n
Piles of debris now cover the parking lot just a block behind Cape Coral Parkway, where heavy machinery has been chipping away at the long-abandoned structure. The demolition<\/a> is expected to wrap up Monday.<\/p>\n For many residents, the building\u2019s removal is long overdue.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just happy to see it go,\u201d said Karen West, who walks her dog past the site every day. \u201cThis is a huge demolition. It\u2019s not like a little house or something. I mean, it\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n The vacant property had drawn attention not only for storm damage left unrepaired in the years since Ian, but also for reports of squatters and a growing iguana population that took over the deteriorating structure.<\/p>\n Throughout the day, curious onlookers stopped to watch the demolition unfold.<\/p>\n \u201cI was watching Gulf Coast News this morning very early, and I saw the story about the bank coming down,\u201d said Cape Coral resident Geoff Torno, who came out to see the progress for himself.<\/p>\n Now that the structure is coming down, attention has turned to what will replace it.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s got to be something big, and it\u2019s going to be something more like retail,\u201d said Armando Gambino, expressing optimism about the site\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Others hope for something different.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, no more retail. Something nice \u2014 unless it\u2019s a Chick-fil-A,\u201d West said, jokingly. <\/p>\n Despite uncertainty about redevelopment plans, many agree that the demolition marks an important step forward.<\/p>\n \u201cFuture is really bright for this piece of property,\u201d Gambino said.<\/p>\n The building\u2019s removal clears the way for potential redevelopment in a growing part of Cape Coral, signaling what residents hope is a fresh start for a property that has stood damaged and vacant for years.<\/p>\n DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crews are making swift progress tearing down the former bank building that became an eyesore \u2014 and an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[74208,7894,1579,209,211,210,5210,104,195,6027,213,74207,63007,6974,13982,74206,164],"class_list":["post-153903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-armando-gambino","tag-bank","tag-building","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-demolition","tag-entertainment","tag-future","tag-hurricane-ian","tag-late-news","tag-long-abandoned-structure","tag-many-resident","tag-removal","tag-site","tag-vacant-property","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}