\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe city of Cape Coral has officially sold the land for the long-discussed Seven Islands project for $20 million, a deal that leaves millions of dollars available for future city projects.The nearly 50 acres of waterfront property along the city\u2019s western edge \u2014 once marked by trees and a \u201cfor sale\u201d sign \u2014 is now set to become a mixed-use waterfront destination.Developers plan to build a hotel, waterfront condominiums and apartments, retail stores, restaurants, marinas and boat slips on 47 acres off Old Burnt Store Road South between Southwest Second Street and Southwest First Street.As of Wednesday, the property is no longer on the market.\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about it,\u201d said Cindy Mandalino, who lives near the site in northwest Cape Coral.Mandalino said she looks forward to taking her boat to the planned marina, grabbing a bite to eat, and enjoying the future hotel and restaurants.\u201cThis would be a good stop and get a sandwich before I go fishing or whatever you\u2019re going to do out in the Gulf,\u201d she said.Not all neighbors are convinced the area is ready for the transformation.Ryan Johnson, who also lives nearby, said he is concerned about the potential traffic impact.\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the amount of traffic it\u2019s going to add to the area,\u201d Johnson said.City officials previously purchased portions of the land after it went into foreclosure. Some city accounts were reimbursed when developers completed the purchase.After covering its costs, the city is left with $13.6 million from the sale.Don Apking, a nine-year resident and member of the city\u2019s charter review commission, said the remaining funds will likely be directed toward city priorities.\u201cIt\u2019s just going to go for any projects that are their priorities,\u201d Apking said. \u201cThey have had to cut things recently, so they will look at where it should go.\u201dCity Council will ultimately decide how to allocate the remaining funds. The city did not provide additional details on specific plans for the money.Developers cannot begin construction until they receive permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is unclear when those permits will be approved, though similar waterfront projects have taken years to secure. For example, permits for renovations at the city\u2019s Yacht Club took about three years to obtain.Until permits are granted, a timeline for groundbreaking on Seven Islands remains uncertain.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
The city of Cape Coral has officially sold the land for the long-discussed Seven Islands project for $20 million, a deal that leaves millions of dollars available for future city projects.<\/p>\n
The nearly 50 acres of waterfront property along the city\u2019s western edge \u2014 once marked by trees and a \u201cfor sale\u201d sign \u2014 is now set to become a mixed-use waterfront destination.<\/p>\n
Developers plan to build a hotel, waterfront condominiums and apartments, retail stores, restaurants, marinas and boat slips on 47 acres off Old Burnt Store Road South between Southwest Second Street and Southwest First Street.<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday, the property is no longer on the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about it,\u201d said Cindy Mandalino, who lives near the site in northwest Cape Coral.<\/p>\n
Mandalino said she looks forward to taking her boat to the planned marina, grabbing a bite to eat, and enjoying the future hotel and restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would be a good stop and get a sandwich before I go fishing or whatever you\u2019re going to do out in the Gulf,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Not all neighbors are convinced the area is ready for the transformation.<\/p>\n
Ryan Johnson, who also lives nearby, said he is concerned about the potential traffic impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the amount of traffic it\u2019s going to add to the area,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
City officials previously purchased portions of the land after it went into foreclosure. Some city accounts were reimbursed when developers completed the purchase.<\/p>\n
After covering its costs, the city is left with $13.6 million from the sale.<\/p>\n
Don Apking, a nine-year resident and member of the city\u2019s charter review commission, said the remaining funds will likely be directed toward city priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just going to go for any projects that are their priorities,\u201d Apking said. \u201cThey have had to cut things recently, so they will look at where it should go.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Council will ultimately decide how to allocate the remaining funds. The city did not provide additional details on specific plans for the money.<\/p>\n
Developers cannot begin construction until they receive permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is unclear when those permits will be approved, though similar waterfront projects have taken years to secure. <\/p>\n
For example, permits for renovations at the city\u2019s Yacht Club took about three years to obtain.<\/p>\n
Until permits are granted, a timeline for groundbreaking on Seven Islands remains uncertain.<\/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":"The city of Cape Coral has officially sold the land for the long-discussed Seven Islands project for $20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5211,1890,209,211,210,187,74627,5225,104,3033,74626,213,20832,908,5221,55815,164],"class_list":["post-154975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-acre","tag-boat","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-city","tag-city-priority","tag-developer","tag-entertainment","tag-hotel","tag-islands-sale","tag-late-news","tag-marina","tag-permit","tag-restaurant","tag-waterfront-property","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154975","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=154975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}