\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe city of Cape Coral is moving forward with plans to bring more commercial development, including new shops and restaurants, to the long-awaited Seven Islands Project in the city\u2019s northwest corridor.Located off Old Burnt Store Road, the 48-acre waterfront property could soon be transformed into a mixed-use destination designed to attract both residents and visitors.Renderings show plans for apartments, condominiums, waterfront restaurants, and even a 240-room resort hotel. The development would also feature a harbor for boaters, allowing visitors to dock and explore the area\u2019s dining and retail options.\u201cThey\u2019re going to have a harbor up there and they\u2019ll make it where you can come in with boats to dock there,\u201d said Don Apking, vice chairman of the Cape Coral Planning and Zoning Commission.The city is now considering changes to how the land can be used \u2014 opening the door for more commercial development. Instead of stacking apartments and condos above retail, city leaders want to keep residential and commercial buildings side-by-side.\u201cThe other challenge that you have up there \u2014 if you look at the seven islands \u2014 they\u2019re real narrow, so what you have to do is have parking on the bottom,\u201d Apking explained.Some nearby residents say they welcome the project, hoping it boosts property values and adds amenities to their part of the city.\u201cIt would help to the property values here,\u201d said Linda Spetebroot, who has lived along Old Burnt Store Road for six years.Her husband, Tony Spetebroot, has concerns about what the development could bring.\u201cBig parking garages, that I don\u2019t like,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t know in the future how it\u2019s going to affect the people on this road.\u201dApking said the next step will be finalizing a contract between the developer and the city. Construction could begin as soon as next year, but completion is expected to take five to 10 years.For residents like the Spetebroots, the idea of new shops and restaurants nearby is exciting \u2014 even if it means more traffic down the road.\u201cThere\u2019ll be someplace else for the people to go to and enjoy,\u201d Linda said.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 is moving forward with plans to bring more commercial development, including new shops and restaurants, to the long-awaited Seven Islands Project in the city\u2019s northwest corridor.<\/p>\n
Located off Old Burnt Store Road, the 48-acre waterfront property could soon be transformed into a mixed-use destination designed to attract both residents and visitors.<\/p>\n
Renderings show plans for apartments, condominiums, waterfront restaurants, and even a 240-room resort hotel. The development would also feature a harbor for boaters, allowing visitors to dock and explore the area\u2019s dining and retail options.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to have a harbor up there and they\u2019ll make it where you can come in with boats to dock there,\u201d said Don Apking, vice chairman of the Cape Coral Planning and Zoning Commission.<\/p>\n
The city is now considering changes to how the land can be used \u2014 opening the door for more commercial development. Instead of stacking apartments and condos above retail, city leaders want to keep residential and commercial buildings side-by-side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other challenge that you have up there \u2014 if you look at the seven islands \u2014 they\u2019re real narrow, so what you have to do is have parking on the bottom,\u201d Apking explained.<\/p>\n
Some nearby residents say they welcome the project, hoping it boosts property values and adds amenities to their part of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would help to the property values here,\u201d said Linda Spetebroot, who has lived along Old Burnt Store Road for six years.<\/p>\n
Her husband, Tony Spetebroot, has concerns about what the development could bring.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig parking garages, that I don\u2019t like,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t know in the future how it\u2019s going to affect the people on this road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apking said the next step will be finalizing a contract between the developer and the city. Construction could begin as soon as next year, but completion is expected to take five to 10 years.<\/p>\n
For residents like the Spetebroots, the idea of new shops and restaurants nearby is exciting \u2014 even if it means more traffic down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be someplace else for the people to go to and enjoy,\u201d Linda said.<\/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 is moving forward with plans to bring more commercial development, including new shops…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7923,209,211,210,187,3370,104,213,24486,24484,5218,2171,5221,24485,24483,19436,164],"class_list":["post-35155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-apartment","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-city","tag-don-apking","tag-entertainment","tag-late-news","tag-more-shop","tag-new-shop","tag-plan","tag-resident","tag-restaurant","tag-retail-option","tag-seven-islands-project","tag-visitor","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35155","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=35155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}