Hurricane Ian<\/a> in September 2022, leaving it unsafe for public use.<\/p>\nSince then, the site has largely been fenced off as Fort Myers Beach continued its long recovery.<\/p>\n
“Since the storm, this has been a construction site for the most part,” Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“To be able to see some greenery and see people smiling, walking around, knowing they’re going to have a nice pathway to the beach, now being the first thing you see when you come over the bridge is pretty important for us.”<\/p>\n
![\"vlcsnap-2026-07-29-11h44m24s395.png\"](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
Construction on the project began in January. While the timing coincided with the height of tourist season, Allers said most people understood why the park needed to remain closed.<\/p>\n
“Most people understood why it had to be blocked off… for safety,” Allers said. “They understood what was coming. They were able to see the vision.”<\/p>\n
Visitors returning to the park will find new seating, shaded gathering areas, a large grassy space for picnics and relaxation, four beach access points\u2014including one that is ADA accessible\u2014and upgraded ADA-compliant restroom trailers with outdoor showers.<\/p>\n
The new lawn was one of the features town leaders wanted to prioritize.<\/p>\n
“It was important to us to have some green space,” Allers said. “We have plenty of sand, but we don’t have a lot of green space. We wanted a place where people could sit down, watch their kids play, or where grandma and grandpa could enjoy a picnic together.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Allers said he hopes the park becomes a gathering place for both residents and visitors while serving as another sign of Fort Myers Beach’s continued recovery.<\/p>\n
“I think over the next year, 18 months, you’re really going to see a transformation in the downtown area,” Allers said. “It’s all kind of coming together.”<\/p>\n
The reopening marks another milestone in the community’s rebuilding efforts nearly four years after Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 One of Fort Myers Beach’s most popular beachfront parks is welcoming visitors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,145438,33603,1695],"class_list":["post-356382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-crescent-beach","tag-federal-emergency-management-agency","tag-fort-myers-beach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356382","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=356382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}