Ideas have come and gone in the South Cape entertainment district for a remaining highly visible vacant commercial lot that has exchanged hands a half-dozen times in the past 16 years.
The most recent concept a couple of years ago by Cape Coral resident Oliver Strätz had featured a multi-story dining and drinking complex that city officials had touted as the community’s first several-level development in many moons. It still shows up in their records as the 239 Sky Bar.
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Strätz, stuck in Switzerland, which doesn’t seem that bad of a place during a pandemic, told me he dropped the project for personal reasons.
He’s clearly frustrated by the “unreliable circumstances” and his inability since last year to travel here as a European in the COVID-19 age despite his ownership of several homes, businesses and yes, three boats that he’s unable to enjoy in our sunshine. “It’s a shame,” he said.
Now his 0.33- acre of land near the Del Prado Boulevard intersection belongs to 1415 Cape Coral Parkway Partnership LLC after a $475,000 purchase. It shows up as being sold for $250,000 as recently as 2016, but $1.3 million a decade earlier, prior to the crash, based on public data.
“A new partnership group including myself, Adam Palmer and Rokki Rogan from LandQwest Commercial successfully closed on the parcel two weeks ago,” said Brad Cozza, who’s owned and invested in local eateries. “South Cape is booming, and we are very excited about this project.”
How similar it will be to the previous plan is still being determined, but Cozza said it’s in the works for more than one story.
“We are definitely planning to go vertical and discussing all options of concepts and direction as we speak,” Cozza said last week, describing it as “the last parcel available for development on south Cape Coral Parkway.”
Palmer, LandQwest’s principal and managing director, told me “all options are on the table, no pun intended” as part of a conversation that devolved into a pun-infested throwdown that unfortunately I started when I asked him at the start what was cooking. “Let’s just keep throwing bad jokes in there.”
The venture brings together Palmer’s well-respected leadership in commercial real estate, Cozza’s restaurant background and Rogan’s construction knowledge as a LandQwest founder.
Rogan “brings a lot of experience in development to the table including in Cape Coral,” Palmer said. “I’ve known Brad for a long time, both as a friend and a colleague in the real estate world so he approached me on this site. I usually don’t get involved in too many deals. There’s obviously a scarcity to Cape Coral Parkway opportunities, especially for new development like this.”
So with Cozza’s involvement and South Cape’s growing reputation as a cuisine and party destination with more than 60 venues, wouldn’t food and booze make the most sense?
“We’re going to be kind of patient as we’re analyzing all of our options to see what’s the best fit,” Palmer said. “Commercial real estate is all about highest and best. We’re going to make sure that we’re looking underneath every stone as far as figuring out what the best option for the site is.”
One stone he’ll come across a half-mile away is the $66 million The Cove at 47th, a planned 290-unit housing complex, rooftop restaurant and parking garage that received backing from the Cape Coral Community Redevelopment Agency last month.
Construction is slated to begin in January, with the first residents arriving by about the middle of 2023.
Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) writes In the Know as part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Support Democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.
