Bonita Springs City Council unanimously approved a lease agreement with Barron Collier Companies for the 5.3-acre property off Old 41 Road on both sides of the Imperial River for a future development known as Imperial Crossing.  

Discussing the agreement terms with Barron Collier has been in the works since July 2021, with the final vote held on Wednesday morning.  

A few changes were made to the lease since the first hearing last month. Originally, the lease had Barron Collier looking every 10 years at the previous decade and adjusting its rent to the city based on the 2% average revenue. The current terms now have the developer paying a compounded 2.5% annual increase in rent. This rate protects the city by exceeding historical inflation rates. 

Many Bonita Springs residents attended the meeting to voice how they think this will ultimately affect the future of the downtown area. 

Spencer Patterson is one of the starters of small business Sugarshack Sessions in Bonita Springs. He sees Imperial Crossing as a refreshing project that the downtown area will thrive from.  

“A lot of the [projects] have been renourishing something that is already here, and this is going to show how you can take something that’s literally just been sitting still for so long and remake it into something nobody saw,” Patterson said.  

The site was once home to the Bamboo Village trailer park, but has been sitting vacant for 20 years. The conceptual site plans for Imperial Crossing show a multi-use project of apartments and commercial spaces, with a public park and access to the river.  

Samantha Moran has spent her life in Southwest Florida and owns a business in the downtown Bonita area. She also sees Barron Collier’s development as a kickstart for more projects that will promote revitalization of downtown. 

“We really want to see Bonita flourish, I don’t want to see that vacant lot any longer,” Moran said. “I don’t want to bring my kids to the Wonder Gardens and look across the street and just see a big, vacant lot. It used to be trailers, now it’s a vacant lot, it’s not that appealing to us.”  

The first city manager of Bonita Springs, Gary Price, was involved in the purchase of the old Bamboo Village property more than 20 years ago. He expressed during public comment he is pleased to see a project finally come to fruition after decades of the space sitting empty. 

“I thought it was a dream come true that I can be involved in proper utilization of all that underutilized property,” Price said. “I didn’t know how it was going to happen at the time and then all of a sudden the old Bamboo trailer parks became available.” 

He expressed that this project is fitting for what he saw in the future of Bonita Springs. 

“There were two phases of my dream as city manager of Bonita, starting a city from scratch and being able to facilitate the utilization of underutilized property, and create something unique in Southwest Florida,” Price said. “It’s not going to be like Naples, it’s not going to be like Fort Myers, it’s not going to be like Sanibel or Fort Myers Beach. It’s going to be totally Bonita, I urge [council] to approve this agreement so we can get on with this much too long delayed process.” 

Charlie Strader has been a Bonita Springs resident for over 40 years, and thinks this project goes against parts of the city’s comprehensive plan. Particularly, the conservation and coastal management element relating to minimizing flood risk. 

“Just because the downtown district was later exempted from some of the [comprehensive plan] policies does not negate the reasoning or reality that the reasons the rivers and creeks are in the coastal high hazard zone is clearly demonstrated by both Hurricanes Ian and Irma,” Strader said during public comment. “Why would you even permit, let alone subsidize, residential density along our river knowing that the Bamboo Village parcels flooded twice in five years?” 

Council member Chris Corrie has had a record of disapproving of the Imperial Crossing project. Before voting in favor of the lease, he expressed the need for the continuation of community input as Barron Collier comes forward with final site plans. 

“There’s a lot of work that’s got to go on in order to get this wagon moved along and get this property built, and what we need to do is for everybody in the community to express their views and opinions of what this thing will look like, but do so in a way in which we’re coming together as a community to get this project done,” Corrie said. 

Corrie continued to recognize Barron Collier’s reputation as a developer as he believes the company will be able to handle a massive project in an unproved market.  

“I think it’s a good thing to do because Barron Collier is a very strong organization and, in my mind, if anybody can pull this off, it’s them,” Corrie said. “But it’s not a guarantee it’s going to happen, so let’s all continue to work together, let’s give Barron Collier the benefit of the doubt. Let’s listen to what they say and let’s move forward and try to get this thing moved off ground zero and make Bonita Springs the dream that we want to see it come into.”