Fort Myers City Council approved by a 4-2 vote a permission to advertise a request for proposals from qualified firms for the opportunity to lease or purchase and develop a mixed-use project on the site of City of Palms Park, Skatium and other adjoining city-owned properties. 

The stadium, Skatium and parking areas include four parcels totaling 27 acres in the midtown area of Fort Myers. The city envisions a strategic redevelopment of the midtown area that will become a focal point of the city with the reimagining of the four parcels serving as a catalyst for the transformation of the area to a state-of-the-art sports/entertainment-themed, mixed-use venue. 

The permission to advertise comes just a month after Council approved a motion to move forward with an RFP process, which was an item brought forward by council member Darla Bonk. The RFP drafted after the vote takes into consideration a robust qualification section and a fair and equitable scoring system, which Assistant City Manager John Lege said staff are still working on refining. 

Procurement Manager Denise Finn presented what staff has drafted so far, particularly focusing on the scoring system, which has caused some disagreements in previous RFPs. After drafting a scoring system with options for poor, fair, good, excellent and outstanding grades in each area, additional research left staff with a scoring system of unacceptable, marginal, acceptable, good and outstanding grades. 

“It’s kind of like a pass/fail as to whether they are meeting our expectations in each of the areas or whether they’re not,” Finn said. 

The evaluation criteria for the scoring of the written proposals includes experience of the firm, qualifications of assigned personnel, approach to project/design, financial backing and compliance with the minority business enterprise policy. 

The project will provide a mix of residential, commercial and recreational uses while remaining consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan. The RFP states the qualified partner will provide needed capital investment to make the stadium and adjacent areas a high-quality venue for sports and other events and provides a valued and welcomed resource for community stakeholders and visitors. 

The city is seeking proposals for a mixed-use project that includes renovation of the City of Palms Park to support a professional soccer team, construction of a multisport complex and renovation and/or expansion of the Skatium. In addition, hotels, quality residential options, restaurants/bars, retail, office space, greenspace and education and medical facilities also are part of what the city is seeking. 

“We told them this is exactly what we want you to give us,” Finn said, “but then we are also offering them the ability to submit an alternative, if in their expertise, because they’re the developers, they can offer us something that we haven’t thought of yet.” 

Considering the option to submit something outside of what the city is seeking, the RFP also states that any systems or documents developed, produced or provided in response to the request, including the developer’s intellectual property, shall become the property of the city unless otherwise stated in the RFP response.  

Bonk requested a few revisions to the RFP, including keeping the stadium and Skatium as strictly lease options with the option of either leasing or selling the other two parcels.  

“Once you sell it, it’s hard to tell somebody what they can and cannot do with the parcels,” Bonk said. “The [west and eastside parking lots] are largely parking lot and grass areas, whereas the [stadium and Skatium] are hard assets that have been paid for with taxpayer dollars.” 

Bonk also requested to include specifying that the city is seeking vertical mixed-use on-site, as well as other specified language to ensure the clarity of the RFP. 

“I also want to make sure somewhere in here we have stated that [the RFP is for] vertical mixed-use and multisports and entertainment, it’s all three,” Bonk said. “It’s not one or the other. You’re not coming in and putting vertical mixed-use in here without multisports, and you’re not doing multisports without vertical mixed-use and entertainment. It is a three-pronged approach to this.”