Two proposed projects were presented to Fort Myers City Council at a Monday morning workshop in response to the city’s Request for Proposals for the city-owned property at 2442 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., formerly home to The News-Press newspaper. 

“We’ve talked about the need to redevelop [the former] The News-Press [building] for quite a while,” City Manager Marty Lawing said. “We talked about how [the building] can be a catalyst for the redevelopment of Midtown, so we’re excited about the proposals and look forward to hearing the presentations.” 

The city purchased the building for $8.9 million in 2019, more than a year after Gannett, The News-Press’ parent company, sold the site for $4.75 million. 

The first proposal came from Tre Bel Housing Founder Jonathan Vilma, a University of Miami alum and former NFL linebacker, and his partner Mario Procida, CEO of Procida Construction Corp.  

The two proposed a project that includes 614 units of multifamily housing, with a minimum of 100 units designated for attainable housing. It also consists of a 55,000-square-foot full-service grocery store with dedicated parking, an acre of green space and a minimum of 10,000 square feet of restaurant and retail uses.  

Vilma said he’s spoken with Publix, Aldi and Chick-Fil-A to receive specs for the site, meaning the size of the footprint, required parking and total acreage required.  

Procida is a family development and construction company headquartered in New York. 

“Across all markets, we develop luxury market rate and affordable housing,” Procida said. “Neither the Tre Bel or Procida entity does not come in here with the view of just having to build affordable, luxury or market rate we’re looking to present a mixed product. We don’t think that the site, frankly, is appropriate for a luxury residential development.” 

As for Vilma, being born and raised in Miami, he said his focus has been to understand and help areas that have been left behind. 

“The attainable units are most important because the whole purpose is to be able to provide housing for the natives who are currently living here,” he said. “We want to make sure that we put in writing our commitment to being able to deliver those units for attainable, essential housing.” 

The proposed purchase price is $11 million with a good faith deposit of $250,000, Vilma said. 

Since the city must do an appraisal of the property prior to selling, Vilma said the proposed purchase price would be adjusted accordingly. 

“If the appraisal is coming with the 60 to 80% Area Median Income factored into it, if it’s off by a range that’s reasonable, then we are prepared,” he said. “But if there’s an appraisal that comes in and we look at it and say, ‘Well, that just doesn’t match what rent restricted appraisal would be,’ we would like to have that opportunity to have an appraisal with the rent restrictions as a factor.” 

Rent restriction length would be subject to negotiation, typically having a 15- or 30-year restriction. 

The second proposal came from BluMark Capital Founder Paxton Kinol, whose proposal included four up to 18-story buildings with 1,160 market-rate units, a 200-room hotel and 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail and a full-sized grocery store. 

Kinol said the city needs to create a more critical mass of people downtown, with the former The News-Press site acting as a legacy project at the gateway to downtown. 

“If you want to build a development that looks like the rest of the suburbs outside of downtown Fort Myers, I’m not your guy,” he said. “My passion is about redeveloping downtowns. I see this as a legacy project. I see this as urban mixed-use.” 

Kinol’s proposed purchase price is $17 million with a $650,000 deposit. The closing date would be the day BluMark receives permits for the first building. 

“Closing on the land is actually not the big expense,” Kinol said. “This is a $400 million project we’re proposing.” 

Council member Darla Bonk stressed the need for affordable housing in the city. 

“We have a major housing issue for workforce and affordable housing,” she said. “This is only going to create a bigger disparity in the cost of living, in my opinion, of downtown.” 

Kinol also proposed residential community amenities, including a rooftop pool, fitness center, clubhouse and gathering spaces.  

Council member Teresa Watkins Brown expressed concern over the inclusivity of the community that’s already in the area. 

“The people who live there, I don’t want it where they’re not able to come and enjoy the amenities of what’s going to be there on that News-Press site, where it’s going to exclude the local people who live in here,” Brown said. “I don’t want to see another bunch of high rises everywhere, and nobody can afford to live in them but the rich and famous.” 

Council added the ranking of proposals as walk-on agenda items at Monday night’s Council meeting, where the item was eventually tabled for a time when all council members are present, considering the absence of Council member Liston Bochette during rankings. 

However, the tally of scores for each submittal was presented, with 488 points for Vilma’s proposal and 478 points for Kinol’s proposal, making the Tre Bel and Procida development the top-ranked proposal. Council tabled approval of any ranking for a later date.