Q: Any idea when the 7-Eleven downtown on Third Street will reopen? If ever? Thanks! — Catelyn Juliano, Naples  

A: Nearly a year after storm surge from Hurricane Ian extensively damaged the longtime 7-Eleven convenience store on Third Street South, plans are underway to rebuild its gutted interior and reopen the store in downtown Naples.  

“Permits for a completely new floor plan, including the latest coffee inventions, frozen drink concoctions, fresh salad programs, hot foods, pastries and assorted cheese breads. The store is finally in the preliminary permit stages,” said Terry Hutchison, the franchisee of that 7-Eleven store, which originally opened in May 1966. “We anticipate an opening date in either late 2023 or early 2024. We are striving for the earlier date. Oh, thank heaven!”  

While that store was able to quickly reopen and provide bottled water to people after Hurricane Irma made landfall in Collier County six years ago, Hurricane Ian’s wave of water last September proved to be a completely different storm and a devastatingly different story. Hutchison, a Naples City Council member and the owner of multiple 7-Eleven stores in Collier and Lee counties, provided some insight about his store at 1353 Third St. S.   

“After staying open until the Ian storm surge reached the front sidewalk, we locked the doors on the Third Street South 7-Eleven close to noon on September 28, 2022,” he said. “Once the waters receded, it was clear the store would benefit from complete renovation. Sixty years since opening, the time had come!”   

Representatives of 7-Eleven Inc. indicated earlier this summer that the damaged store would reopen. “We are committed to getting this store back open so we can continue to serve the community,” a company media representative emailed.  

Until five years ago, the storefront’s signage lacked corporate identity with a simple display of 7-Eleven written in Gothic-style letters bookended by “Food” and “Milk” in the same font. The corporate logo and its signature orange, green and red horizontal stripes on either side were added across the single-story brick building in 2018.  

This summer, Napoli on the Bay Pizza moved into the smaller unit next to 7-Eleven in the 3,000-square-foot building that was built in 1966. The pizzeria occupies the inline space that formerly was the longtime home of 3rd Street Cafe.  

Before Hurricane Ian, the Hutchison family—Terry, his wife Sherri and daughter Courtney—had five franchised 7-Eleven locations. Ian took out three of them—two on Fort Myers Beach in addition to the one on Third Street South. Their Fort Myers Beach stores were destroyed, just shells of buildings at 1301 Estero Blvd. across from the Lani Kai resort; and at 841 Estero Blvd., across from the beach parking lot near the Fort Myers Beach fishing pier. “The only remaining piece of equipment is the ATM,” Hutchison said.  

Nevertheless, the Hutchisons plan to rebuild their Fort Myers Beach stores, too.   

“Absolutely! Expect those stores to be back in 2025, if not earlier,” he said. “The two stores are on either side of Margaritaville Resort and will serve the needs of the Fort Myers Beach community as we rebuild.”
The family’s stores still operating are the 7-Eleven ExxonMobil at the corner of Central Avenue and U.S. 41 in Naples, and the Estero location in Shoppes at Grande Oak across from Miromar Outlets. This Naples store has a permanent heavy-duty commercial generator and never closed during Hurricane Ian.  

Hotel redevelopment  

Q: Wondering if you can address what’s happening with the Collins Hotel on Route 41 in Naples. It’s obviously been closed down. — M.A. DaSilva, Naples  

A: While we have become accustomed to news about local redevelopment projects to build new hotels, plans for the Collins Hotel property are contradictory to that trend. The 60-year-old hotel building will be demolished soon for what is expected to be a health care outpatient facility.  

The Collins Hotel property at 1100 Tamiami Trail N. closed this spring and was sold March 29 for $24.5 million to Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Corp., or NMHC. Ironically, Fort Myers-based Seagate Development Group had purchased the 3.5-acre property on March 28, the day before NMHC purchased it, for $17.9 million with tentative plans to redevelop the site. So, the regional developer made $6.6 million on property it flipped after owning it for only a day, Collier County property records show.  

Part of Northwestern University’s medical school, NMHC does not have specific demolition or construction plans to share yet for the Naples property, located less than a mile away from NCH Healthcare System’s Downtown Baker Hospital.  

“We are exploring a future outpatient facility with a variety of clinical offerings. We are doing so because it aligns with our long-term growth strategy, our ‘Patients First’ mission and our desire to bring world-class care closer to where our patients live and work,” said Christopher N. King, chief media relations executive for Northwestern Medicine, a nonprofit, integrated academic health system anchored by Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “Given the early stages of planning, we do not have an anticipated opening date.”  

Drawn to the region because of the connection between Southwest Florida and Chicago transplants and visitors, it is the health care system’s first property in the Sunshine State.  

“As a destination of care, Northwestern Medicine serves patients from across Chicagoland, all 50 states and more than 100 countries,” King said. “We know many of our patients and their families spend time in the greater Naples area and are seeking NM care closer to where they live, work and visit.”  

The two-story hotel on the edge of the Lake Park neighborhood in Naples operated under the Collins name for only about a year. The 137-room hotel closed two weeks before its sale and has been sold at least three other times. The property previously was branded Ramada Inn for years after operating under the Holiday Inn flag for many years.    

The motel, office, canopy and swimming pool were initially built in 1964 at less than 25,000 square feet, but major additions in 1967 and 1971 more than doubled the square footage, property records show. Under the Collins flag, the hotel did not have an on-site restaurant, but the hotel previously hosted a string of local restaurants, notably Pate’s Steakhouse & Pub for eight years. Others included Cafe Luna, Catch 41 Bar ‘N’ Grill, Jimmy’s Bait-N-Tackle Pub, Pompano Bar & Grill, Beau’s Paradise Grill and Bobby Rubino’s Ribs.  

The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com.