The white paint on the Richards Building in downtown Fort Myers is here to stay; some people say this will hurt the historic feel of downtown, while others believe it will brighten the future.
"I think it looks fabulous. I think it's a nice building," said Jay James.
James passes Richard's Building in Downtown Fort Myers every day. He enjoys the new paint job. However, not everyone shares Jay's opinion. The Lee Trust for Historic Preservation wanted to keep the 100-year-old building's brick look.
"I am pro getting ahead in the best way we can with compromise, but this is just an egregious slap in the face," said Virginia Harper.
Harper has been following the push to remove the paint since March; she said the Richards building owner, Alessio Development, didn't get permission from the city to paint.
The process was not followed, the process was to get approval first, to change the exterior," Harper said.
In a close 4-3 vote, Fort Myers City Council approved Alessio's appeal, allowing the paint to stay. The company's attorney Daniel Garza knew it was a hard decision.
"Our argument the entire time was that a certificate of review was not necessary. The reason it wasn't necessary is because the building had previously been painted," Garza said.
Mayor Kevin Anderson told NBC2 that while he voted against the appeal, the city has to move forward now.
"It's not the end of the world. First of all, we want buildings downtown to be active, you know, the ones that are sitting vacant. We want something good to happen in those buildings," Anderson said.