Developers plan workforce housing first at old Sanibel Outlets property

IONA, Fla. —

A portion of the former Sanibel Outlets property has officially been sold, and the first piece of redevelopment is focused on workforce housing.

Developers with Fort Myers Future say a roughly four-and-a-half-acre parcel of the larger site was recently purchased by Wendover Housing Partners for $5.25 million.

The plan is to build apartments aimed at employees who work on Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach and nearby medical and service industries — many of whom currently commute long distances because housing close to their jobs can be hard to find.

“This development is fixing workforce housing, without question,” said Edgar Wilson, a managing member of Fort Myers Future. “That’s really the core of the project — to create affordable workforce housing for people that work on Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach. There was a real demand for that.”

The workforce housing parcel is part of a much larger mixed-use vision known as Grande Calusa, which developers say could eventually bring restaurants, a hotel, condos, a performing arts center, and new businesses to the site in later phases. Housing, they say, is intended to come first and help lay the foundation for everything else.

For many Southwest Floridians, the property still carries memories of its past life as a shopping destination. Today, it’s mostly open pavement, patches of overgrown grass and a handful of aging storefronts still standing.

“That was always like a day trip to go there — stop there, check out the stores,” said Dan Rapacz, a Naples resident who has lived in the region for about 30 years.

While some longtime visitors say they miss the shopping, several told Gulf Coast News they understand why the focus is shifting toward housing.

“Housing is not that affordable, really,” Rapacz said. “A lot of the people who work here don’t live here. Workforce housing is needed.”

Kristi Stein, who has been visiting Southwest Florida for more than two decades, said she’s encouraged to see activity on the site between McGregor Boulevard and Summerlin Road.

“I would lean toward more affordable housing than another expensive hotel,” Stein said.

Not everyone is without concerns. Some residents and visitors worry additional development could bring more traffic to an already busy corridor leading on and off the island.

“It’s going to increase traffic,” Rapacz said. “But you have to weigh that against the positives. It’s going to have the effect of creating more jobs.”

Wilson says the plan is to break ground on the workforce housing in about two months. Construction could take a couple of years.

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