'Del Prado Point' to bring restaurants, stores, apartments to 171-acre Cape Coral property

Cape Coral has owned a vacant parcel of land, referenced as the "academic village," for 20 years, and its future looks like retail stores, industrial parks and townhomes.

Cape Coral City Council discussed plans for the land Wednesday morning. Assistant City Manager Connie Barron chronicled the land's history, and developer TRG Development presented its three-district plan for land, Del Prado Point, which the group will purchase for $17.5 million.

The council will vote on the sale of the property at next week's meeting.

"The Beatles song started coming into my head about the long and winding road," Barron said ahead of her presentation. "When you look at the academic village property and the process that we've gone through to get there today to this presentation, it's been a long and winding road."

When the city bought the land in 2003, it envisioned an educational facility, but that option never materialized. In 2021, the council amended the land use to mixed use, and in 2022, council members declared the property as a surplus with an intent to sell.

Previously:Cape Coral putting long-vacant 'academic village' acreage up for sale

After an evaluation of development offers, the city chose TRG Development and began negotiations.

TRG proposes a development called Del Prado Point. The group's plan for the 171-acre parcel includes around 40 acres of required conservation with the rest developed as residential units in apartments and townhomes, commercial space such as retail stores and quick-service restaurants and potential cold-storage facilities and industrial spaces.

TRG proposes three districts in 171-acre development

Josh Wills, TRG director of acquisitions explained the three districts in the development plan. District A will be a "retail power center" with potentially seven to 10 quick-service restaurants. District B is flex space, so it's flexible, allowing for spaces such as manufacturing, offices or a brewery-distillery concept.

"We see this as the biggest opportunity not only to bring in outside businesses but also support some of the local businesses that may need new class-A, state-of-the-art space," he said.

The final district, C, would be residential and account for 10-20% of the land.

Wills explained the residential component as workforce housing that would serve as a buffer for new employees to work at their job's new location in Del Prado Point before finding a permanent home in Cape Coral.

Mayor questions percentage of residential plan

Mayor John Gunter raised concerns about the proposed percentage of residential development.

"The residential seems a little high to me," he said. "I think the whole goal, the whole initiative, this property was commercial, flex space, industrial."

The mayor said he wished there was no residential component, but would prefer the lowest amount of 10%.

District 5 council member Robert Welsh echoed the mayor's concerns of residential development and said this land was intended to be a commercial park.

The city and developer set minimum amounts of certain types of development in an effort to ensure those spaces would be included, Interim City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn said. For example, commercial development was given a 3% minimum, but more would be allowed.

"We set a maximum on the residential; they can only do up to 20% residential use, so on its face, you're going to have an 80:20 development," Ilczyszyn said. "What we did with ... all those non-residential uses, we wanted to make sure that the contract had a blend of those and not one singular purpose."

The city's staff will meet with the development group again and make adjustments before bringing the contract to council members July 26 for a vote.

"Everybody back here just heard what everybody up there is saying, and we're on timelines," Sawyer Smith said on behalf of TRG. "Our offices are going to be under pressure... we want to get it right the first time."

Emma Behrmann is a breaking news reporter for The Naples Daily News and News-Press. You may contact her at EBehrmann@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @emmabehrmann.