Hey Johhny Bunco, You and Downtown Bonita LLC, should sub money for mouth. Finest available property in Bonita IS ideal location for small old Florida style stores (combined w/1, 2, or 3 attractions) not residential or another library --- ie 'unique" mixed use.
Talk to your boy Nelson, you'll find him in box with developers.

Isn't there a railing in front of Pelican Landing that needs attention?

Now the city leaders want to throw taxpayer dollars that they do not have into rezoning costs for a parcel of land that belongs to the people of Bonita. They want to do this just to help make another developer rich, or even worse several smaller developers. Why dont they just wait 6 months or a year and see what the people come up with. There are other valid uses for this property it does not have to be a condo complex, to make Bonita better. Stop the madness and do not waste another dime on this untill the people have spoken.

Please...all of this is nothing more than a lot of gum beating. We have been hearing about the Shangri La restoration for years and nothing is happening that is apparent to anyone passing by. That property has looked the same for years now.

There is no need to wait to continue the re-zoning. The people have spoken load and clear on what they would like to see happen there. City officials needs to stay on track. It is not to make a developer rich... it is to help revitalize our downtown area for the residents. A mixed use project will bring residents and visitors alike.

Downtown is already looking better with the remodeled hair salon, the pottery store (very cool), our little bike shop, and our awesome park. Keep the faith people... we will have a downtown to be proud of.

"the plan relied on bringing new residents to the Old 41 Road corridor"

there are tons of 'new residents' in that slum area.. border crossing criminals, prostitutes and pimps, drug pushers and users... the area continually degrades. the problem is the 'residents' that are already there. why give them better buildings?

oh... i get it! NEW residents means pouring money in so these criminals will move on to slums in ft myers and lehigh. ok, i'm in

this article will get a lot of ink

"City officials and residents alike hoped against reason"
Unfortunately it seems there has been a lot of that concerning the defunct version of Imperial Landing, however; City Council is to be commended for rezoning the property without a developer in play.
=>1
The best use of that property would be to parcel it and sell it off as individual lots to create an arts village with the City retaining the waterfront for activities and flooding buffer as Alex Grantt so wisely proposed. Although the market is slow, a Riverfront specialty project would sell out. Competing with Coconut Point makes no sense, let's leave that up to Coastland Mall and 5th Avenue South in Naples. Besides we have more to offer with the river setting.

=>2
The hotel part of Shangri-la has low ceilings and communal bathrooms. It is built like Fort Knox whereas rehabing it for central air conditioning and individual bathrooms presents a daunting task. I took several builders through it in the early 90's when Coldwell-Banker had it listed for sale. The unanimous verdict I received was that it would be easier and cheaper to bulldoze than to gut and rehab. I admire the people who took on that challenge.

City officials and residents alike hoped against reason that the market downturn wouldn’t affect the marquee development of downtown revitalization: the upscale Imperial Landing.

hmmmm,,,, sounds to me we have a city that likes to take a gamble and roll the dice with tax payer money by hoping and praying for the economy, investors and the real estate market.

a city thats going broke cause they were relying on impact fees and development to fund the city isnt a very smart city,,,, does anyone on city council have a college degree?

bonita springs city council.. educated? you mean at a school?

bu-bu-bu-bush, hillary, obama, mccain...... nelson, arends....????

since when did education, intelligence, common sense, honesty or even morals matter when it comes to politics and politicians?

it's spending money and promises always broken.

....and our fellow taxpaying registered voters actually VOTE for these clowns? lol

we have mccain-obama-hillary.. the three stooges to vote for, which is not that different than recently having the nelson/arend ballot circus. what more proof do we need to see what's wrong with our city and our country?

go downtown in Bonita Springs and look at the vacant lot, see the hookers and the "loiterers" on your way to buy 3.60 a gallon for gas.

Who said that revitalisation depends on the economy? A journalist! Revitalisation depends on whether the people of Bonita have the will to clean up the crime. Until now they don't. Why? Because it's not easy, and it will cost money. No one will invest money there until we clean it up. Shangri La won't open because if decent people have to drive through downtown to get to their place they will not come back, and they now it.

Doc, I agree about Shangri-La. It can never be a 5 star resort. Can someone please tell me why we have to make old 41 upscale. We just need a destination. Make it historical or Little Havana or artsy or organic, my goodness there are so many options!! The city can offer incentives to attract certain types of merchants.

I agree Fish. We have a city council that has been voted in because of their popularity not because of their competency. I have never heard anything from them that made me stop and say" wow that's a good idea". They don't have any. Why they don't clean up downtown is a mystery to me. We should hire five X marines back from Iraq,(I'm sure they could use the work}and give them our elected officials salaries for a year and let them clean it up.

The city doesn't have to offer incentives.

I could possibly be wrong about this but Old Bonita just doesn't seem to ring any bells and whistles of becoming "Downtown". To me, the area of Bonita Beach road and new 41 seem to fit that description much better. Old Bonita, and it is just that, should be remodled and restored as much as possible to maintain the atmosphere of what it was years ago. As far as the former Imperial Landings site is concerned, there could be built something truly astonishing. A center for merchants, galleries and theaters of which this part of Florida has never concieved before. All this, placed in lush tropical surroundings would truly be a shopping, dining and entertainment paradise. There would be no other place like it. It would be the epitome of Old Bonita. Imagination. That is all it takes for a dream to come true. Let the people of Bonita Springs decide what to do with this beautiful piece of land and river. Blessings and be well.

I actually went to the park on Old 41 with a friend to enjoy the sun, eat lunch, and just get out of the office. While the park was very nice, there were a number of people wandering about that were clearly unemployed or homeless. My friend was disturbed by this, she said it made her feel unsafe. It's obvious to me that we have a long way yet to go. I don't think we should give up on the area but work together to come up with something we can all be proud of.

First things first...not a rezone. Establish a separate tax district. Property ownwers in 650 acre blighted area become stakeholders directly contributing and responsible for success.
If Price & Company balk, make them walk, pronto.

Kianzo: It's Always wise to carry a gun when you're in that area, especially after the string of robberies in the last 3 weeks.
I wouldn't go with anything lighter than a 357 magnum.
Holster it in a fanny-pack around your waist as most criminals know what a fanny pack is for.
Call (850) 488-5381 to obtain a permit to carry. Requirements are: a clean FBI background check and less than a day of classroom time.

hypothesis,,,, build imperial landing on a 2 lane road thats already congested with no place to park,,,,,hmmmmm