COASTE | COMMUNITY
way forward, to share my ideas and vision. Fort Myers had such potential.” The 2005-2009 utilities project included 54 contiguous blocks, and tore up every street in downtown. A few businesses did not survive the gutting. By the turn of the 21st century, however, the picture and potential of downtown was even bleaker. This once vital center lost its appeal to convention business as hotels pulled out, corporate businesses departed for larger cities with superior infrastructure, and tourists skipped downtown in favor of bustling Gulf beachfront hotels 15 miles away.
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