New hotel in downtown Fort Myers gives a sneak peek

The Luminary Hotel is set to open in downtown Fort Myers in about two months. Crews are in and out making sure that the rooms are ready to go and putting the finishing touches on the pool and conference room area.

“It’s in turbo drive like any project in the last eight weeks. You have to get to the finish line,” said Bob Megazzini, manager of the Luminary Hotel.

Megazzini said they’ve also added a few extra precautions to the grand opening due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve already ordered our floor decals for social distancing. We’ve ordered sanitizing stations for every elevator landing. I think the original plan was to hire 200 people and we are hiring 100 to start.”

Also for safety reasons, Luminary Hotel will be pushing back the opening of their rooftop bar and one of the restaurants.

Other business owners in downtown Fort Myers believe the Luminary will attract new customers to their businesses as well, which would help them recover from hits they’ve taken financially due to the pandemic.

“The more visitors in town, the better the First Street does and it’s right next to the First Street,” said Bill Babamov, owner of First Street Restaurant and Bar.

The good news is that the work is nearly complete.

“At full capacity, we’ll have 500 people in downtown Fort Myers that have never been here,” said Megazzini.

The Luminary Hotel is set to open Sept. 17 and the rooftop bar is supposed to open a month later.

Currently, reservations can only be booked starting in November but earlier dates will open up as the grand opening gets closer.